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Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

cell.com

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Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#51

Post by shlant »

anon373839 wrote: post #27
kreetx wrote: post #8

Every now and then there is an alarmist article about aspartame, and every time it's hard to tell whether moderate drinking of soft drinks is better when it had regular sugar vs when it has aspartame - can any person more familiar comment on this with regarding to current article?

The funny thing about this question is that it doesn’t really matter, unless it does: Sugar harms your health in a whole host of well documented ways, but a little of it, infrequently, is fine. Aspartame has always been under a cloud of doubt, but is probably also just fine in small amounts. So really, you only need to be thinking about this if you’re having either of them as a regular part of your diet. And if that’…

> Aspartame has always been under a cloud of doubt

But this is almost entirely due to alarmists who were never using good science to justify their perspectives (just like with MSG). The reality is that aspartame is one of the most studied substances in history and it's effect on humans is very clear.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#52

Post by StableAlkyne »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #6
lenerdenator wrote: post #2

I know that they've gone back and forth on artificial sweeteners over the years, but honestly, one of the best things I've done recently is switch over to seltzer water. Triggers all of the chemical receptors in the brain by repeating the "ritual" of drinking canned pop, but it's just water, so it's actually good for you. Also half the cost.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10096725/ >People with little saliva and a habit of frequently consuming acidic beverages are at increased risk for enamel erosion. The basic recommendations are to drink water as the first choice and eat fresh fruits as an integral part of a healthy and balanced diet. >Health professionals should motivate the population to change their behavior regarding the consumption of ac…

Harm reduction is important.

Normal sodas are pretty acidic - coke has a pH of around 2.5

Soda water has a pH of 5-6.

Your saliva has a pH of around 6-7.

Water, of course, is at 7.

Remember we're dealing a log scale here, and that going from 2.5 to 5.5 isn't a 2x improvement - it's closer to a 1000x reduction in the amount of acid. If replacing soda with soda water is what gets them to stick to it, that's what they should do.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#54

Post by mmaunder »

How well established is it that aspartame produces an insulin response? For me that’s the shocker. I don’t consume any but I’ve always suspected this. It suggests that many diet sodas, sugar free gums, and sugar free foods can contribute to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#56

Post by nnutter »

mort96 wrote: post #23
bfmalky wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buy diluting juice. Water it down to your preferred concentration.

While certainly an option, just watering out a drink more isn't really what they're asking for. There's lots of other flavor compounds that you don't necessarily want watered out just because you want less sugar.

Diluted juice is still a useful suggestion as an alternative idea. I don’t get why people would down vote; that’s not what down vote is for. I like diluted juice quite a bit, 25-50% tastes fine, it’s akin to tea to me. It would be interesting if more beverage companies made a “add your own sweetener” version which is how unsweetened Kool-Aid drink mixes come. They have maltodextrin in them but say they are 0 calorie so I’m not sure if that means it’s a tiny amount or if it somehow gets away claiming zero calories. Just be aware Kool-Aid has sweetened versions as well. I still mostly drink water but some variety is nice.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#57

Post by shlant »

Havoc wrote: post #48

Been avoiding it since day 1. At least with sugar the risks are somewhat understood. Then again...don't drink soda so neither here not there really

> At least with sugar the risks are somewhat understood.

Aspartame has been studied for 50 years. The risks are very well understood. This single study on mice does not shift that.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#58

Post by StableAlkyne »

samfriedman wrote: post #49

>Data and code availability >No original code was generated in this study. Oh come on. I thought Cell was more strict than this.

It's a major problem in science, unfortunately

You see it in the computational fields too - often the best you can get is an uncommented mess of Python and Shell scripting. If you get anything at all.

The worst are those that train ML models to predict a property, spend several pages talking about how good it is... And just never bother including the model artifacts. IMO that's the stuff that should get papers rejected.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#59

Post by MrMcCall »

cynicalpeace wrote: post #29

The lesson again and again is to simply eat whole foods. ...cue the onslaught of wise-guy comments claiming sliced carrots aren't whole foods.

Hundreds of housands of years of the human body's evolution should be respected, neh?

I like my day's first glass of water to have a half a lemon's worth of juice freshly squeezed into it.

My cold-brew (or occasionally espresso) coffee gets real maple syrup (no Log Cabin bullshit sugar-fest) and half-and-half or maybe whole milk.

Sometimes I mix yogurt into a mug of milk towards the end of the day.

That's the fullness of my liquids, except that which comes naturally with food.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#60

Post by kypro »

> Here, we show that consumption of 0.15% aspartame (APM) markedly increased insulin

Most food will "markedly increase insulin", and sugary food / drinks even more so.

Obviously people should try to eat healthy and ideally avoid artificial sweeteners, but in reality people are not machines and they're not going to drink water and eat lean meat and veg every day just because that's what's best for them.

It seems to me that for most people who like to occasionally consume soft drinks that switching to a comparable artificially sweetened alternative is going to be better for you even if there are still risks.

A study titled "eating cake aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation" isn't reason to never eat cake. It's just reason to be sensible and consume in moderation.

People have been consuming artificially flavoured foods and drinks daily for decades at this point. While these things are interesting to know and consider, no one should be concerned about this unless you're consuming an excessive amount of Aspartame. And even then it's almost certainly better for you to do that than consume excessive amounts of sugar.

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