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Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

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91–100 of 106 posts

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#91
post #13

How is there not a slam dunk answer to whether this 50+ year old incredibly popular ingredient is ok for us or not?

It's not a generic thing that's applicable to "everyone". For most(?) people aspartame is just fine. Science is weird with stuff that's not universal, it requires too much studying and narrowing the exact prerequisites and people just give up (or don't get funding).

For others (like me) aspartame is not OK in some cases. I can either drink aspartame and ingest no sugar. Or I can drink sugary drinks. Both are fine.

But if I have both a diet coke AND sugary sweets -> my intestines produce gases that are considered a war crime even by Putin.

No idea why, but it just happens.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#92
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> diet is also relatively lower in bread I've wondered about about carb substitution. The rice, and the wheat noodles, why are they healthier? (I can understand rice somewhat: it's less processed, by certain definitions.)

> and the wheat noodles Buckwheat is not wheat, soba noodles are based on buckwheat. Not sure how large fraction of all noodles they eat are that though. Feels like there is something related to additives and other things that makes people eat more.

> Buckwheat is not wheat, soba noodles are based on buckwheat.

Whilst you're correct about buckwheat, just about all soba noodles that I've seen here in the UK are predominantly wheat based (I'm gluten sensitive, so have read a lot of product labels).

When looking for gluten free noodles in Asian supermarkets, I've only really found ones that are rice based with some rarer sweet potato vermicelli varieties.

Edit: after a brief search, I have found some Clearspring 100% buckwheat noodles which I shall have to find and buy. They also sell the more usual wheat and buckwheat version of Soba noodles.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#93
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calorie intake is up. Don't overcomplicate it. From 2016: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/12/13/whats-on-... > Broadly speaking, we eat a lot more than we used to: The average American consumed 2,481 calories a day in 2010, about 23% more than in 1970. That’s more than most adults need to maintain their current weight

> Calorie intake is up. Don't overcomplicate it. You're doing the opposite - oversimplifying it. Why is calorie intake up is a legitimate, important question.

Because calories are cheaper now, thanks in large part to low cost, energy dense vegetable oils.

When people can get more calories per dollar they will eat more calories.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#94
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you read the abstract? I'm a physician with a BS in human nutrition, and at first glance I find it hard to consider anything about that abstract a "slam dunk" for mice and monkeys, far less for humans. I'm very open to human data that aspartame is bad for humans in reasonable amounts, if you have any, but I haven't seen it. I'm looking to avoid erythritol these days though.

I think you misread the comment you are replying to. They are not saying that the abstract is a slam dunk.

Yes, I misread -- thank you. I thought it began with "how is this" and not "how is there".

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is possible you are addicted to the caffeine rather than Diet Coke. Did you try switching to coffee or caffeine pills?

I like the taste. This is why Monster energy and Coca Cola are my only two drinks. With a hint of 7-up.

The flavor of Diet Coke only vaguely resembles Coca Cola.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#96
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you read the abstract? I'm a physician with a BS in human nutrition, and at first glance I find it hard to consider anything about that abstract a "slam dunk" for mice and monkeys, far less for humans. I'm very open to human data that aspartame is bad for humans in reasonable amounts, if you have any, but I haven't seen it. I'm looking to avoid erythritol these days though.

> I'm looking to avoid erythritol these days though. Why? My loose sense of the current thinking on this is that erythritol is one of the "safer" alternatives.

Several studies posted to HN in the last year or so regarding increased risk of blood clots in humans at blood levels similar to those seen at usual amounts of consumption.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#97
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Calorie intake is up. Don't overcomplicate it. You're doing the opposite - oversimplifying it. Why is calorie intake up is a legitimate, important question.

Because calories are cheaper now, thanks in large part to low cost, energy dense vegetable oils. When people can get more calories per dollar they will eat more calories.

Totally might be the case. I'm not sure, but I think I've seen good reasons to think this doesn't exactly line up though - increased wealth in different countries didn't match exactly, timeline wise.

But I'm far from an expert

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#98
post #12
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This just begs the next "why". Why are people eating more now? Such a significant behavior change across a large population is not well explained by "we just did". I'm not sure fast food consumption or huge portion sizes is a great explanation. If fast food is the problem, why does that matter if it just comes down to calories? As for larger portion sizes, would even larger portions make us continue eating? Would tin…

> This just begs the next "why". Why are people eating more now? Have you been in a US supermarket? It's absolutely nuts and I don't think many Americans realise it. To be bombarded with monumentally huge portions of everything is just a recipe for...well....the situation the US is in. Theres not many other countries that have whole food groups focused on cramming in as much peanut butter, jelly, marshmallow, chocola…

I didn’t fully grasp how poorly our US bread approximates the real thing until I visited Europe. It’s weirdly spongy and candy sweet, and that’s the “healthy” bread in the bread aisle. Our food culture is just kind of gross most of the time, and the ersatz health food is some of the worst, as it’s been punched up with loads of organic cane juice or pear juice concentrate. Or celery juice if it’s a product that wants to claim not to have added nitrates. And, it should go without saying, truckloads of salt.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the taste. This is why Monster energy and Coca Cola are my only two drinks. With a hint of 7-up.

The flavor of Diet Coke only vaguely resembles Coca Cola.

My taste buds say Coke Zero better approximates it, although it goes stale in just a few months so cannot sit on the shelf. To me, Diet Coke tastes shallow and like chemicals.

Re: Aspartame aggravates atherosclerosis through insulin-triggered inflammation

#100
post #2

Aspartame (1965) was approved by the US FDA in 1974/1981. This is commonly paired with acesulfame-K (1967) to provide sweetness in low-calorie drinks and sodas. Saccharin (1879) was the first artificial sweetener, followed by cylcamate (1937). Low calorie sodas (Tab, etc) using these sweeteners were introduced in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In the 1980’s diet sodas sweetened with the combination of aspartame and acesulfam…

I'm not overweight, but I observed the following: - All artificial sweeteners when consumed on empty-stomach, causes very strong feelings of hunger in a short time. My guess is that this can more than cancel out the reduced calorie content. - Sucralose gives me headaches.

Might be psychosomatic or unrelated to the sweetener.

Drinks containing caffeine tend to lead to mild dehydration and caffeine withdrawal headaches.

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