Aspartame (Nutrasweet: Is It Safe?)

Rating:
Summary: A MUST for anyone who uses Aspartame
Review: Just how safe is the artificial sweetener aspartame (more commonly known as NutraSweet), currently used in many thousands of products and consumed by hundreds of millions of people? Readers may be surprised to learn that a number of common medical problems are actually adverse reactions to products containing aspartame. Author H. J. Roberts, MD, a board-certified internist with impressive credentials, first became suspicious of aspartame when he encountered an increasing number of patients with a wide variety of symptoms, like headaches, mood swings, memory loss, dizziness, depression, insomnia, diarrhea and anxiety, among others. Based in hundreds of case studies, Roberts concluded that these unexplained symptoms were actually reactions to products containing aspartame. The book not only looks at the clinical picture of aspartame, but describes how it received FDA approval without undergoing testing in humans and how the U.S. Senate allowed this well-financed chemical additive to receive government approval.

Rating:
Summary: The answer is NO, it is not safe under any conditions
Review: Read this book on the subject of Aspartame, Nutrisweet, and all of the products out there with different names, that are actually Aspartame. This product is a real money maker for the developers.

Rating:
Summary: Anyone with health probs who ingest aspartame should read
Review: Reading this book informed me about the health problems associated with aspartame. Most people conclude that headaches are the only side effect, but there are many more immediate and longer lasting effects. If you or anyone you love is suffering from unexplanable health problems,read this book and become informed about the real dangers that come with ingesting aspartame.

Rating:
Summary: Must reading for anyone who uses a lot of aspartame
Review: While there isn't a lot of overwhelming published evidence that aspartame is horribly bad for you, there is a lot of empirical evidence from many people that it can cause headaches, temporary memory loss and other sypmtoms. Just like MSG, many clinical studies have been done to show that it DOESN'T have any effect, but a negative study proves only that THAT study revealed nothing. However, I know several people who, when they eat these substances unawares, get plenty sick. So it can't be all imagination.

Along with Russell Blaylock's book Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills, this book is very useful to read for you to decide if you want to consume this artificial sweetner. There is even some evidence afloat that substituting diet sweetners doesn't actually lead to any appreciable weight loss, and that the mere taste of sweetness is interpreted by the brain as having EATEN a real sweet, and weight gain can occur. There are other concerns that aspartame and MSG have neurological effects.

Aspartame has crept into so many commercially prepared foods; even foods with sucrose sometimes have added aspartame. It's also found in vitamin drinks, gums and many other products. In fact it is getting darn hard to avoid.

In any case, there are fine alternatives to aspartame: if you are diabetic, you of course must limit carbohydrates, especially sweets. If you just substituting something for sugar because you are dieting, try substituting stevia extract (a sweet tasting herb found in some healthfood stores) or using a small amount of raw sugar or honey and just limiting your sweet intake. The less sweets you eat, the less you'll want, and you'll start to notice and enjoy the natural sweetness of fruits and even vegetables.

If you read this book, you'll also get a lot out of Blaylock's book on Excitotoxins. Both are essential reading to anyone who is concerned about their diet.