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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 15, 2010 - 11:35am PT
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Many years ago I became violently sick from eating some breath mints containing aspartame as a sweetener. I got so dizzy that I fell across my Mother's cofee table in the living room when I tried to stand up, and then barfed. All night long with the dry heaves followed. I have avoided the stuff ever since then, about 18 years now.
What prompted this was a news note on my ISP, Hughes.net, had a story about Glen Beck going blind from drinking Diet Coke, which utilizes Aspartame as a sweetener. I curious if anyone else has ever experienced bad effects from this absolute $hit?
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Oct 15, 2010 - 11:37am PT
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No, I don't touch the stuff. Even before reading that story.
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Oct 15, 2010 - 11:48am PT
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Shite! BrassNuts is logged into my computer. This is Crimpergirl though:
I manage to ingest a fair amount of it and I don't drink sodas. It's available in many forms and I guess I've been lucky as it's not made me sick. Weird.
According to one source, "it is now estimated that over 6,000 food and drink products worldwide containing this popular artificial sweetener." We know it more by the names of Equal and Nutrasweet.
Here's an incomplete list of foods with it swiped from the web:
# Breath Mints
# Carbonated Soft Drinks
# Cereals
# Chewing Gum
# Flavored Syrups for Coffee
# Flavored Water Products
# Frozen Ice
# Frozen Ice Cream Novelties
# Fruit Spreads
# Gelatin, Sugar Free
# Hard Candies
# Ice cream Toppings
# Ice Creams, No Sugar Added or Sugar Free
# Iced Tea, Powder
# Iced Tea, Ready to Drink
# Instant Cocoa Mix
# Jams & Jellies
# Juice Blends
# Juice Drinks
# Maple Syrups
# Meal Replacements
# Mousse
# No Sugar Added Pies
# Non-Carbonated Diet Soft drinks
# Nutritional Bars
# Powdered Soft Drinks
# Protein Nutritional Drinks
# Pudding
# Soft Candy Chews
# Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup
# Sugar Free Cookies
# Sugar Free Ketchup
# Table Top Sweeteners
# Vegetable Drinks
# Yogurt, Drinkable
# Yogurt, Fat Free
# Yogurt, Sugar Free
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 15, 2010 - 12:05pm PT
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Just how this crap managed to gain FDA certification is beyond me; it is an analog of a highly active hormone Gastrin I. I always avoided eating or drinking the stuff based on that alone, but in my haste at a 7-11 around 11:00 PM on a cross country trip from North Carolina to Denver, I needed to get the bad taste of some fast food out of my mouth before dropping in on my parents. I didn't check the breath mint ingredients, or I never would have bought/eaten them.
Point of information: Aspartame = Aspartyl-Phenylalanine Methyl Ester.
This is the C-terminal dipeptide sequence analog of Gastrin I, which is Aspartyl-Phenylalanineamide. Gastrin I is a 17 amino acid sequence (peptide) that regulates blood flow to the stomach after eating, and triggers the liberation of gastric acid (dilute hydrochloric acid)to digest food. The scientific papers I've read indicate that 96% of the activity of the natural hormone resides in the C-terminal tetrapeptide, and that the methyl ester "only" possesses 4% of the activity of the amide. However, eating several breath mints on an empty stomach disabused me of the benign nature of Aspartame. The dizziness I experienced was due to pooling of blood in the stomach mucosa, and having nearly no food to digest triggered the violent nausea. I was really pi$$ed afterwards and wrote an angry letter to the FDA. I'm still waiting for their response 18 years later. I've actually made a lot of these peptides in my laboratory and sold them to the medical research community over the years.
Edit: I corrected a typo above, and Gastrin I is a 17 amino acid residue peptide, not 16 as originally typed.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Oct 15, 2010 - 12:16pm PT
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I wonder why some have such bad responses to it and others don't. Glad you stay away from it given how it messes with you Brokedownclimber.
How does Sweet and Low or Splenda compare to it? Anyone know? It seems these are also in a ton of food products.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 15, 2010 - 12:18pm PT
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I'm not so sure about the "acting on behalf of big business" comment; my personal experience with examiners from the FDA, is they're using the "CYA principle." Many of them, these days, do not speak English as their native language. Try Hindi, or perhaps Arabic and Farsi. Then try to communicate on a scientific subject? Hmmmm?!
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 15, 2010 - 12:20pm PT
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Crimpie;
In the case I indicated above, it was a significant quantity on a totally empty stomach. Not any special sensitivity.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Oct 15, 2010 - 12:27pm PT
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Thanks BDC. Sounds like scary stuff.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 15, 2010 - 12:36pm PT
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It really affects different people in a wide gradient of reactions.
My ex, a family practice MD is vehemently against it, watched like a hawk that our daughter never ingested any, while growing up.
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nature
climber
Whereverland....
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Oct 15, 2010 - 12:42pm PT
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So what you are saying is we need to send Glen Beck a whole bunch of diet soda?
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Jim Wilcox
Boulder climber
Santa Barbara
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Oct 15, 2010 - 01:18pm PT
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If you're migraine prone Aspartame can be a gnarly trigger.
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grover
climber
The Gar, BC.
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Oct 15, 2010 - 01:29pm PT
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Had tunnel vision once from the stuff. After a day of hot-springing I ate half a box of cereal with aspartame, whilst driving down some long logging road.
Freaked me out, thought I was going blind and had to pull over and let someone else drive.
Get home and read the side of the box and a list of side effects was right on it?!?!?! I've never seen that before or since.
I avoid the stuff at all costs now.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Oct 15, 2010 - 04:10pm PT
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hey there say, brokendownclimber, and all....
well, as for me, once i got into motherhood, and then learned more (as we did grow up with some healthfood background, just as to basic foods)i began checking food labels.... course, even later, i learned even more--though after my kids were already grown... so:
now... i never buy anything packaged at all... but i haveeeeeeeee eaten at the grandkids, and such, on holiday, --however, after reading THIS list and all, folks very well could be mixing and using these things as ingrediants... so i reckon i will be a LOT MORE CAREFUL at their homes... :O
thanks for the heads up.... my kids and grandkids near to see and read all this.... especially the grandkids :O *their family is far too "modern" as to food... :O
say--i did grab the wrong cough drops once... something i rarely use, and, had not eaten that morning... i was on a plane, going home, and i had awful cramps, from just eating one!!! and i couldnt figure what the heck was wrong, as this never happens, and sure enough:
i read the lable, and i knew that had been the cause--the were sugar free!
*i put all the stuff together that i had heard in the past, as to this stuff... not a list as big as you all have, though...
i am going to pass this on... thanks so much...
my grandkids really REALLY NEED to hear this...
god blesss..
:)
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Porkchop_express
Trad climber
Springdale UT
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Oct 15, 2010 - 04:15pm PT
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being diabetic, its tough to get away from the stuff. I have consumed a lot of it over the years and i've never had any problems with it. i feel like there are major negatives about consuming either natural or artificial sweeteners with the possible exception of Agave Nectar and Brown Sugar.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Oct 15, 2010 - 04:35pm PT
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I'll pipe in on this since I have ingested enough of the stuff to be eligible for someone's study. I have no vices except diet soda and have been drinking it daily for 20 years or so. I do have concerns, so over the last few years I have cut way, way back on my soda intake down to only one or two mini (9 oz) sodas a day but I find it impossible to quit completely.
I'm basically pretty healthy considering I lived off Diet Coke, cheese and crackers for a decade before Mr E started feeding me.
Possible side effects??? I do have chronic headaches, but over time I've come to associate this more with the caffeine addiction and sinus problems from my occupation and allergies. I also have abnormal memory retention issues for my age, but this, also, I attributed to excess lead exposure from 25 years in the stained glass business. Hard to say if aspartame contributed to the problems since the side effects are the same. If I develop a brain tumor- I'll get back to you.
I have a family history of obesity and diabetes so dumping loads of real sugar in my tea every morning is not an option. No- I can't drink it black. I attempted to switch to Stevia and had some extremely bad reactions to it. My digestive tract just flat out can't handle it for some reason, not to mention it costs a fortune.
I currently use Sweet and Low (Saccharine)- which at least, seems to have more support from health officials. It is chemically more stable and has less scary studies telling you are going to die if you use the stuff. It doesn't get funky when it's exposed to heat like aspartame.
I've also started drinking more Crystal Geyser sodas. They are currently the only sweet carbonated beverage I can find that have a) no caffeine b)no refined sugar and c) no artificial sweetener d) don't taste like total crap.
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nature
climber
Whereverland....
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Oct 15, 2010 - 04:37pm PT
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try agave.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Oct 15, 2010 - 04:38pm PT
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I like and use agave, but to me, nothing sweetens like Sweet N Lo. Without it, I could drink no coffee. :)
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nature
climber
Whereverland....
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Oct 15, 2010 - 04:43pm PT
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for some reason i naturally stick with natural things. go figure, eh?
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Oct 15, 2010 - 04:45pm PT
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I do like agave, but I like my tea pretty sweet and agave gets pricey for someone who's unemployed and drinks tea all day like me. Not to mention it is similar to honey- with real sugar and the high calorie content which circles back to the diabetes prevention thing.
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