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Is aspartame safe?As a feature of CNNhealth.com, our team of expert doctors answers readers' questions. Here's a question for Dr. Gupta. From Richard Casselli, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada "How dangerous is food containing aspartame? Do you personally avoid it? Its been linked to the possible cause of brain tumours or other nervous system defects. If it's so dangerous, why is it still in our foods? Should we be avoiding aspartame?" Answer This is an interesting question, Richard, and an equally interesting debate that is ignited every few years or so. The big concern for some consumer groups and scientists echoes your own: Does aspartame cause cancer? In the 1990s a researcher suggested that rates of brain cancer seemed to surge at about the same time aspartame was introduced here. Add to that various studies in rats suggesting aspartame could cause cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, and you may understand why concern about this artificial sweetener lingers. The fact is, current evidence does not support this idea that aspartame could cause cancer, or that it is unsafe. According to the American Dietetic Association, aspartame’s safety is documented in more than 200 objective scientific studies. The Food and Drug Administration has concluded that aspartame is safe, and there are no strong data out there to refute that. In 2007, the most comprehensive look at the research was conducted, and the conclusion was, again, that aspartame is safe. An important caveat to that research – it was paid for by the company Ajinomoto, which makes aspartame. Thing is, about 6,000 products – including soft drinks, gum, candy, pudding, yogurt – all contain aspartame. When a product is so widely used, it often happens that there is some scientific scrutiny. So I would imagine this debate and these studies will continue for quite a while. You asked if I use artificial sweeteners myself. Fortunately for my waistline, I do not have an affinity for sweets, so whether the sugar is real or artificial, I tend to steer clear. I favor fresh fruit to get my sweet fix, and fruit ultimately leaves me feeling fuller. Now, if you do choose to use aspartame, keep in mind moderation. The FDA recommends a daily intake of no more than 50 mg of aspartame per kilogram of body weight. That amounts to 22 cans of diet soda for a 175-pound man, and 15 cans for a 120 pound woman. And you want to exercise that moderation for any ingredient in your diet. Don't go overboard with the sugar-free foods - make sure to include low-fat foods, natural sugars, and fats to your diet. Skewing your diet in any one direction will create an unhealthy imbalance. Editor's Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love. Recent Comments
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I lecture on the topic of Brain Health and Nutrition. I am a Neurotherapist (retraining brainwaves with computer software by reading the EEG). Also, as a type 1 diabetic of 28 years, I have researched this subject for years. If you really want to know the truth read the congressional records that led to Aspartame being denied for human consumption – because it showed carcinogenic outcomes in animals. Visit: Aspartame (Nutrasweet) Toxicity Info Center at the website http://www.holisticmed.com Details scientific and general documentation regarding the toxicity of nutrasweet, Equal, diet coke, diet pepsi, and other aspartame containing items. Janet Hull's Web page includes real life reports of acute and chronic toxicity due to long-term use. You read and decide but why would you even take a chance?
I tried drinking Diet Pepsi instead of regular Coke to save on calories. Didn't drink a lot...maybe 2 a day. But it made me feel weird...like I was in a fog. Felt normal again after I stopped drinking it. My brother-in-law was having kidney pain. He drank a lot of Diet Pepsi. After he quit, the pain went away.
I am a RN and my husband is a Veterinarian. This past February he went on an equine emergency call a great distance from our house in the early morning and he ask me to make him something to take with him for breakfast. I knew that he would need something warm to drink (since snow was predicted, yes even in the South) therefore, i made him hot apple cider from a package and placed in his thermos. He called about a hour later and said that he was so sick that he barely made it to the equine farm.He had to pulled the vet truck over to the side of the road because his vision and ability to drive was impaired before he finally made it to the farm. The client happen to be a retired RN and they made arrangements for someone to drive him and his vet truck back home because he was so sick. I phoned the head pharmacist at the hospital and she said that he had been poisoned by aspartame. I started my research on this product and it is called the "sweet poison". If heated above 86 degrees F. it turns to formaledhyde that we use on tissues to preserve them for the lab testing. If you research this product, you will be so scared of what it will do to you. I have a great story on my computer that i will send to anyone that is interested. It will really open your eyes to this horrible product!!!! We tell everyone we talk to about "the sweet poison" and had it almost killed him!!!!
After being injured in two auto accidents, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and prescribed a drug often used for this diagnosis. I almost totally gave up soda, diet or otherwise, years ago. I have been on many diet plans throughout the years, and most recommended "diet" foods like Crystal Lite and yogurt, low-fat or sugar-free frozen desserts, and chewing gum. I started chewing a lot of gum in the last few years, mostly to relieve thirst. I was buying a lot of sugar-free gum, even in bulk; chain chewing. I know the act was unbecoming, and it really didn't help the thirst. I craved it to the point of addiction. Finally, when the itching (without rash) became so intense, I saw my physician. A lot of time was spent on me. I had discontinued the drug for fybromyalgia. This put me back in the state of pain before the drug. The PA could not pinpoint the cause of itching. Later, I was reading the allergy warning on the gum packaging: phenyetonurics, phenylalamine. Don't know if these are spelled correctly. Difficult to read on the little black box.
I punched these words into a search and sure enough, ASPARTAME came up. The more I had been chewing, the more I itched and needed more gum! I was in agony. My vision was blurred, I had heart palpitations, could not eat the spicy foods I once loved. I felt light-headed and nauseous and was gagging. Besides the gum, I was eating the frozen desserts and sugar-free candy, yogurt, etc. I actually went through withdrawl and was very angry that I could have been so fooled. I still itch when I eat something that doesn't identify "aspartame" on the label. This stuff is poison!
I'm sorry, but this is just stupid. Keep researching.
I was recently diagnosed with fructose intolerance. You may be wondering why I'm posting her. Well, I cut all sugar and artificial sugar from my diet for 5 days now. I have not had any diet drinks with aspartame until yesterday. I drank maybe 6 ounces and had a bad headache where I took medication. I rarely have headaches and couldn't figure out what caused it. Then today I was at the grocery story and bought a diet soda with aspartame. Within 10 minutes of drinking a portion – I had that same headache again. I'm convinced it is causing me to have bad headaches. Nor more aspartame for me.
Dr. Gupta, will you be going on air to discuss the relationship between Autism and Aspartame? The Senate is determining what correlates with Autism. For the Senate Hearing on Autism going on this month, it may be beneficial to know that along with Mercury and other contaminations in the environment, Aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal) has also been linked to Autism. If you email me back and ask for the information I have, I can show you a chart that significantly matches Autism rates with Aspartame use rate. Europe has banned the use of Aspartame for pregnant and nursing women as well as children. The countries where Aspartame has been banned or never accepted, their Autism rate is only a small fraction of the U.S. rate. Since Aspartame has been approved in 1981, and placed in soft drinks in 1986, the Autism rate has skyrocketed. The Aspartame notes page explains just a few studies on how Aspartame has been linked with brain disorders I hope this information helps.
Some Main Points:
Dr. Olney warned of the damage that this product would do to the unborn and to children. He said that the FDA acknowledged "aspartame had been shown to induce brain damage in neonatal animals” but FDA dismissed the neurotoxicity as irrelevant on grounds that the approved uses of aspartame don’t include feeding it to newborn humans. Yet aspartame can be found in prescription and over-the-counter pediatric drugs and in pediatric vitamins. Nursing babies receive this poison from mothers who breastfeed. How gruesome! The recent plague of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, and birth defects manifest the neurologic devastations of aspartame. Supporting this view, Dr. Louis Elsas, Emory Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics, testified in a congressional hearing that aspartame is a teratogen (causes birth defects) and a neurotoxin.
Aspartame is a teratogen that triggers birth defects. It is a deadly neurotoxin (Dr. Louis Elsas testimony before congress, pediatric professor,genetics, Emory, http://www.dorway.com). Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. says in his book that aspartame triggers ADD and autism.
After suffering from strong stomach pain and bloating for several weeks I sought medical advice. First I tried medication, such as Nexium, which did not help at all. Next came ct scans which also came up negative. Before I was scheduled to have a gastroscope a friend asked me if I consumed a lot of Alpertame. I don't drink diet soda but I was drinking about 12oz of Crystal light several days a week (not a huge amount). She told me about her experience, and within a week of completely avoiding Aspartame my symptoms have disappeared. I still use Sweet and Low (saccarin) and am symptom free! You do the math.
If you have Restless Leg Syndrome, try cutting out all aspartame. It helps. (I read somewhere about a connection between aspartame and seratonin/dopamine levels in the brain – also connected to Parkinsons).
My brother recently had open-heart surgery. His cardiologist told him that aspertame causes hardening of the arteries and no one should be drinking it. Has anyone else heard this?
You people are idiots. You're buying into paranoia and using your "symptoms from drinking diet soda" as an excuse for confirmation bias to say "aha! The studies don't tell the truth." Come on...
I've been drinking diet soda for YEARS! And I haven't felt any of these adverse effects. Maybe I'm just a genetic anomaly or something, but if it's so bad, why haven't I at least felt SOMETHING?? I'm tired of this food paranoia. Tired of all these myths. People are just believing what they wanna believe regarding asparatme, GMOs, MSG, etc. because they can't come up with a logical, fact-based explanation.
Paranoia about all kinds of stuff, like vaccines, food, etc., has been with humanity for ages. It wasn't too long ago that we referred to certain "humors" and used THAT to diagnose and 'treat' illness. It wasn't too long ago that many nations in Europe, among probably other places, would do bloodletting to "let the demons out" when someone had a particular illness.
Read some actual empirical studies, not pretend like you had "symptoms" simply because something bad happened, and you were also drinking diet soda. If a fatass who ate McDonald's all day got a heart attack but ALSO drank a few cans of diet soda and got a heart attack, you'd probably say "aha! it was the diet soda."
Lucky you. Perhaps one day if yourself or a loved one suffers adverse effects from a specific food, you will gain some humility or empathy for those who have problems eating certain foods. Just because it does not affect you does not mean that it has no ill effects. For instance, my husband cannot eat certain foods that trigger an immune response from his gut. I can. This restricts his diet quite a bit, but if he decides to just eat what he wants, it triggers an inflamatory response in his eyes, lymph nodes, intestines, etc. In researching the types of foods he can and cannot eat, we have discovered that ordinary table salt is poison, (although we need the iodine in it for thyroid function). You or I would never know it, because our bodies tolerate it. Garlic and onions are bad news in most people as well. But just because our bodies tolerate something doesn't mean that it isn't bad for us. This is the case for many foods and many chemicals.
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It is insulting when any report on the safety of food, in this case aspartame, is done by the manufacture of the ingredient. Logic says that the study can't be trusted and there is more behind the scene. People are getting very tired of being lied to.
Why are we using a man made chemical when we could be using stevia, a natural product that has been proven safe; it is grown in china and used for many years without problems.
I have to chew gum (I have chronic dry mouth and eyes) around the clock. The gum is all made with aspartame. You can't find a product in any popular store that isn't a sugar free gum. Specialty gums that have sugar or stevia is so expensive that I couldn't afford to buy it. I looked for recipe's so I could make my own but the ingredients are hard to come by and hard to make.
I would like to see testing done on aspartame that is scientific and not connected by a manufacturer in any way.
I believe that aspartame has something to do with the chronic obesity problem we have in America...just a gut feeling. I would like to see a study done with that in mind.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Carol, Priest River, ID
@Brandon
You are either
A. an idiot
B. paid by the FDA
C. working for a company that makes aspartame
Of course, when one doesn't have any facts, it's always a conspiracy
aspartame has some nasty side effects too plus its long term effects on health is still not known..
It has always been my belief that good writing like this takes research and talent. It is quite apparent you might have done your homework. Excellent job!
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I am 100,000% in agreement with Brandon (sorry Jiff). Most of the posts here are similar to people believing that aliens landed at Area 51. Did you not read the article? Do you not read at all? Do you understand what scientific journals are or what value they have in our society? Do you see gremlins or believe everything is a conspiracy somehow? Do you think the government is tapping your phone line for some random reason? Do you feel that "science" is a bunch of hokum and actually a communist plot? And NO I DON'T WORK FOR ANYONE that achieves any value from the sale of products containing aspertame. Oh, and also, I am not currently typing these words because aspertame has gone to my head and has brainwashed me. Aspertame is one of the most thoroughly-tested food additives in history. Read what the Dr. said. There is NO CREDIBLE EVIDENCE that aspartame is not safe for consumpsion – as long as you drink under 20 cans a day if you are a male who weighs about 175 pounds or more. Most people are fine with drinking less than 20 cans of soda per day. Deal with it. Just deal with it.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Gupta, for a reasoned response. Hmm. Current evidence does not support the idea that aspartame is unsafe. I understand that substances that are generally safe, (peanuts, for example) can sometimes cause harm to certain individuals, but that does not mean that EVERYONE should avoid them. I like my aspartame. There is no current eviedence that it is harmful. People should stop trying to scare me with their individual anecdotes.