Actual health effects of Aspartame

[Zeuzzz]

Just watched some of this:

Aspartame: Sweet Misery A Poisoned World
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6551291488524526735#

My BS meter didn't go completely off the scale, but I'd rather ask the opinion of some more informed minds here than wasting an hour watching what could turn out to be just another scaremongering pseudoscience video.

Whats are the safety and health effects of aspartame? Whats are its metabolites and are they bad for your health? Does it have any effect on neurological and psychiatric symptoms? Cancer rates? Brain tumors?

Any links to large sample size studies which are fully impartial would be appreciated if anyone knows of any.

 

[sadhatter]

You know, i have looked into the issue, as i was a big Aspertame= death guy for a while, and it was shown that the claims of everything from stroke to impotence were. But i am sure someone will be able to find the links ( i have them, just not on the computer i am using, and it was quite a bit of research time to come to a conclusion. )

What i would like to mention though is another no calorie sweetener , from a natural source, Stevia. A friend of mine was pretty big into it for a while, and i tried some, while i didn't find any of the " Gives you as much energy as caffeine without the chance of od." stuff true, it was okay. Thing was , it tasted exactly like any sweetener that is mostly aspertame.

I am interested to know if there is any chemical property of sweeteners that do not contain calories that would make them taste a certain way.

 

[SOdhner]

The only thing I have confidence saying is that it aggrivated my brother's Tourette's Syndrome. This happened enough times and in enough cases where we didn't realize the food in question had aspartame that I feel certain it wasn't confirmation bias.

That being said, I'm not claiming any long term effects and there are a number of things that can make the tics worse for a time so this isn't, by itself, anything upsetting.

 

[CurtC]

Aspartame: Truth vs. Fiction

 

[Loss Leader]

I have seen statements that aspartame is the most extensively studied food additive in the world. To my memory, there is no reputable research of it causing any adverse effects.

 

[kittynh]

Truvia is another new "good" one? I wish I could just get good old sugar in stuff. I'd pay more and throwback drinks are something I enjoy.

Point is, have diet drinks helped with our health crisis with weight? I mean nothing against a diet drink and I certianly love my diet Snapple. I should think the caffeine would prove more of a problem than any sweetener though.

 

[I Ratant]

I've been savagely attacked questioned here on JREF about my personal response to Aspartame, which I have experienced unusual noises in my left ear when using it in diet soft drinks and coffee.
These noises would begin late in the evening and last many hours, unless I exercised, which would shorten the time the noises bothered me.
I have made a serious effort to avoid all exposure to Aspartame for many months, and the noises ceased not long after beginning the eschewment of the condiment.
Splenda and other sweeteners do not give me those noises.

 

[sadhatter]

I've been savagely attacked questioned here on JREF about my personal response to Aspartame, which I have experienced unusual noises in my left ear when using it in diet soft drinks and coffee.
These noises would begin late in the evening and last many hours, unless I exercised, which would shorten the time the noises bothered me.
I have made a serious effort to avoid all exposure to Aspartame for many months, and the noises ceased not long after beginning the eschewment of the condiment.
Splenda and other sweeteners do not give me those noises.

Could be an idiosyncratic reaction to aspertame. Or could simply be you have menere's disease (something i unfortunately have. ) and coincidence lined up to when you were drinking aspertame. Personally i can go months without a symptom, then get knocked on my butt with tinnitus , dizziness, etc.

 

[Uncayimmy]

I've been savagely attacked questioned here on JREF about my personal response to Aspartame, which I have experienced unusual noises in my left ear when using it in diet soft drinks and coffee.
These noises would begin late in the evening and last many hours, unless I exercised, which would shorten the time the noises bothered me.
I have made a serious effort to avoid all exposure to Aspartame for many months, and the noises ceased not long after beginning the eschewment of the condiment.
Splenda and other sweeteners do not give me those noises.

Now that it's gone, have you tried aspartame again?

 

[I Ratant]

Could be an idiosyncratic reaction to aspertame. Or could simply be you have menere's disease (something i unfortunately have. ) and coincidence lined up to when you were drinking aspertame. Personally i can go months without a symptom, then get knocked on my butt with tinnitus , dizziness, etc.

.
Looked it up.
No vertigo, or dizziness.
Just the 3 times the pulse rate thumping in the left ear.
I'm almost tempted to try some diet stuff with it, but not that tempted, preferring the quiet.
Sadly, the replacement soft drinks have sugar. Can't do too many of those, either.

 

[blutoski]

I am interested to know if there is any chemical property of sweeteners that do not contain calories that would make them taste a certain way.

I'm not sure what you're asking when you say 'make them taste a certain way' - ?

If you're asking about why a substance would be sweet if it wasn't sugar, this is because the molecule has a 'shape' that resembles sugars and also fits the sweetness taste receptors on the tongue.



Also a pedantic note, sorry: "intense sweeteners" (like Aspartame) do have calories, but since we need such small quantities to create the sweetening effect, it's much less than if you added sugar. They tend to report the calories as zero because it's zero for all intents and purposes. Milligrams of very sweet protein per serving instead of grams of sugar.

 

[blutoski]

Now that it's gone, have you tried aspartame again?

Ack. Tough call. The strategy of 'elimination diet' or 'challenge testing' is pretty weak evidence, largely because nobody seems to be able to blind them convincingly, and there are too many other factors to consider the protocol 'well controlled'.

I deal with them in the aspect of immunology - it's a common do-it-yourself approach to identifying allergens. It's considered very weak evidence.

I Ratant is no idiot, but I think on this topic, it's reasonable for his personal report to be treated as weak evidence for a causal link.


Just an example... I had a client who experienced headaches when he 'switched to aspartame' for a few days, and I think we ultimately identified that he was probably suffering from caffeine withdrawl since he also switched from Coke to a non-caffeinated diet root beer (because the diet Coke tasted unsatisfactory). He may have also been suffering from a carbohydrate withdrawl. Basically he was going cold turkey off stimulants and reporting the crash as an adverse reaction to Aspartame.

The point is that there are just too many factors getting mixed in.

 

[Tatyana]

You know, i have looked into the issue, as i was a big Aspertame= death guy for a while, and it was shown that the claims of everything from stroke to impotence were. But i am sure someone will be able to find the links ( i have them, just not on the computer i am using, and it was quite a bit of research time to come to a conclusion. )

What i would like to mention though is another no calorie sweetener , from a natural source, Stevia. A friend of mine was pretty big into it for a while, and i tried some, while i didn't find any of the " Gives you as much energy as caffeine without the chance of od." stuff true, it was okay. Thing was , it tasted exactly like any sweetener that is mostly aspertame.

I am interested to know if there is any chemical property of sweeteners that do not contain calories that would make them taste a certain way.

Stevia has not been available in the EU due to lack of safety data.

This may change though.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/16/eu-sweetener-idUSLDE63F1VS20100416

I've been savagely attacked questioned here on JREF about my personal response to Aspartame, which I have experienced unusual noises in my left ear when using it in diet soft drinks and coffee.
These noises would begin late in the evening and last many hours, unless I exercised, which would shorten the time the noises bothered me.
I have made a serious effort to avoid all exposure to Aspartame for many months, and the noises ceased not long after beginning the eschewment of the condiment.
Splenda and other sweeteners do not give me those noises.

It is an established scientific fact that some people do not respond to pharmaceutical drugs, some people are hyper-responders or hyper-metabolisers with all sorts of weird and wonderful side effects.

If you had side effects that seemed to be associated with asparatame, there is a good chance you have some odd way of metabolising it.

I don't know why people get their knix in a twist about things, it is pretty obvious that there is some degree of biochemical individuality between individuals.

 

[blutoski]

I don't know why people get their knix in a twist about things, it is pretty obvious that there is some degree of biochemical individuality between individuals.

I don't think anybody objects to the premise ([PKU] being a well documented example).

The dispute is with one particular claim that is supported with a personal anecdote.

 

[Uncayimmy]

Ack. Tough call. The strategy of 'elimination diet' or 'challenge testing' is pretty weak evidence, largely because nobody seems to be able to blind them convincingly, and there are too many other factors to consider the protocol 'well controlled'.

I deal with them in the aspect of immunology - it's a common do-it-yourself approach to identifying allergens. It's considered very weak evidence.

I Ratant is no idiot, but I think on this topic, it's reasonable for his personal report to be treated as weak evidence for a causal link.


Just an example... I had a client who experienced headaches when he 'switched to aspartame' for a few days, and I think we ultimately identified that he was probably suffering from caffeine withdrawl since he also switched from Coke to a non-caffeinated diet root beer (because the diet Coke tasted unsatisfactory). He may have also been suffering from a carbohydrate withdrawl. Basically he was going cold turkey off stimulants and reporting the crash as an adverse reaction to Aspartame.

The point is that there are just too many factors getting mixed in.

You'll get no dispute from me. However, if somebody starts back up with what what they eliminated, and the symptoms don't return, that's a good indicator that it wasn't that one item. Knowing for sure what it actually is would be much tougher.

It's like the elephants' graveyard. They spent millions researching why elephants went there to die. Turns out it was the walk that killed them.

 

[catsmate]

I have seen statements that aspartame is the most extensively studied food additive in the world. To my memory, there is no reputable research of it causing any adverse effects.

It can trigger problems with sufferers from phenylketonuria as they lack the enzyme needed to metabolize phenylalinine (a metabolite of aspartame) properly. However this is a rare condition.

 

[MuDPhuD]

Aspartame is a methylated dipeptide. It is converted by the acid in your stomach to Aspartic acid, Phenylalanine, and methanol. The 340 mg of Aspartame in a 12 oz soda will release about 170 mg of phenylalanine and about 140 mg of aspartic acid, each a common essential amino acid. By contrast, an 8oz glass of milk will release 2 grams of phenylalanine, and 3.2 grams of aspartic acid when digested. If you shotgun 10 aspartame sweetened sodas in a row you still won't achieve the amino acid load imposed by that evil glass of milk.
The approximately 30 mg of methanol released by the soda's Aspartame will be exhaled.
Many consumers (my Aunt among them) are convinced they become symptomatic when they consume Aspartame. An interesting blinded crossover study (N Engl J Med 1987; 317:1181-1185) showed that 40 people who claimed to have headache caused by aspartame also had headache caused by placebo just as often!
Its difficult to imagine how small doses of essential amino acids might cause cancer, or any of the other crazy claims that are out there.

As a side note, my Aunt has also had her neck pain cured by an Acupuncturist.

 

[fls]

I don't know why people get their knix in a twist about things, it is pretty obvious that there is some degree of biochemical individuality between individuals.

I don't think anyone gets their panties in a twist over the idea that individuals vary. It's the idea that stories like "I took this and that happened and when I stopped it went away" can give us useful information about an association, given that the same kind of information is readily generated when there is no association.

Linda

 

[gumboot]

Threads like this are why I love the JREF Forums.

 

[MuDPhuD]

So sorry, I got my amino acid content of milk from the USDA food database, and those figures were for 1 cup of dried milk. 8 oz. of whole milk would have 351 mg of phenylalanine, and 566 mg of aspartic acid, only double and triple the amount in the aspartame sweetened soda.