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Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

theguardian.com

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Re: Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

#161

Post by kelipso »

glonq wrote: post #156

A few of the conspiracy nutters that I know firmly beleive that "Big Aspartame" is responsible for suppressing information about its dire negative effects. But when you consider: - how many doctors and scientists are personally/professionally motivated to research this - how many gov't organizations are concerned about this - how many industry competitors would benefit from discovering this - how many lawyers would g…

And yet it took 40+ years for its danger to be widely acknowledged. Forgive me but for thinking there is something suspicious going on... Frankly, the Big Aspartame should be the default explanation and any other explanation be under more scrutiny.

Re: Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

#163

Post by samtho »

glonq wrote: post #156

A few of the conspiracy nutters that I know firmly beleive that "Big Aspartame" is responsible for suppressing information about its dire negative effects. But when you consider: - how many doctors and scientists are personally/professionally motivated to research this - how many gov't organizations are concerned about this - how many industry competitors would benefit from discovering this - how many lawyers would g…

To expand on point number 3, the sugar industry is one of the most notorious at utilizing motivated research to its own benefit. If aspartame had even slightest chance of causing illness or cancer, you could bet on the inevitable, unrelenting smear campaign that Big Sugar would be waging against it.

Re: Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

#164

Post by asfgidonhio »

ravenstine wrote: post #148
dimitar wrote: post #98

This is awful reporting. Aspartame has been studied for more than 40 years and no regulatory body in any country has found it to be cancerogenic; it is a risky substance for people with a rare desease called Phenylketonuria. So, the reader will be under the impression that it will cause cancer, which is pretty dubious, all while obesity for which sugary drinks are partially responsible is a very real cancer risk.

Purely anecdotal, but I used to drink insane amounts of aspartame in the form of Crystal Lite. I don't know what that's made of now, but decades ago it was made with aspartame, and I'd guzzle gallons upon gallons of that stuff because it could be mixed with tap water and was therefore cheaper than buying drinks in cans. Maybe in the long term it will cause my butt to fall off in my 60s, IDK, but if aspartame causes c…

It's a common fallacy that increasing the dose necessarily increases the effects. There are a whole lot of chemicals where the relationship is more complex. There are drugs where negative effects only occur when the drug is discontinued, where the effect of the drug increases or decreases as it it taken continuously, where the effect rapidly saturates and does not increase with increasing dose, and so forth.

I know enough about pharmacology to know that I know nothing.

Re: Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

#165

Post by vosper »

samtho wrote: post #163
glonq wrote: post #156

A few of the conspiracy nutters that I know firmly beleive that "Big Aspartame" is responsible for suppressing information about its dire negative effects. But when you consider: - how many doctors and scientists are personally/professionally motivated to research this - how many gov't organizations are concerned about this - how many industry competitors would benefit from discovering this - how many lawyers would g…

To expand on point number 3, the sugar industry is one of the most notorious at utilizing motivated research to its own benefit. If aspartame had even slightest chance of causing illness or cancer, you could bet on the inevitable, unrelenting smear campaign that Big Sugar would be waging against it.

Who are the players in Big Sugar who works exploit this? Can’t be the likes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, because they’d also be part of Big Aspartame.

Re: Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

#166

Post by vosper »

samtho wrote: post #163
glonq wrote: post #156

A few of the conspiracy nutters that I know firmly beleive that "Big Aspartame" is responsible for suppressing information about its dire negative effects. But when you consider: - how many doctors and scientists are personally/professionally motivated to research this - how many gov't organizations are concerned about this - how many industry competitors would benefit from discovering this - how many lawyers would g…

To expand on point number 3, the sugar industry is one of the most notorious at utilizing motivated research to its own benefit. If aspartame had even slightest chance of causing illness or cancer, you could bet on the inevitable, unrelenting smear campaign that Big Sugar would be waging against it.

Who are the players in Big Sugar who would exploit this? Can’t be the likes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, because they’d also be part of Big Aspartame.

Re: Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

#167

Post by samtho »

kelipso wrote: post #161
glonq wrote: post #156

A few of the conspiracy nutters that I know firmly beleive that "Big Aspartame" is responsible for suppressing information about its dire negative effects. But when you consider: - how many doctors and scientists are personally/professionally motivated to research this - how many gov't organizations are concerned about this - how many industry competitors would benefit from discovering this - how many lawyers would g…

And yet it took 40+ years for its danger to be widely acknowledged. Forgive me but for thinking there is something suspicious going on... Frankly, the Big Aspartame should be the default explanation and any other explanation be under more scrutiny.

Big Aspartame does not exist in a vacuum, however. The sugar industry is arguably bigger, more powerful, and has even more budget to fund motivated research. I don’t trust Big Aspartame to prove to is that it is safe, but I put my full faith in Big Sugar to tell us if something is wrong with Aspartame.

Re: Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

#169

Post by glonq »

samtho wrote: post #167
kelipso wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet it took 40+ years for its danger to be widely acknowledged. Forgive me but for thinking there is something suspicious going on... Frankly, the Big Aspartame should be the default explanation and any other explanation be under more scrutiny.

Big Aspartame does not exist in a vacuum, however. The sugar industry is arguably bigger, more powerful, and has even more budget to fund motivated research. I don’t trust Big Aspartame to prove to is that it is safe, but I put my full faith in Big Sugar to tell us if something is wrong with Aspartame.

I'm not sure that I even beleive in "Big Aspartame". The patents have expired, so there are dozens of companies who manufacture it globally. I doubt that they all meet at their global secret cabal hideout to align their plans to extinguish all research.

Re: Aspartame sweetener to be declared possible cancer risk by WHO, say reports

#170

Post by samtho »

vosper wrote: post #166
samtho wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To expand on point number 3, the sugar industry is one of the most notorious at utilizing motivated research to its own benefit. If aspartame had even slightest chance of causing illness or cancer, you could bet on the inevitable, unrelenting smear campaign that Big Sugar would be waging against it.

Who are the players in Big Sugar who would exploit this? Can’t be the likes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, because they’d also be part of Big Aspartame.

You’re correct that soft drink providers have no horse in this race as they are mere consumers of sweetening agents, and the their product output depends on customer demand. It would hardly make much difference to them if 90% of consumers started to prefer Diet Coke over Coca-Cola, they would just make more Diet Coke.

The sugar industry’s escapades are well known. Most notably, the SRF’s (Sugar Research Foundation) war on dietary fats[0][1].

[0]: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074...

[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099084/

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