Aspartame and cancer

[westv]

Yes I used to think that. Wouldn’t touch it. Then I did a 4 day conversion course and now drinking whole milk feels like drinking cheap margarine.

A "conversion course"? That sounds very ominous!

 

[Busaholic]

The problem with skimmed is that it's like having white water.

Calling it milk should be contrary to the Trades Description Act!

 

[route101]

Sodium Nitrate in pork products is one I try to avoid.

 

[ABB125]

A "conversion course"? That sounds very ominous!

"Right everyone, the DfT have decided to allocate the depot a fleet of skimmed milk bottles instead of whole milk. Here's the paperwork you need, showing you that the lid is red rather than blue, the updated safe method of opening and removing the foil bit, and the correct way to pour the milk (because the reduced fat content slightly changes the weight distribution). Now off you go; remember we've got some new class 175s to play with - just poke the buttons until you know what they all do."

 

[Bald Rick]

A "conversion course"? That sounds very ominous!

Its easy

Day 1 - 3 parts semi skimmed, 1 part skimmed
Day 2 - 2 parts semi, 2 parts skimmed
Day 3 - 1 part semi, 3 parts skimmed
Day 4 - skimmed

never looked back.

 

[philosopher]

Sodium Nitrate in pork products is one I try to avoid.

The good news here is that you can buy bacon and ham that is nitrate free, however I do find they do not taste as nice as bacon and ham made with nitrates.

 

[najaB]

The good news here is that you can buy bacon and ham that is nitrate free, however I do find they do not taste as nice as bacon and ham made with nitrates.

Personally I'm comfortable with eating nitrite-containing bacon, just less of it.

 

[busestrains]

All of the various different Artificial Sweeteners (eg, Alitame, Advantame, Aspartame, Acesulfame, Cyclamate, Neotame, Saccharin, Sucralose, etc) are incredibly dangerous in my opinion and i refuse to consume any food or drink or medicine or product that contains any of these (the same applies for all of the Artificial Colours and Flavour Enhancers too) and i would much rather consume normal sugar. It is quite worrying how much stuff they put Artificial Sweeteners in these days. It is important to always read the ingredients.

The thing is years ago we never had these Artificial Sweeteners or any of these other additives they put in our food and we also did not seem to have as many illnesses and health problems. The food we ate used to be so much more natural. There is such a big difference in the food and drink when i was a kid and the food and drink nowadays. So it really would not surprise me if there is a link between Artificial Sweeteners and cancer and other illnesses.

I prefer to eat natural healthy food wherever possible as much as i can. I buy my meat and vegetables and all my ingredients and cook my meals from scratch. There is just so many additives used in food these days. Companies just want to make everything as cheap as possible these days which results in so much artificial chemicals and various food additives being used. I normally shop in Waitrose and find they are a lot better than the other supermarkets. I find that their food and drink contains far less Artificial Sweeteners and additives and preservatives and more natural ingredients than a lot of the other supermarkets.

 

[skyhigh]

I went to university and trained as a food scientist. I worked in the industry in a research role for several years (before being made redundant). The amount of misinformation on topics like these is frankly worrying.

All of the various different Artificial Sweeteners (eg, Alitame, Advantame, Aspartame, Acesulfame, Cyclamate, Neotame, Saccharin, Sucralose, etc) are incredibly dangerous in my opinion and i refuse to consume any food or drink or medicine or product that contains any of these (the same applies for all of the Artificial Colours and Flavour Enhancers too) and i would much rather consume normal sugar. It is quite worrying how much stuff they put Artificial Sweeteners in these days. It is important to always read the ingredients.

How did you gain that opinion? Did you read peer-reviewed papers, study the evidence yourself and come to a balanced conclusion? Or did you just decide you didn't like the sound of the name? I would suggest as a whole, sugar is significantly more harmful to the population as a whole than artificial sweeteners. Refusing to consume medicine because it contains a sweetener is barmy, to be honest.

The thing is years ago we never had these Artificial Sweeteners or any of these other additives they put in our food and we also did not seem to have as many illnesses and health problems.

Life expectancy in 1960 was 71 years. In 2019 it was 81 years. Yes, lots of factors contribute to that but I don't see much evidence there are more health problems (or any credible link they are caused by food additives).

I normally shop in Waitrose and find they are a lot better than the other supermarkets. I find that their food and drink contains far less Artificial Sweeteners and additives and preservatives and more natural ingredients than a lot of the other supermarkets.

Which again shows it is a case of perception. Waitrose uses less E numbers on the packaging - instead using the full name (which is perfectly legal).

 

[najaB]

The thing is years ago we never had these Artificial Sweeteners or any of these other additives they put in our food and we also did not seem to have as many illnesses and health problems.

People also used to be lucky to live to 60 years old.

 

[busestrains]

I went to university and trained as a food scientist. I worked in the industry in a research role for several years (before being made redundant). The amount of misinformation on topics like these is frankly worrying.


How did you gain that opinion? Did you read peer-reviewed papers, study the evidence yourself and come to a balanced conclusion? Or did you just decide you didn't like the sound of the name? I would suggest as a whole, sugar is significantly more harmful to the population as a whole than artificial sweeteners. Refusing to consume medicine because it contains a sweetener is barmy, to be honest.


Life expectancy in 1960 was 71 years. In 2019 it was 81 years. Yes, lots of factors contribute to that but I don't see much evidence there are more health problems (or any credible link they are caused by food additives).


Which again shows it is a case of perception. Waitrose uses less E numbers on the packaging - instead using the full name (which is perfectly legal).

I read lots of stuff in the papers and online. But i read everything and not just what the government want us to believe and try to hear different viewpoints and come to my own conclusion. My view on Artificial Sweeteners is simply what i have learned from multiple sources over the years.

The thing is a lot of the studies suggesting that Artificial Sweeteners are safe have been funded by companies with other commercial interests for example food and drink manufacturers and big corporations. It is hard to find neutral studies that have been conducted by people who have no other interests or connections to any other industry or company or corporation. So i find it hard to trust a lot of studies and research as you do not know who has arranged and funded it.

The way i look at it is that if it is not natural we should not be eating it. Nobody even knows how Artificial Sweeteners or Artificial Colours or Flavour Enhancers or 90% of E Numbers are made or what exactly they are made from. Try doing some research and searches online of how any of these additives are made and what any of these additives are made from and it is practically impossible to find out. Everything online is incredibly vague. I have searched myself and you simply can not find out any detailed information about what these ingredients are made from. That is what i find very suspicious. What are they trying to hide.

I do not believe a lot of the stuff that the mainstream media and mainstream doctors try to tell us about what food and drink is healthy. For example you get so many people trying to tell us that Saturated Fats are incredibly unhealthy and dangerous for you to consume. But yet my grandparents lived until 102 and 104 when they died in 2017 and 2019 and they only used Beef Dripping and Lard for all of their cooking their entire life. Yet i know people who closely follow all the government health guidelines on how to eat and how to stay healthy and yet have died in their 60s and 70s and had multiple health problems.

People also used to be lucky to live to 60 years old.

Yes it is true that life expectancy has increased. But i think there are probably hundreds of factors involved here so it is not quite so simple. The increase in life expectancy is also likely to be due to improved quality of life compared to say fifty or sixty years ago. Also access to better health care and better working conditions. So i think that there is a lot of reasons involved in why the life expectancy has increased.

 

[najaB]

The way i look at it is that if it is not natural we should not be eating it.

Ibuprofen is a artificial, hemlock is natural...

 

[Yew]

Nobody even knows how Artificial Sweeteners or Artificial Colours or Flavour Enhancers or 90% of E Numbers are made or what exactly they are made from.

How are they manufactured if "nobody" knows what they are made from - that seems like a rather insurmountable obstacle to the supply train

 

[busestrains]

Ibuprofen is a artificial, hemlock is natural...

Well yes there are plenty of natural plants that are dangerous and poisonous. So not everything natural is going to be good. But in general it is better to consume more natural less processed stuff without any of these additives.

How are they manufactured if "nobody" knows what they are made from - that seems like a rather insurmountable obstacle to the supply train

Of course somebody knows. But it is obviously kept as a secret that only a few people in the factories know. That is one thing that makes me suspicious. If they were really safe than why is there no transparency and why is such little information regarding what they are made from available. It is like they are trying to hide something.

 

[najaB]

Of course somebody knows. But it is obviously kept as a secret that only a few people in the factories know. That is one thing that makes me suspicious. If they were really safe than why is there no transparency and why is such little information regarding what they are made from available. It is like they are trying to hide something.

Here are two sources which show *exactly* what aspartame is made from:

• https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/a/aspartame.html
• https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Aspartame

 

[busestrains]

Here are two sources which show *exactly* what aspartame is made from:

• https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/molecule-of-the-week/archive/a/aspartame.html
• https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Aspartame

To be honest i think you would have to be a scientist to understand that. To me that makes no sense at all. You should not need to be a scientist to understand what food you are eating. The article states "it is formally a condensation product of aspartic acid with the methyl ester of phenylalanine" but nobody has any idea what those are made from either. So basically it is made from chemicals which are made are made from chemicals which are made from chemicals and you are then in an endless loop as it is incredibly difficult to find out what any of these chemicals are made from. The article then goes on to state "but the actual synthetic methods are more complex" but fails to explain any more about what these synthetic methods are. There seems to be a lot of vagueness and secrecy when it comes to all of these additives. I prefer eating stuff that you can easily see how it is made or make it yourself. If you need a special factory or a science lab to produce something than i would question whether it should be eaten.

 

[Bald Rick]

It is like they are trying to hide something.

its called ‘intellectual property’ and can be very valuable.

To be honest i think you would have to be a scientist to understand that.

indeed so! which sums it up.

 

[najaB]

The article states "it is formally a condensation product of aspartic acid with the methyl ester of phenylalanine" but nobody has any idea what those are made from either.

Yes. Yes we do. What you are saying is that you don't know what they are made of. Beware of projecting your ignorance onto others.

 

[Yew]

To be honest i think you would have to be a scientist to understand that. To me that makes no sense at all. You should not need to be a scientist to understand what food you are eating. The article states "it is formally a condensation product of aspartic acid with the methyl ester of phenylalanine" but nobody has any idea what those are made from either. So basically it is made from chemicals which are made are made from chemicals which are made from chemicals and you are then in an endless loop as it is incredibly difficult to find out what any of these chemicals are made from. The article then goes on to state "but the actual synthetic methods are more complex" but fails to explain any more about what these synthetic methods are. There seems to be a lot of vagueness and secrecy when it comes to all of these additives. I prefer eating stuff that you can easily see how it is made or make it yourself. If you need a special factory or a science lab to produce something than i would question whether it should be eaten.

Do you understand all the chemicals in an apple?

There seems to be a lot of vagueness and secrecy when it comes to all of these additives.

How can having the exact chemical formula available on multiple public websites be in any way considered "vague" or "secrecy".

 

[BluePenguin]

Metabolisms vary, as do activity levels. It doesn't take much for me to pile it on. Though for every fat person wishing they were skinny there's a skinny person wishing for a bit more bulk!

Which would you say you are?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Which would you say you are?

Fat but highly active.

A theory I have is that it is related in some way to the insulin response. I have played with a blood sugar tester when I was having fatigue issues a while back and my blood sugar is incredibly stable around about 5.5 whatever it is. This I guess means that if I eat a chocolate bar the insulin response is very quick and it goes on as fat, which is hard to burn. Someone with a slower response has a longer chance to burn it off.

I wonder has any research been done on that aspect?

 

[RailWonderer]

I used to drink Coca Cola energy and would check the ingredients and they used to take Sodium Benzoate on and off so I used to normally look and leave it if it was on there. Sodium Benzoate if mixed with Vitamin C coverts to Benzene which is a carcinogen. They use it in the States in everything but in Europe it's more ambiguous. That was always more of a concern to me than Aspertame.

 

[Snow1964]

Life expectancy in 1960 was 71 years. In 2019 it was 81 years. Yes, lots of factors contribute to that but I don't see much evidence there are more health problems (or any credible link they are caused by food additives).

But it remains a fact that in parts of Europe, especially some Mediterranean islands where there is more fresh food, but negligible processed food that people live to average high 80s

But it could be fresh fruit and vegetables, olive oil, garlic etc rather than foods with added colours, sugars.

Of course lifestyle makes big difference, some UK areas have life expectancy years longer than other areas, even though the medical system is basically similar across the country (there is a postcode lottery of certain types of healthcare)

 

[Yew]

But it remains a fact that in parts of Europe, especially some Mediterranean islands where there is more fresh food, but negligible processed food that people live to average high 80s

But it could be fresh fruit and vegetables, olive oil, garlic etc rather than foods with added colours, sugars.

Or it could be the more temperate climates promoting a more active lifestyle?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Or it could be the more temperate climates promoting a more active lifestyle?

I suspect it's an element of that, but more likely is that the food just isn't rubbish. Processed isn't automatically bad, but the UK and US are quite bad for processed high-calorie foods, which really don't help.

 

[DC1989]

But it remains a fact that in parts of Europe, especially some Mediterranean islands where there is more fresh food, but negligible processed food that people live to average high 80s

But it could be fresh fruit and vegetables, olive oil, garlic etc rather than foods with added colours, sugars.

Of course lifestyle makes big difference, some UK areas have life expectancy years longer than other areas, even though the medical system is basically similar across the country (there is a postcode lottery of certain types of healthcare)

One thing I found interesting is that if cancer was cured tomorrow and was completely eradicated in the UK population, average life expectancy would only increase by 2 years