Just thought I’d point out the difference in this new study on aspartame (Nutrasweet), in case you wrote it off.
In the previous studies which have “cleared” the sugar substitute (the ones the FDA use), lab rats who consumed it regularly were killed after two years. The newest study allowed the rats to live out their natural life span, and that’s when the high likelihood of cancer showed up.
The highest risk is to children who are allowed to drink diet soda.
Keep in mind, the original studies that were used to approve aspartame did not research the effects on children. At the time, they estimated there would be one daily exposure to aspartame. (Having Don Rumsfeld as the head of the pharmaceutical company seeking approval didn’t hurt the approval process, I’m sure.)
Since its approval, aspartame use has boomed. It’s used in chewing gum, toothpaste, many low-calorie snacks for which you’d have to read the fine print, and of course a gazillion diet “Light” beverages.
Personally, I don’t eat things made from petroleum byproducts if I can avoid it. And I’d like to point out here that a teaspoon of sugar has only 15 calories…
If you need fizzy drinks, use seltzer. There are too many health risks with aspartame.
[...] June 27th, 2007 in White Rose, Physics Susie points out the difference in this new study on aspartame (Nutrasweet), in case you wrote it [...]
I get migraine headaches from Nutrasweet. I have never had one for any other reason and in fact once did an inadvertent blind test when TAB switched to using Nutrasweet and I didn’t know it. When the symptoms started I was startled and told a friend that apparently I had been wrong about the cause. He picked up the can of TAB and read the ingredients …
Many years ago I saw a study in Scientific American that said Nutrasweet causes a measurable change to the brain’s electrical patterns.
My children were not allowed to consume this poison.