Bloody aspartame poisoning...

[FoofooLeSnoo]

Is not real and has been disproved time and time again. Aibu to get cross every time someone says its toxic blah blah blah! There is one group of people who should avoid it if they have a certain rare condition otherwise it's completely safe.
Rant over!

Oh and it's a win for the manufacturer as the artificial stuff is cheaper for them to use.

I think the food regulations should stipulate that things are 'artificially sweetened' rather than 'low sugar'. It is misleading.

Is xylitol the ones that gives people the squits?

Yes to Xylitol. Speaking of which, whatever happened to Clorets?

I stick to real sugar versions when I'm having sweet things and just don't drink fizzy drinks much. It tastes vile and research is inconclusive at best about it providing weight loss benefits or lowering the risk of diabetes compared to full sugar versions. There's no convincing evidence of it being toxic to the vast majority, though,either. As far as I can see the only clear benefit compared to sugar is lower tooth decay. Things that aren't sweet, however, have all the above benefits without the nasty aftertaste. Basically I don't have a huge problem with them but wouldn't choose to consume them, either.

Peggyundercrackers - I know. You are right
But I won't actively buy something which I know contains artificial sweeteners when a more natural alternative is available.
I agree re. labelling. No Added sugar is misleading. OK there is no added sugar but if it contains sweeteners it should say so. Clearly.

It tastes really horrible. I can't stand it. That's enough for me to avoid it.

Where is the definitive source for it being safe?

Nothing is 100% safe, including water.

I am worried about this, have swapped to sweeteners but really limit sweeteners for my DC as I am worried.

I feel this is vaguely relevant and love Tim Minchin.

'Everything is chemicals!'

Birdsgottafly - phenylalanine is an essential amino acid: your body needs it, but can't make it. So you must be ingesting it from somewhere or you'd be ill - possibly soy, nuts or seeds, which all contain it.

I react to it.

So be abusive and rant at me.

I remember watching a documentary stating that artificial sweeteners would only have an adverse effect if you consumed a large sack a day..? Sugar and sugar addiction is surely the main cause of the obesity crisis and with it an endless list of serious health problems but most people dont label sugar as a 'poison'..?!

My DD is allergic to it (narrowed down through diet sheets & blood tests) - it gives her D&V.
We buy from Sainsburys as they don't add it to any of their products.

I don't like Stevia - it has a weird mouthfeel that I really don't like. It's annoying that it's been added to Sprite because I used to love a nice cold Sprite on a hot day.

I have no issues with any of the other artificial sweeteners. I probably drink 2 litres of sugar free Vimto a day (I don't like the taste of water on its own) so it's either ingest a fuck load of calories or go sugar free.

I live on artificially sweetened squash. Rather that than sugar.

Sorbitol causes the squits. I verified this when cool mints were launched, when I was about 12, and I scoffed an entire tube instead of my favourite Trebor mints (ignore the emoticons' intended meanings - that was the effect a massive dose of sorbitol had on me!)

Ah, the "chemicals". You are right, heavens, best keep your children away from chemicals like hydrogen dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen, glucose, valine, tryptophan, leucine...

red, lots of people react to lots of different things. Some people get migraines with chocolate (as someone said above. That isn't "chocolate poisoning". Some people, because of an altered immune system, are allergic to peanuts. That doesn't mean that we should all stop eating peanuts.

Absolutely emwithme. I'm always baffled that people choose drinks with the substance which is proven to be harmful ie. Sugar, over artificial sweeteners which are proven not to be! If you are going to drink soft drinks in large quantities it's going to make you consume less calories than if you have full sugar.
I completely agree that full sugar is tastier though!

I react to it.

So be abusive and rant at me.

Firstly because you react to it, it doesn't make it dangerous to general population

Secondly - eh?

If it was toxic I would 100% be dead by now, I drink what could be considered a dangerous amount of Diet Coke! Although I do have terrible digestive issues, horrible sleep issues and the worlds tiniest bladder so there might be something not great about it all things considered...

Sorbitol def causes diarrhoea.

My sister once had a hot date, as she was getting ready she ate a whole packet of sugar free sea creatures and then had the squits so bad she had to cancel the date.

How we laughed.

"I react to it.

So be abusive and rant at me."

Why would anyone do that?

I think I would keep my kids away from hydrogen dioxide. It sounds lethally unstable.

Given than poison is all about dose, I'm pretty sure it is possible to poison yourself with aspartame. That doesn't mean it's unfit for human consumption; just that aspartame poisoning is probably a real thing (probably requiring you to drink an improbably amount of squash, and even then it might be the water that gets you before the aspartame does).

It does taste terrible though. I would much rather have water to drink than water flavoured with something that tastes bad.