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aspartame and sucralose are toxic, but what about saccharine?

 
Trailboss
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I learned that aspartame was toxic years ago. My wife would get horrible headaches from the stuff. And then I read the stuff on the net ... I can't beleive they're permitted to sell it.
Recently we started consuming sucralose and after everybody getting regularly cranky, we read on the internet that it can make you cranky. So we're dropping it for a while to see if crankiness is reduced.
So we're looking at saccharine again. It turns out that the claims that it could cause cancer were rather trumped up. While searching the net, I cannot find any information to suggest that it has any health side effects.
Anybody know of any problems with saccharine?
 
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Looks like there is a certain amount of controversy, -- here is an interesting article. The fact that drew my attention was that saccharin is classified as a hazardous waste by the EPA. The article conclusion is that saccharin should be banned.
[ November 05, 2003: Message edited by: Eugene Kononov ]
 
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Have you heard of Stevia extract? Heres's a list of sweetners with advice, and another page with some more info on Stevia and Stevioside.
... oh look! A Google ad for Stevia already!
[ November 05, 2003: Message edited by: Richard Hawkes ]
 
mister krabs
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And then I read the stuff on the net ... I can't beleive they're permitted to sell it.
http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp
Haven't you learned not to believe anything you read on the net? Do a search on canola oil and then go to snopes for the truth.
 
paul wheaton
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Eugene, that article on saccharine is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! In one article I read, it suggested that there have been over 4000 studies done on saccharine (and just 25 on sucralose). And it still sounds like they're having a hard time coming up with something really conclusive about it.
Thomas, I took a look at your "snopes" site. Sorry, dude, I now have to consider that snopes is wrong and cannot be trusted for all of their other stuff. I have personally met way too many people, first hand, that have had bad reactions to aspartame. Including my wife. That stuff most definitely is poison and I've gone years without touching it. Was the world flat in 1491 just because nobody had proven that it was spherical? Whether aspartame is at the root of MS, Lupis, CFS, etc., I dunno. I'm convinced that the stuff causes headaches and forgetfullness in some people - maybe even all people to a lessor degree.
Richard, yes! I've used stevia and stevioside. It has a bitter, herbish aftertaste. In certain things (like lemonade) you cannot tell. And it seems to do well in tea. But it seems less-than-optimal in coffee.
Other options includ crystaline fructose in small amounts (it has a very low glycemic index), FOS (fructooligosaccharides - good for probiotics) and maltitol (sweet, low GI, but causes gas, consume only in very small amounts). These all have calories, but no aftertaste.
I could be wrong about the sucralose, but I'm gonna take a few weeks off from it and see if I feel better. Granted, the stuff I read was anecdotal, but the weird thing is that the patterns that others described where spot on with what my wife and I were experiencing.
 
paul wheaton
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At the top of this page, google suggested "Xylitol" .... Hmmmm, sounds interesting. Anybody have experience with it?
 
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Not to be a jackass, Paul, but two other fine alternatives are sugar and nothing. It's not as though sugar has umpteen million calories. A teaspoon has something like 20 calories; out of a quite spartan diet including 1500-2000 a day for a normal adult, one spoonful in the morning coffee is still just a 1% drop in the bucket.
But black coffee is lovely stuff, and club soda is every bit as refreshing as cola; I drink both. I also love candy, so it's not like I'm an ascetic.
If there's a real issue with sugar (like diabetes,) then that's part of the equation, and you have to weigh the adverse effects of the diabetes vs. the adverse effects of the sweeteners. The very small cancer risk of saccarine is probably the lesser evil compared to the problems of uncontrolled diabetes.
But if it's the Atkins thing, I'm afraid I'm becoming a minority voice in the wilderness when I say that a balanced diet will be proven healthier than any restrictive diet. If you're worrying about long-term effects of sweeteners, you have to ask yourself about long-term effects of carbohydrate deprivation -- how many studies have been done on that?
 
paul wheaton
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Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
Not to be a jackass, Paul, but two other fine alternatives are sugar and nothing.


Nothing is something I've done a lot of over the last ten years. I struggle with obesity and hypoglycemia. Logically, I simply would not eat that which I know is bad for me. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that I'm an idiot. Or maybe a buffoon. Whatever it is, sometimes I can find a compromise between logic and my sweet tooth by using these products.
Atkins: I think you are correct-ish. I think Atkins took a good idea too far. I think less carbs is wise. And lower GI carbs is wise. But elimination (even for just two weeks) has debatable health value. Well, I could wax on for hours on this, but I'll drop it.
The key is that when it comes to my health, I'm a dolt. Pseudo-sugar seems to be a tool I can use to be less of a dolt.
 
Ernest Friedman-Hill
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The key is that when it comes to my health, I'm a dolt.


Well, that's a little harsh. I understand the sentiment really well, though. I was a 2-pack a day smoker from age 17 until age 33, when I married. My wife wouldn't let me smoke. She was able to do for me what I was not able to do for myself. And I think quitting smoking is easy compared to controlling your diet, because with smoking it's instantly possible for someone else to tell you've cheated.
 
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Here's a link from an article by Dr. Andrew Weil, seems balanced.
www.drweil.com
He says the cancer/mult.sclerosis claims on the internet are unfounded, but does mention other risks and ultimately recommends using sugar in moderation over artificial sweeteners.
[ November 06, 2003: Message edited by: Thomas White ]
 
Thomas Paul
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Paul, some people are allergic to aspertame which is why they have a reaction to it. Would you say that pollen is toxic just because some people have a reaction to it?
 
paul wheaton
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Don't allergies have something to do with hystamines? So I don't think this would be related to having allergies. I'm not sure what I would lump it with. But having met people who detailed for me how they came to the conclusion that aspartame was the source of their headaches or memory loss, I'm convinced that it's bad stuff. Sure, it's possible that some people do not experience the same effects as others, but a significant number of people are experiencing problems with it. I would guess that one person out of eight avoids aspartame because it gives them headaches.
I find it creepy so I've been aspartame free for several years.
If I were king of the world, I suppose I would put on my king-of-the-world-web-site "Lotsa people say aspartame makes them sick (headaches, loss of memory, etc.). You probably shouldn't eat it. Up to you." Maybe I would even fund some research and then post on my site: "10,000 people drank three diet pops a day for three months and 10,000 didn't. From those that did, 10% got more 6 times more headaches and 3% experienced memory loss."
 
Richard Hawkes
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Originally posted by Paul Wheaton:
At the top of this page, google suggested "Xylitol" .... Hmmmm, sounds interesting. Anybody have experience with it?
Its the biggest chewing gum brand here in Korea. I'm chewing it right now. In fact I chew it all the time! Maybe there's heroin in it too
I've never used xylitol as a stand-alone sweetner, though I don't seem to be suffering from the gum.
 
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Xylose - another type of sugar
Sucrose - table sugar
Fructose - another type of sugar found in fruit. Honey is about half Fructose and half Sucrose. My dad used honey to keep his type-II diabetes under control with diet rather than insulin.
Lactose - milk sugar

Allergies cause a histamine reaction (which is why people take anti-histamines to fight the symptoms). Histamines can cause headaches. Don't know about the forgetfulness part. But I don't use Nutrasweet anymore either, except on rare occasions.
[ November 07, 2003: Message edited by: Marilyn de Queiroz ]
 
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Try a less refined sugar like brown sugars. Combined with certain coffees you get distinct flavours. Substituting honey is probably the best.
Keep a bee-hive if you are keen on organic farming. You can get distinctive local flavours depending on the flowers growing around you.
Of course if you are allergic to the pollen near you, avoid the third option. Though I think over time it can help to build a resistance naturallly.
regards
[ November 07, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]
 
paul wheaton
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Originally posted by HS Thomas:
Try a less refined sugar like brown sugars. Combined with certain coffees you get distinct flavours. Substituting honey is probably the best.
Keep a bee-hive if you are keen on organic farming. You can get distinctive local flavours depending on the flowers growing around you.
Of course if you are allergic to the pollen near you, avoid the third option. Though I think over time it can help to build a resistance naturallly.
[ November 07, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]


Brown Sugar: Is actually white sugar plus molasses. I think you are thinking of raw sugar.
Raise yer own honey: I do want to try this one day. But my reading so far suggests that it will be a few hundred dollars to get into and there are complications at this time due to some parasites that have caused serious hive problems in the last few years.
Honey, pollen and allergies: One of the things I've read is that if you consume locally made honey it will help prevent pollen allergy issues in your area.
 
HS Thomas
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Bummer about the bees.

Maple Syrup tastes like honey. It is only maple sap that's converted by enzymes into syrup and is a pure natural process.
Sugar + yeast = alcohol + carbon dioxide. Anyone with a vineyard to waste might be able to convert grape juice to sugar if it is possible to reverse the enzyme action. Result honey of sorts?
regards
[ November 08, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]
 
Thomas Paul
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Originally posted by HS Thomas:
Maple Syrup tastes like honey. It is only maple sap that's converted by enzymes into syrup and is a pure natural process.
Sugar + yeast = alcohol + carbon dioxide. Anyone with a vineyard to waste might be able to convert grape juice to sugar if it is possible to reverse the enzyme action. Result honey of sorts?

First, maple syrup does not taste like honey. They are very distinctive in flavor. Of course if you buy "pancake syrup" which is nothing but flavored corn syrup then you might not notice the difference.
Second, you seem a little confused. Grape juice contains lots of sugar which is why yeast eats it and produces alcohol as their waste product. (The alcohol eventaully builds up and kills the yeast which is why wine tops out at relatively low alcohol percentages.) Extracting the sugar from grape juice would have nothing to do with reversing any enzyme process.
 
HS Thomas
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Thanks Thomas.
Oh well! Forget the sugars and switch to drinking 2 glasses of red wine a day. Red wine
The benefits outweigh the damage! And it may end any craving for sugar.
Anti-ageing is the best kind of enzyme action reversal.
The idea is not intended to work on kids below the age of 18,though.

regards
[ November 08, 2003: Message edited by: HS Thomas ]
 
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