Avoiding Toxins – Aspartame
Aspartame (Nutra Sweet, Equal, etc) breaks down into DKP (a known carcinogen) when heated. It also breaks down into formic acid (basically the same as ant venom), formaldehyde, and methanol (yeah, the stuff that causes blindness if ingested). Furthermore, it puts aspartic acid into your system, and when aspartic acid is present at the same time as glutamic acid (see yesterday’s post on MSG) other bad things can happen.
Here is an article by Dr. Mercola that explains a bit more about why the proteins in Aspartame are so toxic. He explains it much better than I could. He also points out why a few other artificial sweeteners are bad, too.
There is a whole lot of propaganda out there about this stuff, on both sides. Once again, lab results are dependent upon who is funding the study. This is another of those cases where they believe if they obfuscate the issue enough, people will get frustrated and just ignore any further information.
The Environmental Protection Agency defines safe consumption of methanol as no more than 7.8 milligrams per day. A one-liter diet beverage sweetened with aspartame contains around 56 milligrams of wood alcohol. Eight times the EPA limit.
There are some documented studies about Aspartame harming vision, but they are hard to find because they don’t get indexed. I’m in my forties, make a point of never ingesting artificial sweeteners, and my vision is better than 20/20 in both eyes. I don’t need glasses for distance or for reading. It’s not a genetic thing, I’m the only one in my family, including extended family, over the age of 30 who does not wear glasses or contacts and who has not had some sort of correction vision surgery. Of the people I know who actively avoid artificial sweeteners, the vast majority do not wear glasses.
Here is an expose on it by Fox 5 in Washington:
Want to hear the real irony here? Aspartame makes you fat, and it makes you hungry. Phenylalanine and aspartic acid stimulate the release of insulin. Strong spikes in insulin make you store the energy in the bloodstream as fat, and that makes you crave sugar, which releases the chemicals that make you hungry.
Honestly, I could write for hours and hours about what is wrong with Aspartame. It’s bad stuff, and it’s worse for children than adults because the blood/brain barrier is weaker in small children than it is in healthy adults, which makes their brains more at risk for brain damage from it. There are things that weaken it in adults, too – one of which is the whole insulin resistant thing, which tends to happen if you consume much aspartame. Nice.
As a side note, I added a link to the Wikipedia article on Excitotoxicity to yesterday’s post. It has some relevance to today’s post as well.
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Previous posts in this series:
- Pollution in China (prequel to the series, sort of)
- High Fructose Corn Syrup – why it is bad
- Avoiding Toxins – Non Stick Pans
- Avoiding Toxins – Petroleum Products in lotions and make-up
- Avoiding Toxins – Flame Resistant Pajamas
- Avoiding Toxins – Fingernail Polish
- Avoiding Toxins – Sunscreen
- Avoiding Toxins – Bisphenol-A (BPA) in canned goods and other products
- Avoiding Toxins – Examining a Make-Up Label
- Avoiding Toxins –MSG and it’s evil twins
- Avoiding Toxins – Aspartame
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February 16th, 2012 at 10:34 am
I used to drink diet cokes daily back in the early/mid 90s. I developed chronic headaches and ringing in my ears. When I cut the diet cokes out, both of these things subsided. I didn’t find all the research on aspartame until a few years after that.
Rumor Queen, what do you use for sweetening things? We try to use honey when needed, though we try to stay away from most sweets/sweetened drinks/products. I know that there is alot of information out on splenda being almost as bad…and I don’t want to use saccharin either. I’ve heard that Truvia is a pretty safe choice…..but that was said about splenda some years back, so I’m not sure I can trust that information??
And I’ve read some bad information on Agave nectar as well…
Are we just better off using sugar sparingly??
February 16th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
I really do think people need to chill a bit with the whole toxins worries!! There are bad things in everything it would seem but sometimes I’ll health and cancer comes from bad luck!!! I know people who have smoked their whole lives and have avoided lung cancer then people with healthy diets who get cancer!
I have a daughter with real allergies – I don’t just mean going loopy cos she had a blue m and m. So of she wants a bag of haribo and a can of cola it won’t do any harm. I would prefer to teach her about moderation and an active lifestyle. I eat chocolate everyday, don’t spend my life fretting over weight and enjoy all sorts of food (including treats). But I also run 5 miles most days, we walk the dog and love being outside, we grow veg.
Each to their own but I’ve found the toxins a bit over the top. But hey I love photography so looking forward to some tips on editing and maybe Inc best cameras?
February 16th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
I switched to Truvia awhile ago. I like it and I don’t feel like it’s going to kill me to have a packet in my coffee, whereas I’m not sure what the heck is in Splenda.
On a separate issue, RQ you have listed SO MANY toxins in every day items I’m curious (in a not snarky way) what you DO eat. I don’t really understand how you can live in todays world, have both parents work full time and not, at least on occassion, eat processed food with addititves and sweetners and dyes and junk. You can’t live off of nuts and tofu. Can you?? And I’m asking this seriously, like what do you make for dinner on a Tuesday night? Because I don’t get how real people in the real world have time to make a real meal from real food every night when there is soccer practice and brownies and homework, and a teething baby. I get having a quick salad. But to me, that’s not a meal. That’s PART of a meal, like a side dish. How does this work for you?
February 16th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
I, too, used to use Aspartame. I started having weird head sensations to where I almost blacked out a few times. I even went so far as to having a CAT scan, but had no answers. I stopped using it (for no particular reason) and I realized all my symptoms disappeared. I then had a diet lemonade and sure enough, all my symptoms came back. It is a terrible sensation and I never use any type of artificial sweetener. I’ll just use sugar.
crazy4emily: I know it is hard when both parents work, but try incorporating fresh fruits and veggies. Steamed veggies are great with certain vinegars and even butter. For a nice summer dinner, we have a large salad, with fruit cut up, cheese, fresh baked bread, pasta, hard boiled eggs. I have learned to step away from the “traditional” American way of eating. All my kids love it when we eat like this. I know I cannot cut out all things, but I do what I can, and I feel better about those choices.
February 16th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
I am totally with you on this, Hope4Family!!!!!!
My parents (Italian father, Irish mother) both drank three cups of coffee with caffeine every morning, with light cream (not skim milk, not even half-n-half!) and real sugar. Dad ate two eggs every morning with toast and butter. Mom had a grilled cheese sandwich with white bread and processed American cheese food almost every day for lunch. They loved Entenmann’s pastries, and ate a piece of walnut danish almost every day. They ate only white pasta, and both were red meat lovers. They cooked in nonstick pans for years. Neither ever saw the inside of a gym, but they were EXTREMELY active people who did tons of yardwork and lots of walking. My Dad lived to be 98 years old. My mother died at 80 from emphysema – smoked two packs a day from age 14 to age 74. She was otherwise healthy.
I try to feed my kids a reasonably healthy diet 80% of the time, but I don’t obsess over it. I think trying to identify every single possible toxin in one’s environment is a losing battle, and honestly not worth it.
February 16th, 2012 at 5:50 pm
although I find this topic very interesting… for me personally the stress from worrying about all of these toxin will do me more harm than consuming them occasionally! In college I took many nutrition classes and became so afraid of food that I actually became an unhealthy eater. For myself and my family I try to stay as close to the purest form of the food I can when possible. I choose butter over margarine, fruits/veggies, natural peanutbutter, pasta, etc. I occasionally bake for treats (so that I know what the ingredients are) and my family likes meat – over tofu.
We do consume some processed foods and I like a diet coke from time to time (I am also in my 40′s with perfect vision). I must admit that I have never read a nail polish label! I am not sure if I could remember the names of the ingredients I am supposed to avoid – most days I can’t even remember my kids names. How are we supposed to keep all of this information straight?
February 16th, 2012 at 5:58 pm
I’ve had Type 1 Diabetes since 1993. I drank plenty of regular soda before that, and switched to diet because I had to. I drink 2 cans a day at work and up to 3 a day on the weekends. I hate coffee and tea, so the caffeine is the main reason for the pop, plus it’s a habit and I like the taste. I eat as healthy as I can and am active because of the T1D, but I can’t cut everything out. And I have 20/20 vision. I attribute most of this to keeping track of my blood sugars, but like another poster said it can just be fate. I am very thankful I don’t react to aspartame, or I would have to figure out a way to drink coffee. :(
February 16th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
I’m a Diet Coke addict. Seriously, if I let myself, I could drink 8 cans a day. I reign it in because it’s terrible for my teeth, my bones. . . really everything. Several years ago a Diet Coke sweeted with Splenda came on the market. I buy that. Though I’m not sure Splenda is much better than Aspartame in the long run. I don’t drink at all, have never tried a cigarette and have been a vegetarian for 20 years. Diet Coke is my one vice. I’ve quit a few times for several months at a time but I alway come crawling back :(
February 16th, 2012 at 11:32 pm
I find this series very enlightening and am very interested in photo editing. In my next life, I am going to be a professional photographer and scrapbook maker!! Ha ha!
I see no way to avoid a lot of these toxins and would love to hear what you eat on a daily basis. I am definitely going to make some changes in my life based on these recommendations. It is rather overwhelming, so I will try to start small and go from there.
February 17th, 2012 at 5:04 am
Ha ha Malmarie, my mouth watered a little – I love a Danish pastries!! And I should confess I’m a diet coke addict myself. But also as I dont drink or smoke I figure it levels out.
February 17th, 2012 at 9:31 am
a warning to all lovers of SodaStream products: the products praise “no HFCS” on the front, “Natural” etc, yet it is very deceiving. They advertise that they contain ‘no aspartame in diet flavors’ and boldly state ‘no high fructose corn syrup’, but the regular flavors contain sucralose artificial sweetners making it taste awful. No disclaimer on the front of the bottle. How can they legally NOT call it DIET if it has artificial sweetners?
interestingly, european SodaStream products have regular sugar in it, not artifical sweeteners, unless it is diet.