Helps Control Weight Gain Myth

"I drank diet soda for the obvious reason -- to avoid sugar and to avoid weight gain" claims a businesswoman in a case reported to Dr. Roberts (qtd. In Roberts 147). It's not unusual for people who are dieting to reach for an aspartame product verses a product containing sugar. Aspartame is "200 times sweeter" than ordinary sugar so fewer calories are consumed (Deskins G1). With a weight conscious society, fewer calories can be attractive. However, a closer look shows that aspartame may not help control weight gain.

Outlined in the following list are some reasons why aspartame might not be effective in controlling weight:

1. According to an article in Technology Review, "aspartame may actually stimulate appetite and bring on a craving for carbohydrates" (Farber 52). 2. An article in Utne Reader claims, "researchers believe that any kind of sweet taste signals body cells to store carbohydrates and fats, which in turn causes the body to crave more food" (Lamb 16). 3. From the San Francisco Chronicle, Jean Weininger states that "studies have shown that people who use artificial sweeteners don't necessarily reduce their consumption of sugar -- or their total calorie intake. . . . Having a diet soda makes it okay to eat a double cheeseburger and a chocolate mousse pie" (1/ZZ1). 4. "The American Cancer Society (1986) documented the fact that persons using artificial sweeteners gain more weight than those who avoid them" (Roberts 150)

Whether you are trying to lose pounds or maintain your weight, using an artificial sweetener such as aspartame does not seem to have any significant effect on weight control. Those extra calories you saved by drinking a diet pop won't make much of a difference if you still need to satisfy your hunger and indulge in several cookies later. If it is actually increasing your appetite, why use it? Common sense tells you that proper diet and exercise are more beneficial. Even if you believe that aspartame may aid in dieting, is this worth risking your health?

FDA approval and natural ingredients may signal safety at first, but the mounting evidence against aspartame reveals many hidden dangers and possible risks. If you are experiencing any of the adverse reactions, stop using aspartame and see if the symptoms disappear. Now that you are aware of the problems with aspartame, inform others of the symptoms of aspartame poisoning. Notify the FDA of any adverse reactions that you may experience and encourage others to do the same. Don't just stop using aspartame, but make a difference by returning any aspartame products you may now have. If sales go down, hopefully aspartame will be pulled off the market and put an end to the aspartame dilemma.

Fraudulent Claims of Aspartame as a "Diet Aid"

Interestingly, even the American Cancer Society confirmed that users of artificial sweeteners gained more weight than those who didn’t use the products, further undermining the supposed "purpose" for the existence of aspartame in the food.[16] Haven’t we heard this kind of criminal fraud before?

The major selling point of aspartame is as a diet aid, and it has been demonstrated that the use of this product actually causes people to consume more food. Normally, when a significant quantity of carbohydrate are comsumed, serotonin levels rise in the brain. This is manifested as a relaxed feeling after a meal. When aspartame is ingested with carbohydrates, such as having a sandwich with a diet drink, aspartame causes the brain to cease production of serotonin, meaning that the feeling of having had enough never materializes. You then eat more foods, many containing aspartame, and the cycle continues. Monsanto’s profit from its NutraSweet Division was $993 million in 1990.

Read your post. Very good, now if only I could get my wife to read and believe it.

I am going to say that I don't agree....at all.

Since I started last Oct., I never had a diet drink, not once!

This past week I decided to add (1 diet Mug Root Beer) to my afternoons, and I have found that it curbs my appetite, does not stimulate it at all, and it actually takes away any sugar craving I might of had before I drank the drink.

I plan on continuing with my daily diet root beer, I feel like I have found something that works for me

When I was a teen, I had some problems with compulsive overeating. When I would binge, I'd start to feel full, and then I'd get a diet coke. It allowed me to finish the bag of potato chips, eat another frozen pizza, etc. I do not doubt that it can increase appetite.

It's been a long time since I did that, and a long time since I drank diet coke regularly. If I try it now, my body freaks out-- headache, diarrhea, etc. I avoid aspartame like the plague.

Theres no calories and only a trace of carbs, can't see why it would be bad for you

Like the article points out-- it has an effect on your seratonin production, causing you to feel like you're not yet full.

I suppose you can think of it like pot. It may not affect your metabolism directly, but it doesn't something to your brain that makes you eat more food. Only it doesn't have any of the fun aspects of pot.

(By the way, I no longer smoke pot, or anything, but it seemed an apt comparison. I agree that it's a bad thing to smoke lots and lots of pot, and I'm a very bad girl for suggesting there's anything fun about it. But it's still more fun than nutrasweet.)

That's totally opposite of a rat study I read where rats lost weight when given aspartame sweetened water versus plain water.

To be honest, I LOVE my diet coke...it does stall me, so I am avoiding it for now, but it is soooo good!

I found an interesting link while doing research on this.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blasp.htm

Read the entire article (it's three pages) and then check the links at the end.

I'm not a fan of aspartame, but then again, I grew up on saccharin. It seems to be more of a YMMV thing when it comes right down to it, much like sugar alcohols.

Maybe the people the reason people gain weight is because they had a weight problem to begin with. Maybe if they'd stuck to regular sugar filled whatever, they'd have gained even more weight! At least they mitigated their problem for a hundred calories or so for every soda they drank. But slowing down weight gain doesn't equal weight loss as most of us know.

All the research I've done in Pub Med as indicated that there is no insulin production caused by aspartame. There were 38 studies there about this subject and all the ones I reviewed had exactly the same result.

Could there be a psychological link between eating/drinking something sweet and then craving more sweets or wanting to eat? I wouldn't be surprised if that is true in some people.

Personally I drink a fair amount of aspartame sweetened Crytal Light each day. I find that when I have "bored mouth syndrome", i.e. I want to eat or drink just to entertain my taste buds, that it does the trick. I have a cup of CL and I feel a fullness sensation from the liquid. I can often postphone a meal by an hour or more simply by having a little more aspartame sweetened drink.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of that might be due to the phenylalanine, which aspartame breaks down into. That used to be used in appetite suppressants or sold in health food stores.

Personally I wish they'd switch to sucralose because then I could nuke my drink in the microwave and not kill the sweetness, but I'm fairly well convinced that aspartame is harmless for most people when not abused and personally I can vounch it doesn't make me wish to eat more and possibly helps me eat a little less by giving me something to sip on that doesn't contain empty sugar laden calories.

If that's evil, then I'm dancing with the devil.

In the absence of a random assignment study, they cannot definitively state that consuming artificial sugar makes people eat more. What they would need to do is a double-blind study where participants were given either drinks sweetened with sugar or drinks sweetened with aspartame, but not told what they were getting. They could then compare whether those people who got the drinks sweetened with aspartame compensated for the lower number of calories in the drink by consuming more of other foods through-out the day. Without a study like that, all they have shown is that people who are worried about their weight and drink sugar-free sodas because of that, have more weight problems than people who don't worry about their weight and drink sugared sodas!

That said, I have found that I cannot lose weight if I consume artificial sweeteners. I don't like diet sodas, so if I do eat artificial sweeteners it tends to be in conjunction with lowcarb ice cream or candy. Those foods have lots of empty calories and push my calorie levels up to maintenance. I don't gain, but I don't lose either. To lose weight, I need to focus on eating whole, natural foods that are nutrient dense -- vegetables, berries, meat, fish, poultry, cheese, eggs, etc. As soon as I add empty calories (including empty calories that contain artificial sugar), I stop losing.

Liz I'm the same. If I stay away from AS I do fine.

"What they would need to do is a double-blind study where participants were given either drinks sweetened with sugar or drinks sweetened with aspartame, but not told what they were getting."

Personally, I'm not sure that soulw work. To me all AS have a distinct taste....after taste I guess is the better word. One of the reasons why I stay away from AS is to prevent stalls....but another reason is because of that artificial taste I get from all AS (well I havent' tried stevia yet, maybe that's better).

I've always been able to tell regular from diet based on taste. And most people I know say the same. I think they'd have to disguise the taste for a double blind study to work.

Nice to see more choices....maybe maintenance will be easier!

I've not been able to touch Aspartame in years.

The stuff gives me an unnatural, 12-hour, tinny migraine-style headache and makes me physically shakey and weak to boot. That's a pretty noxious chemical...

I'll stick to water or coffee just fine, thanks!
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mel

Actually, I think you could give people aspartame in capsules. Then they wouldn't taste it.