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FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

cnbc.com

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Re: FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

#81

Post by autoexec »

legitster wrote: post #14

> Schubauer-Berigan acknowledged during a press conference with journalists Wednesday that the studies could contain flaws that skewed the results. She said the classification should be viewed as a call to conduct more research into whether aspartame can cause cancer in humans. > “Aspartame is one of the most studied food additives in the human food supply. FDA scientists do not have safety concerns when aspartame is…

> Aspartame could possibly hold the title as the most scrutinized chemical in history.

I don't understand this talking point, but I see it repeated often. Aspartame has only been approved since the 70s and was only discovered in the 1960s. The total of all the years of use/research into Aspartame doesn't even amount to a single human lifespan. It's barely over half of one! How the hell are we supposed to have any idea of the long term effects from that? In terms of "most scrutinized chemical in history" I don't think Aspartame has a chance against chemicals like water or ethanol.

Re: FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

#82

Post by [deleted] »

chrisco255 wrote: post #67
criddell wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The WHO does have a tendency to lean overly cautious Not always. It took them far too long to acknowledge COVID-19 could be transmitted through the air. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00925-7

That tells you about how much you should listen to their opinions on the causation of cancer, eh?

[deleted]

Re: FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

#84

Post by lowbloodsugar »

zwieback wrote: post #62

We have an obesity epidemic, not a diet-coke-cancer epidemic in this country. I'd say the occasional can of diet soda is a good tradeoff.

An occasional can of regular soda is also fine. The problem is mass consumption of either, and the link between soda and fatty foods. People eating salads aren’t drinking a coke of any kind. What goes great with a coke? A giant BBQ pulled pork sandwich with sloppy fries and onion rings.

Re: FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

#85

Post by anonporridge »

withinrafael wrote: post #45
chomp wrote: post #4

> An adult who weighs 70 kilograms, or 154 pounds, would have to drink more than nine to 14 cans of aspartame-containing soda daily to exceed the limit and potentially face health risks. Okay, but if I consume 9 to 14 cans of sugar-based soda, I don't wind up with the same cancer risk? It's a ludicrous amount of aspartame/soda to be sure, but there -is- something potentially an issue with aspartame somewhere in there…

Probably obvious to many, but I wanted to throw out there: after quick audit of my kitchen, I found aspartame in or added to other products (e.g., chewing gum, coffee, smoothie mixes, cereal, ice cream, etc.). So lets make sure we keep that in mind when quantitatively measuring aspartame consumption!

Even still, if all of that is replacing sugar and plummeting your risk of diabetes, a small increased risk of cancer after a lifetime of consumption seems like a very acceptable tradeoff.

Re: FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

#86

Post by zer8k »

autoexec wrote: post #81
legitster wrote: post #14

> Schubauer-Berigan acknowledged during a press conference with journalists Wednesday that the studies could contain flaws that skewed the results. She said the classification should be viewed as a call to conduct more research into whether aspartame can cause cancer in humans. > “Aspartame is one of the most studied food additives in the human food supply. FDA scientists do not have safety concerns when aspartame is…

> Aspartame could possibly hold the title as the most scrutinized chemical in history. I don't understand this talking point, but I see it repeated often. Aspartame has only been approved since the 70s and was only discovered in the 1960s. The total of all the years of use/research into Aspartame doesn't even amount to a single human lifespan. It's barely over half of one! How the hell are we supposed to have any ide…

This is simply conjecture but there have been numerous studies done it. Moreover, it's the most consumed artificial sweetener in the world. In this case, you'd think at least some cases of cancer would appear even by chance related to it. Yet, as far as I know, we really haven't seen any that stood up to statistical rigor.

From 1970 to now there have been what...4 generations of aspartame consumers? I'd say that sample size is enough to draw a reasonable conclusion from.

I may be wrong in my assumption here but the amount of aspartame needed to cause these types of things is insane. The amount of aspartame you would need to consume to even approach a level considered mildly hazardous with this new data would be 14 sodas.

Re: FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

#87

Post by zer8k »

mrleinad wrote: post #40
legitster wrote: post #14

> Schubauer-Berigan acknowledged during a press conference with journalists Wednesday that the studies could contain flaws that skewed the results. She said the classification should be viewed as a call to conduct more research into whether aspartame can cause cancer in humans. > “Aspartame is one of the most studied food additives in the human food supply. FDA scientists do not have safety concerns when aspartame is…

> And given the alternative is sugar No, the alternative is to learn to enjoy bitter beverages. We don't need sweeteners.

You do realize you can sweeten more than beverages right? What if a diabetic wants a cookie? Or ice cream?

This is why hazard ratios are important.

Re: FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

#88

Post by zerocrates »

zwieback wrote: post #60
atlex2 wrote: post #53

Diet soda and sweeteners behind them are still a scam even if they don’t “cause cancer.” They’re a scam because they still cause insulin response. Pancreas cranks out insulin after tasting the soda, and there no blood sugar to react with. My uncle drank tons of Diet Coke and got pancreatic cancer. Doesn’t mean diet soda caused his pancreatic cancer, but he definitely didn’t loose weight by drinking the stuff.

Is the science good on this claim? I keep hearing it and we should be more concerned about insulin spikes but is there really a correlation with sweeteners?

If diet soda really caused a big insulin response while containing no sugar, wouldn't we see things like a heavy binge on diet soda causing hypoglycemia? Which I've never heard of.

Re: FDA says aspartame is safe, disagreeing with WHO finding

#90

Post by zerocrates »

cwkoss wrote: post #73
zwieback wrote: post #62

We have an obesity epidemic, not a diet-coke-cancer epidemic in this country. I'd say the occasional can of diet soda is a good tradeoff.

"occasional can of diet soda" is a minimizing strawman. I recently had a friend quit diet pepsi - he used to drink as many as 18 cans per day. I'm not sure its responsible for federal regulators to call that behavior 'safe', and am glad he's kicked the habit.

I don't think the regulators would call drinking 18 cans of anything a day "safe." An ingredient being safe doesn't mean you can have unlimited amounts of it with no ill effects; this isn't even true of water.
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