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!

Refined sugar has been consumed for centuries and the risks are well known as is how to avoid them.

Aspartame on the other hand has been consumed for about three decades so people who consume it from childhood have not yet reached old age.

Personally I choose not to be part of this mass experiment. The risks are low but come back to me in 100 years. In the meantime I'll moderate my sugar intake and brush my teeth properly.

Plus, it tastes awful.

"The mercola reference is to a list of research. Bothered to read all or any of the articles before you dismissed them?"

sohackedoff, being a doctor and clinical scientist, I'm quite good at reading research, but found it hard to find anything of substance on his website.

Interestingly, a very quick PubMed search for JM Mercola shows that his last publication in an actual real scientific peer-reviewed journal was in 2001.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=mercola+JM

Even his website gives his most recent 'publication' as being in 2004. That was a Rapid Response on the BMJ website (similar to a comment on Mumsnet or a letter to the paper) in response to an editorial which claimed that aspartame was fine, so not a proper peer reviewed article either.

Overall, his 'research' and its scientific robustness is lacking. It comes down to articles opining his personal opinion, and does very little to further the discussion about the safety of aspartame or otherwise in a real, actual, scientific sense.

Diet drinks may not make people fat but some drinkers do get weirdly dependant on them.

Margarine isn't safe?

What does it do then?

Margarine does unmentionable things to a perfectly nice slice of bread. Like.....make it taste like shit.

Yeah, I'm pretty dependant on them.

I notice if I haven't had one for a while. It's the first thing I do in the morning, after peeing, open a can of pepsi max.

If I ever gave it up it would be because of the stupid amount of money I spend on it.

Mercola site is just a marketing ploy. Its amazing how many people who play the big pharma card , fall hook line and sinker for mercola.

I react to it - and caffeine so Coke is out for me. And coffee, tea ...

So I am holier than thou and only drink water or peppermint/green tea. And lots of wine. It's not worth the risk for me!

yeah - I think Caffeine is addictive and a chemical and a drug!

How clever of you to work that out!

lovelyfriend, I can only assume, is making some sort of joke, about nicely demonstrating another version of a straw man argument and laughing that some people can't understand simple clear statements, never mind actual scientific research. Surely...

piece, might I suggest that we start a website warning people about coffee and tea poisoning, because I've really gone off since becoming pregnant this time round. I have loads of letters after my name, so it doesn't matter what I say on the website or if it is backed up with anything resembling actual science whatsoever, someone will believe us!

Squoosh

I call 'house' on my game of fuckwit bingo from this thread - not for the original posting (which is boringly sensible) but for the 'I ignored school totally and am incapable of logical thinking brigade'

we have:

• the 'nasty chemicals' lot
• the 'big pharma' whiners
• the 'I want proof of 100% safe' fools

depressing, really.

It's like people who go around advising to use fluoride free toothpaste on your kids.

Yes do..if you like them having fillings and decay.

Can anyone recommend a way to manage toast without margarine? I can't do butter, it's like a rock, how on earth do people do this?

Do you keep the butter out of the fridge or something?

Is there another alternative - like a 'good' version of marg?

TIA!

Dino sounds like a plan! A actually get a horrendous hangover feeling if I drink caffeine, Palpitations and sweats.

Have not had any since my teen years (46 now).

How do you know what it tastes like, I'm confused by that. Surely you'd need to taste it solely to know what it tastes like?

Compare a squash with high juice to one with no sugar and aspartame/whatever the other one is called

It's disgusting (the second one, I mean)

It tastes very artificial.

I love butter but can't figure out how to spread it without bending the knife and breaking my bread or toast into tiny crumbs

Yes op completely agree with you! It drives me nuts!
Some people may have intolerances to it, doesn't mean it's dangerous!
I get migraines from chocolates, cheese and sweets, but i don't go around saying they're dangerous!
I know it was taken out of lots of things in the usa, but that's not really a shock.
Once a scaremonger says something it spreads like wildfire!
Last year the new thing was the caramel colouring starbucks used as it was carcinogenic- in vast vast quantities! You would need to be drinking gallons and gallons of the stuff before there would be any effect. The fact it has been tested and labelled safe by the fsa means nothing.
Lots of things have the potential to cause harm when you ingest huge amounts. Sugar can cause diabetes and red meats in huge quantities can cause cancer!
I love diet pepsi, pepsi maxx and am addicted to the green coke!( not sure what is in that one) i used to love diet coke and would drink a can or 2 at lunch everyday until i started drinking normal coke and fell in love with it! I'm still here
I would drink pepsi cherry and diet pepsi cherry along with green coke every day if i could actually get it
When i have a migraine ( nothing to do with it i've suffered with them all my life, well before my love for all that is fizzy) nothing i want more than a glass of coke or green coke. Really helps my head.
Whoever was talking about pepsicherry, if you're in the uk where are you getting it from

The only reasons I actively avoid sweeteners

• Its not great to become accustomed to a very sweet tooth. My opinion obvs.

• There have been some studies to suggest sweeteners can lead to problems with glucose tolerance. Being from a family with many cases of type 1 and 2 diabetes Its not a risk I want to take until they can say for certain what the link, if any is.

www.nhs.uk/news/2014/09September/Pages/Do-artificial-sweeteners-raise-diabetes-risk.aspx

Pipistrella store your butter in a butter dish rather than the fridge. Results in the perfect spreadable consistency!

I find it annoying how hard it is to get real sugar squashes because I started hating the taste when I was pregnant. The weird aftertaste is now gone but all except pear and lychee tasted far too sweet for me.

I am well aware of the amount of sugar involved so drink a variety of drinks - juice, squash and water - depending on my mood at the time. Eating healthily is NOT a matter of eating "better" versions of junk but more of eating a balanced diet.

I love sorbitol. Even the tiniest amount gives me squits and I lose weight.
Yes that's twisted. But then I have massively disordered eating habits.

Put butter in microwave!

I never store it in the fridge once we open it.