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Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)

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Re: Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)

#191

Post by n8cpdx »

tracker1 wrote: post #127
m4ck_ wrote: post #33

It's probably not great if you're drinking dozens of cans of sugar free soda every day. All I really know is don't take health advice from influencers, especially if they're selling something, and don't take health advice from people who support deregulation (less industry transparency, oversight, and consequences won't make food or anything safer.)

Not that I always follow it.. but my general advice is to keep sweetened drinks to with meals, and to reduce/eliminate snacking altogether. Sweetened drinks, even zero calorie, sugar free causes some glucose mobilization and insulin response... this insulin response likely contributes to insulin resistance over time. That's just my not a doctor, observational, take on it.

Would this insulin response be detectable with a CGM?

The answer is no - sucralose, saccharin, aspartame; it doesn’t matter, diet soda and artificial sweetener does not affect blood sugar in any detectable way, at least for me. It was one of the first things I checked when I got my CGM.

“It will crash your blood sugar” and “it will spike your blood sugar despite not having carbohydrates” are myths.

Re: Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)

#192

Post by tptacek »

amluto wrote: post #160

Not mentioned in the article: there is a really obvious biological effect of aspartame: it triggers your sweetness receptors. And you have them in your mouth (duh!) and elsewhere in your body including in your gut. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6288399/ One might imagine that aspartame triggers the receptors in the gut and that this has some effect. Maybe different sweeteners have different effects, too, s…

There's not much question that there's some linkage between perception and chemical processes in the body, but there's also no real evidence that those pathways are causally linked to significant metabolic impact.

Your upper GI system quickly transforms aspartame into constituent substances that are widely present in ordinary food.

Different sweeteners certainly have different impacts, but this thread is about aspartame, the best studied and probably the safest of all of them.

Re: Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)

#194

Post by bruckie »

bennettnate5 wrote: post #170
ch4s3 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> discovered through gradual process of elimination that she gets migraines from MSG This is definitely not true. There is no biological pathway that can do this. MSG is nearly identical to the glutamic acid in other foods. If it were true they'd be unable to tolerate parmesan cheese, soy sauce, aged meats, tomatoes, mushrooms, and seaweed.

> This is definitely not true. There is no biological pathway that can do this Nevertheless, it continues to give her migraines even in small portions where other foods don't. I don't doubt it could be some byproduct from the process of MSG salt's synthesis or cooking with it rather than the actual glutamic acid, or some allergy as others have suggested. I wouldn't be so strong as to categorically say that MSG can't…

I'm curious: have you done a (single or double) blind test where you prepare dishes (selected at random) with or without MSG/aspartame/yeast extract and record the effects?

To be clear: not saying you should, just wondering how you came the conclusion that those ingredients are the trigger.

Re: Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)

#195

Post by Groxx »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #155
throw4847285 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you keep drinking them, you'll likely acquire a taste. I didn't used to like any artificial sugar flavors, but now I've grown accustomed to them.

It's not "I don't like the taste". It is "these taste like they're contaminated with antifreeze". They taste like they've been intentionally adulterated with the stuff they use to stop people drinking poisonous things.

Aspartame has a pretty strong, weird metallic flavor to it, and a lot of the sugar alcohols taste... idk, like a belch after a slightly sweet chemical cocktail? Some taste... airy, or dusty, like an absence of flavor, like there's a gap where you'd usually taste something. Hard to describe but very unpleasant. And the flavor lingers for quite a while. Xylitol is mostly alright tho, sadly it's usually blended with other stuff nowadays.

Personally though I think stevia might be the worst, and it's getting added to everything lately, even stuff with more than enough regular sugar.

Honestly I'd prefer to not taste that, since I think most probably are pretty safe and fine (though I would be glad to see a reduction in sweetness in general). But it's really not a choice, nor have I "gotten used to it" in 40 years, despite it being extremely common.

Re: Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)

#197

Post by cyberax »

midiguy wrote: post #182
mint5 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why does everything need to be sweet? Most things don’t need sweetened and shouldn’t be sweet. Of the things that do benefit from sweeteners, they always need like 1/5 the level added. Americans have been trained to love saccharine levels of sweetness. People can easily handle and enjoy lower levels of sweetness if they just do it for a few weeks to recalibrate from candy land.

It's not that everything has to be sweet, but rather that, for example, Coke really isn't Coke without sweetness and people just happen to enjoy Coke. And if you're going to enjoy a Coke, Coke Zero or Diet Coke is better for your health. Of course there are other things like coffee that really are not defined by sweetness and can be perfectly enjoyed unsweetened.

A guy on the Internet recently reverse-engineered the Coke formula and published the recipe. I always liked Diet Coke, the regular one is just too sweet for me.

So I replicated the recipe, and I actually liked unsweetened Cola! It feels a bit tea-like, but also more acidic. Kinda like coffee but without the bitter undertone.

If you like Coke drinks, I highly recommend it.

Re: Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)

#199

Post by mountain_peak »

mountain_peak wrote: post #150
sph wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It actually impacted my blood glucose, and when I read more of the research, sucralose actually did cause an insulin reaction in many people who consumed it Yeah the research has been pointing this out for a while now: even if it doesn't contain digestible sugars, the body, once again, is not a furnace and might activate similar pathways when ingesting something that tastes sweet. Sweeteners are the biological equi…

From personal experience (sorry, n=1), I can eat pure Aspartame powder and have zero reaction - no increase in glucose, no "anticipatory" response - nothing. When I have other sweeteners such as taking a swig of a stevia-laden diet iced tea, I have a reaction. I used to be able to drink the exact same iced tea when they used Aspartame with no effect. I don't think your body is "fooled" by sweet tastes - it only react…

Edit: should have read: "sucralose-laden diet iced tea". Stevia-only drinks don't taste all that good to me, but they don't affect my blood glucose.

Re: Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)

#200

Post by aitchnyu »

cestith wrote: post #53
cael450 wrote: post #36

> Half of the world’s aspartame is made by Ajinomoto of Tokyo—the same company that first brought us MSG back in 1909. There is nothing wrong with MSG either

Indeed. It turns out that “MSG headaches” are just high sodium level headaches, either through dehydration, unbalanced electrolytes, elevated blood pressure or whatever else higher than normal sodium levels cause headaches. The same headache could be caused by salt. MSG actually makes recipes require less of other flavor ingredients, including salt. It’s also often found in dishes that still contain relatively massiv…

Doesnt all sodium chemicals like salt and baking soda increase taste perception?
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