Checking my ingredient lists more carefully for aspartame.

I recently just consumed a drink containing aspartame. I always seem to get an adverse reaction with the consumption of aspartame that hits quite quickly & takes a while to dissipate. I decided dig up some info on this troublesome ingredient.

Those in support of this popular artificial sweetener, state that the two primary amino acids, which comprise 90 percent of aspartame by weight, are a harmless and natural part of our diet. They insist that aspartic acid is a naturally occurring neurotransmitter, which is present in the human central nervous system. This is only a partial truth.

Phenylalanine and aspartic acid are amino acids that are normally supplied by the foods we eat; however, they can only be considered natural and harmless when consumed in combination with other amino acids. On their own, they enter the central nervous system in abnormally high concentrations, causing aberrant neuronal firing and potential cell death. The neurotoxic
effects of these amino acids, when consumed as isolates, can be linked to headaches, mental confusion, balance problems and possibly seizures.

The individual components of aspartame, as well as their multiple breakdown products are potentially toxic to the retina and optic nerves. Methanol poisoning is notorious for causing vision impairment leading to blindness. Formaldehyde, its primary metabolite, is also known to cause retinal damage. Aspartame has been linked to visual disturbances which include blindness in one or both eyes, blurred visibility, eye pain and more.

www.aspartame.com...

You could be sensitive to it...some people just have different systems.

I did some looking around and found this websites, that says that most information out there is un true. Who knows? It's one group against another. I did find it strange that the site you got your info off of is aspartame.com and the one I found it on is aspartame.info

"�When we eat aspartame, it is converted into methanol, formaldehyde and formic acid.�

This is not true. When we eat aspartame, it is broken down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and a small amount of methanol. All three of these substances are found widely in other parts of our diet. Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid which we must obtain from the food we eat to remain healthy.

To allege that methanol from aspartame is an issue is highly misleading. A can of soft drink contains about one two-thousandth (1/2,000) aspartame. The amount of methanol released is equivalent to one twenty-thousandth (1/20,000) of the drink. There is as much methanol in a banana and more than twice as much in a serving of tomato juice."

www.aspartame.info...

Phenylketonorics (or some such spelling) can have dangerous reactions to Phenylalanine. Don't know about aspartame tho. If you notice, one sodas nad other foods theres often a warning that reads "Phenylketonorics: contains Phenylalanine' to warn them. Perhaps you have some form of Phenylketonoria.

Aspartame makes me incredibly sick. I have a major problem with caffiene addiction, and due to the fact my doc think I'm diabetic, I switched over the the diet sodas and got sicker than hell on the crap.

Originally posted by ByzantineIcon
Aspartame makes me incredibly sick. I have a major problem with caffiene addiction, and due to the fact my doc think I'm diabetic, I switched over the the diet sodas and got sicker than hell on the crap.

Umm if you have a problem with caffeine, diet sodas have more than regular sodas


www.mercola.com...

"Okay, so most enlightened consumers already know that colas contain a fair amount of caffeine. It turns out to be 35 to 38 milligrams per 12-ounce can, or roughly 28 percent of the amount found in an 8-ounce cup of coffee. But few know that diet colas -- usually chosen by those who are trying to dodge calories and/or sugar -- often pack a lot more caffeine. A 12-ounce can of Diet Coke, for example, has about 42 milligrams of caffeine -- seven more than the same amount of Coke Classic. A can of Pepsi One has about 56 milligrams of caffeine -- 18 milligrams more than both regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi"

Aspatame was banned for years by the FDA because it was known to produce brain tumours and epileptic seizures in laboratory animals
It only became authorised for general use when Reagan was bumped in as president,Rumsfeld was put in as CEO of producer Searle and a puppet was put in as chairman of the FDA
All the doubts of FDA agents were overriden by this latter after a committee hearing
You don't need to be phenylketonuric to suffer long term effects from aspartame
It is primarily a neurotoxin that exacerbates or mimics a long list of diseases
Cut it out

Originally posted by dh
Aspatame was banned for years by the FDA because it was known to produce brain tumours and epileptic seizures in laboratory animals
It only became authorised for general use when Reagan was bumped in as president,Rumsfeld was put in as CEO of producer Searle and a puppet was put in as chairman of the FDA
All the doubts of FDA agents were overriden by this latter after a committee hearing
You don't need to be phenylketonuric to suffer long term effects from aspartame
It is primarily a neurotoxin that exacerbates or mimics a long list of diseases
Cut it out

Which is precisely why I said..�Its group against group.�
I mean think about it dh, think of the pollution in the world, and tell me that at least one of those fruits you bought, or those fresh veggies, isn't in someway contaminated with at least one type of toxin.
We're doing it to ourselves; we have to initiate the change.

I sure hope it is not as bad as it sounds; I drink 3 - 4 liters of diet coke a day. It has never made me feel ill, but I sure feel like crap if I dont get that first liter of diet coke in the morning. Im an aspartame junkie.

Originally posted by NetStorm

Originally posted by ByzantineIcon
Aspartame makes me incredibly sick. I have a major problem with caffiene addiction, and due to the fact my doc think I'm diabetic, I switched over the the diet sodas and got sicker than hell on the crap.

Umm if you have a problem with caffeine, diet sodas have more than regular sodas


www.mercola.com...

"Okay, so most enlightened consumers already know that colas contain a fair amount of caffeine. It turns out to be 35 to 38 milligrams per 12-ounce can, or roughly 28 percent of the amount found in an 8-ounce cup of coffee. But few know that diet colas -- usually chosen by those who are trying to dodge calories and/or sugar -- often pack a lot more caffeine. A 12-ounce can of Diet Coke, for example, has about 42 milligrams of caffeine -- seven more than the same amount of Coke Classic. A can of Pepsi One has about 56 milligrams of caffeine -- 18 milligrams more than both regular Pepsi and Diet Pepsi"

Wow. I didn't know that!

I drank a diet soft drink a well-meaning lineman handed me at an airshow once. Almost got killed when the aspartame (nutr-sw-et) hit me. It doesn't just hit phenylketourics, its not a human food but a plain poison. It has been BANNED from the cockpit by the US Military. Its hard enough balancing on a floating bowling ball whilst scratching your head and belly and reciting the national anthem without having something give you blurred vision and a SPLITTING HEADACHE. I twitch like a well-beaten dog at the sight of that stuff.

BTW regular sodapop doesn't bother me, and I've tried repeating this (without flying) as an experiment- invariably I get the same awful effects. It doesn't hit you right away, so its easy to miss the cause-and-effects.

[edit on 10-12-2004 by Chakotay]

Originally posted by ByzantineIcon
Aspartame makes me incredibly sick. I have a major problem with caffiene addiction, and due to the fact my doc think I'm diabetic, I switched over the the diet sodas and got sicker than hell on the crap.

There are some diet sodas out there without aspartame. They are sweetened with Splenda.
DietRie is one: www.dietrc.com...
Hansen's is another: www.hansens.com...

Be aware that carbonated beverages in large quantities should be avoided.

Spl-nda ('-' omitted so they don't sue Simon and me)?! Sucralose is a chlorinated hydrocarbon. Studying chemistry can be so enlightening- this is the class of chemicals most insecticides come from. Please, study any 'food' before putting it in your body. Even natural foods used improperly can kill. When you ingest artificial chemicals including sucralose, you are experimenting with your health. Don't be the first generation of guinea pigs, people!

At the advice of my dentist I have abandoned all sodas, and am drinking unsweetened green tea. I brew it in a jar, not too strong, and drink it cold. Once you quit sugar, it tastes sweet all by itself.

To sample a form of product specific totalitarianism view the now official views about aspartame. We are told it is safe and a basic protein and so forth. The earlier hard science laboratory control vision was that it causes brain tumors and was unaceptable. It was probably not even considered legal as its original usage in the government chemical warfare list, it would have broken the Geneva convention.

We have been living under a harmful dictatorship of food, both under the fluoride industry, and later the aspartame industry. Any commercial product that is widely available for sweetening took huge "bribes," ahem "campaign contributions," as well as likely lobbying blackmail. Later the FDA is used as an arbitrary and irrational tool, a dictatorship police force for competitors such as Stevia. You cannot claim Stevia is a sweetener, although it has been used safely for hundreds of years. It is not a drug, nor a medicine, but the aspartame enforcement police will send black hooded agents if you mention the "S," word (sweetener) even in a pamplet anywhere in the health food store about Stevia.

Doesn't anyone detect something is gravely wrong here?

Stevia was once universally used in Japan, but lobbying pressure from the Aspartame eugenics program and dictatorship put it in products there. Imagine Stevia based Coca Cola!

But no we have to have this load of poop aspartame everywhere.

[edit on 11-12-2004 by SkipShipman]