Ok, in case you haven't heard by now, there is much controversy over the concept of "Aspartame Poisoning". If you read my post from Saturday, you know that a friend of mine had some similar symptoms as I did and her nutritionist told her to stop drinking sodas/Crystal Light, etc. with Aspartame (aka "NutraSweet"). My friend told me that after she stopped drinking her diet soda she felt better. She even gave me a few links to check out. One of the links claimed that Aspartame was the cause of over 92 symptoms.
So, I had my Dr. Appointment today and I decided to ask her about this. Could it be that I had Aspartame Poisoning??? Do you know what she told me? "That's a load of crap. There is no such thing as Aspartame Poisoning." Wow. But there are soooo many websites that claim otherwise... hmmm.
She went on to further explain. She stated that the whole Aspartame "issue" began around 1995 as internet hoaxes and email scams began to surge. She stated that the only thing medical science proves is that for people with OTHER conditions, Aspartame may exacerbate certain symptoms, but in and of itself does not cause those symptoms or illnesses. She went on to say that unfortunately, many dietitians, nutritionists and herbologists (?) have hopped on the bandwagon and they are making all sorts of money on this. She also stated that the sad thing is, people often are misguided to think they have Aspartame Poisoning, so they stop the diet drinks and all of a sudden feel better. Unfortunately, it isn't lasting, because really, the illness they do have is still there, festering inside their body, and eventually, will still manifest itself later down the road. Finally, she said that "aspartame poisoning" is a "catch-all"-- a "band-aid" if you will; when they don't know what else it could be, they say it is Aspartame.
Oh, and here's another thing. My Dr. stated that many of those "92 symptoms" are also a result of dehydration. And when people replace their diet sodas with WATER, they HYDRATE the body, so of COURSE they are going to feel BETTER. Then she actually said, "Duh!" Tee hee.
Wow. Very interesting, I thought. So, Aspartame "poisoning" is currently not recognized by the medical field nor the FDA.
What do you think? What have you heard?
Cuz, I don't know about you... but I really dig my Crystal Light Lemonade in the summer. :)
8 comments:
I think a lot of it could be a load of crap (and I hope it is) but I'm wondering why someone would hop on the "aspartame poisoning bandwagon" when they are making no money? Just hopping on because they are convinced? Just because this PT group that I go to has classes warning against it and everything. Classes are free, the nutritionist gets a reg fee from ins for the consultations on general nurtrition but they aren't pushing or selling a diff sweetener or anything like that. I just wonder what the motive is for a lot of people.
I don't know if it's real or not and I'm not stopping my occasional diet cokes unless I got a REAL reason I HAVE to but I also know there are things that the medical community didn't recognize or know about such as ADD or fibromyalgia, etc for a LONGGG TIME. I think I would have to ask a few different drs and do some deep research before discontinuing my crystal lights, etc. lol
I am glad to hear that. If anyone were to get aspartame poisioning, it would be my husband. He drinks at least 6 a day.
I wasn't sure of the name of it but my aunt swears she has that (and about 50 other things that are probably more related to her drug use in the 80s and 90s than anything).
I don't drink much of anything other than water these days but if there's any fact to it, it's probably that their bodies need water not water laced with other crap.
I believe it. Why else can they not tell you what is wrong, and why you feel like crap? When aspartame first came out my sister could not eat it, it made her sick. Even small doses like gum. My mom and aunt used to beg me to stop frinking my diet coke ~ becaue it is so so bad. But it is so so yummy. Hey give it a try. Be your own judge/doctor and see how you feel. Yes water is the best! keep me posted I am interested to know.
Motto: Nature is natural.
Man-made, Not so natural.
When I was 16 I had to go off all soda pop for the entire summer. Imagine a teenager not being able to have ANY soft drinks. I was surprised at how fast the time went and how much better I felt.
I can drink pop now but in smaller quantities. Not the 5-6 cans a day like I had been doing.
Listen to your body, it will tell you. So if is not the pop or the aspartane, what is the under-lying cause?
I didn't know anything about this or the symptoms surrounding it, so I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it was a hoax letter written by Nancy Markle.
Emma, I don't think you should make yourself more anxious worrying about it.
Read what I found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy
We had the same thing here in England about all the E numbers in food from this "Urban Legend" letter.
Hope you feel better soon.
As a Northern European I have never heard of aspartame poisoning! Of course I know that ANY sweetener is man-made-chemical-crap. Water with a lemon and lot's of ice is so much better for you, plus the lemon helps your metabolism... drop the soda, poisoning or not.
Get well soon <3
I have a chronic fatigue syndrome. Diagnosed about 7 years ago. I was never told not to drink diet soda. I was only told not to have much caffeine just because of sleep. I'm a regular soda kind of girl. Not diet. I remember when the bhruhaha about diet soda and such was a huge thing. My daughter is going into Nutrition - maybe she'll change her mind again - and hasn't said anything against it. But then everything causes something somewhere sometime.
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