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I received my e-zine from Dana Carpenter and thought everyone would probably like to read about her report on the recent finding of aspartame.
Time To Cut Way Back on the Diet Soda
And the Crystal Light. Not to mention sugar-free iced tea mix and
bottled iced tea, sugar-free gelatin and pudding mix, and indeed
anything made with aspartame.
No doubt you know that aspartame (aka Nutrasweet or Equal) has been
controversial since its introduction in the 1980s. Even among those of
us who shun sugar, aspartame has had a less than sterling reputation.
Dr. Atkins felt it interfered with fat burning on a cellular level. The
Hellers, who wrote The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, feel that aspartame,
along with all sugar-free sweeteners, causes an insulin release just
like sugar. And it's been a part of the community wisdom for a long
time
that roughly half of low carbers have a hard time losing weight if they
drink diet soda or Crystal Light.
There have been "netlore" stories going around for years, claiming that
aspartame causes all manner of ills, from headaches to visual
disturbances to MS - though often without any medical research to back
them up. I personally stopped drinking diet soda shortly after
aspartame
took over the market (after years of a heavy-duty Tab habit) because I
discovered that two aspartame-sweetened sodas in a day were enough to
make me feel panicky at night.
Still, I insisted - and continue to feel - that artificial sweeteners
are safer than sugar, especially for those of us who are profoundly
carbohydrate intolerant, and find sugar addictive.
I have gotten many emails from readers taking me to task for using
Splenda in recipes, because in lab animals it caused thymus shrinkage
and kidney swelling. In response I point out that this is true, but
that
these effects happened at dosages the equivalent of a 150-pound human
being eating over 10,000 teaspoons of Splenda per day.
Most tests on artificial sweeteners have involved similar whopping-huge
doses. It's important to remember that the first rule of toxicology is
"Dose is everything." I had a particularly Splenda-heavy day on
Valentine's day - I made a sweet poppy-seed dressing for our salad, a
glaze for our duck breast, and chocolate sauce and sweetened whipped
cream to dip strawberries in. That's far more Splenda than I normally
consume in a day, yet I doubt I got more than 1/3 cup, or 16 teaspoons.
In short, I feel that my level of exposure is low enough that it's not
an issue.
But now tests have been done on aspartame that actually involve doses
reflecting possible real-world consumption. And the news is not good.
Dr. Morando Soffritti, an Italian reasearcher, spent the past year
studying the effects of aspartame on cancer rates in rats. This man is
a
respected researcher, overseeing 180 scientists and researchers in 30
countries who collaborate on toxin research. And Dr. Soffritti has now
stated that aspartame increases the risk of lymphoma and leukemia. Dr.
Soffritti feels this is attributable to methanol (wood alcohol) in
aspartame, which turns to formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, in the
body.
Previous studies have found that aspartame doesn't cause cancer. It
should be noted that these studies were performed by the GD Searle
company, creators of aspartame.
Dr. Soffritti responds that those studies were flawed. The rats used
were "sacrificed" - killed and examined for cancers - at the age of 2
years. This is the equivalent of 53 years old in a human being. Cancer
takes a long time to develop, and people under 53 years of age are far
less likely to have cancer than folks who are older, regardless of
their
habits.
So Dr. Soffritti let his rats die at the natural "old age" for rats -
about 3 years of age. He also used considerably more rats than most of
the previous studies. And using this method, he found increases in
lymphomas, leukemia, and tumors at multiple organ sites.
Here's the part I find really alarming about Dr. Soffritti's study: The
carcinogenic effects of aspartame cropped up at doses that were the
equivalent of a 150-pound human being drinking about six to eight cans
of diet soda per day. A devoted diet soda drinker might easily consume
that much. I know that in my Tab-drinking days I went through a dozen
or
more cans a day.
To be fair, cancer is complicated, and we don't understand everything
involved in causing it. Some people are more susceptible than others,
and there may be various interactions involved we haven't identified.
But for now, this is the best information we have to go on.
So I am recommending that all you devoted diet soda and Crystal Light
drinkers give it up, or at the very least, cut way, way back. This
advice extends to all beverages sweetened with aspartame - iced tea
mix,
bottled, artificially sweetened iced tea, diet Snapple, whatever. I'm
sorry, I know it's going to be hard for you, but geez. Cancer.
Beverages are the big worry, because they're how the biggest doses of
the stuff are consumed, just like regular soda is the major source of
sugar in most Americans' diets. You could start drinking Diet Rite
Splenda-sweetened sodas, I suppose. But while I'm completely
comfortable
with my modest Splenda intake, I find myself suspicious of drinking
soda
after soda, period.
If you regularly eat aspartame sweetened desserts, I'd recommend you
cut
back on those, too, or even cut them out. I will no longer be using
aspartame-sweetened diet gelatin or pudding mix in recipe development.
I'll start working on alternatives to my best desserts that use
aspartame-sweetened products. Still, people who eat 6 servings a day of
diet gelatin are rare. People who drink 6 cans a day of diet soda are
relatively common.
I still believe that Dose Is Everything. I wouldn't panic about the
occasional diet soda, it's the daily habit I worry about. I'll still
occasionally make one of my dessert recipes that calls for sugar-free
pudding or gelatin mix - I mean, have you tried the "Better Than S-X"
recipe from 500 More Low-Carb Recipes?
But if you're a diet beverage addict, it's time to wean yourself. Iced
tea, hot tea (regular or herbal,) unsweetened sparkling water, coffee,
or good old water. If you must sweeten coffee or tea, a little Splenda,
Sweet 'n' Low (saccharine was taken off the list of carcinogenic
products years ago; apparently it was one of those products where they
used unreasonable doses in the tests) or stevia should be okay.
But best of all is to get over the idea that drinking sweet stuff all
day is a good idea.
Time To Cut Way Back on the Diet Soda
And the Crystal Light. Not to mention sugar-free iced tea mix and
bottled iced tea, sugar-free gelatin and pudding mix, and indeed
anything made with aspartame.
No doubt you know that aspartame (aka Nutrasweet or Equal) has been
controversial since its introduction in the 1980s. Even among those of
us who shun sugar, aspartame has had a less than sterling reputation.
Dr. Atkins felt it interfered with fat burning on a cellular level. The
Hellers, who wrote The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, feel that aspartame,
along with all sugar-free sweeteners, causes an insulin release just
like sugar. And it's been a part of the community wisdom for a long
time
that roughly half of low carbers have a hard time losing weight if they
drink diet soda or Crystal Light.
There have been "netlore" stories going around for years, claiming that
aspartame causes all manner of ills, from headaches to visual
disturbances to MS - though often without any medical research to back
them up. I personally stopped drinking diet soda shortly after
aspartame
took over the market (after years of a heavy-duty Tab habit) because I
discovered that two aspartame-sweetened sodas in a day were enough to
make me feel panicky at night.
Still, I insisted - and continue to feel - that artificial sweeteners
are safer than sugar, especially for those of us who are profoundly
carbohydrate intolerant, and find sugar addictive.
I have gotten many emails from readers taking me to task for using
Splenda in recipes, because in lab animals it caused thymus shrinkage
and kidney swelling. In response I point out that this is true, but
that
these effects happened at dosages the equivalent of a 150-pound human
being eating over 10,000 teaspoons of Splenda per day.
Most tests on artificial sweeteners have involved similar whopping-huge
doses. It's important to remember that the first rule of toxicology is
"Dose is everything." I had a particularly Splenda-heavy day on
Valentine's day - I made a sweet poppy-seed dressing for our salad, a
glaze for our duck breast, and chocolate sauce and sweetened whipped
cream to dip strawberries in. That's far more Splenda than I normally
consume in a day, yet I doubt I got more than 1/3 cup, or 16 teaspoons.
In short, I feel that my level of exposure is low enough that it's not
an issue.
But now tests have been done on aspartame that actually involve doses
reflecting possible real-world consumption. And the news is not good.
Dr. Morando Soffritti, an Italian reasearcher, spent the past year
studying the effects of aspartame on cancer rates in rats. This man is
a
respected researcher, overseeing 180 scientists and researchers in 30
countries who collaborate on toxin research. And Dr. Soffritti has now
stated that aspartame increases the risk of lymphoma and leukemia. Dr.
Soffritti feels this is attributable to methanol (wood alcohol) in
aspartame, which turns to formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, in the
body.
Previous studies have found that aspartame doesn't cause cancer. It
should be noted that these studies were performed by the GD Searle
company, creators of aspartame.
Dr. Soffritti responds that those studies were flawed. The rats used
were "sacrificed" - killed and examined for cancers - at the age of 2
years. This is the equivalent of 53 years old in a human being. Cancer
takes a long time to develop, and people under 53 years of age are far
less likely to have cancer than folks who are older, regardless of
their
habits.
So Dr. Soffritti let his rats die at the natural "old age" for rats -
about 3 years of age. He also used considerably more rats than most of
the previous studies. And using this method, he found increases in
lymphomas, leukemia, and tumors at multiple organ sites.
Here's the part I find really alarming about Dr. Soffritti's study: The
carcinogenic effects of aspartame cropped up at doses that were the
equivalent of a 150-pound human being drinking about six to eight cans
of diet soda per day. A devoted diet soda drinker might easily consume
that much. I know that in my Tab-drinking days I went through a dozen
or
more cans a day.
To be fair, cancer is complicated, and we don't understand everything
involved in causing it. Some people are more susceptible than others,
and there may be various interactions involved we haven't identified.
But for now, this is the best information we have to go on.
So I am recommending that all you devoted diet soda and Crystal Light
drinkers give it up, or at the very least, cut way, way back. This
advice extends to all beverages sweetened with aspartame - iced tea
mix,
bottled, artificially sweetened iced tea, diet Snapple, whatever. I'm
sorry, I know it's going to be hard for you, but geez. Cancer.
Beverages are the big worry, because they're how the biggest doses of
the stuff are consumed, just like regular soda is the major source of
sugar in most Americans' diets. You could start drinking Diet Rite
Splenda-sweetened sodas, I suppose. But while I'm completely
comfortable
with my modest Splenda intake, I find myself suspicious of drinking
soda
after soda, period.
If you regularly eat aspartame sweetened desserts, I'd recommend you
cut
back on those, too, or even cut them out. I will no longer be using
aspartame-sweetened diet gelatin or pudding mix in recipe development.
I'll start working on alternatives to my best desserts that use
aspartame-sweetened products. Still, people who eat 6 servings a day of
diet gelatin are rare. People who drink 6 cans a day of diet soda are
relatively common.
I still believe that Dose Is Everything. I wouldn't panic about the
occasional diet soda, it's the daily habit I worry about. I'll still
occasionally make one of my dessert recipes that calls for sugar-free
pudding or gelatin mix - I mean, have you tried the "Better Than S-X"
recipe from 500 More Low-Carb Recipes?
But if you're a diet beverage addict, it's time to wean yourself. Iced
tea, hot tea (regular or herbal,) unsweetened sparkling water, coffee,
or good old water. If you must sweeten coffee or tea, a little Splenda,
Sweet 'n' Low (saccharine was taken off the list of carcinogenic
products years ago; apparently it was one of those products where they
used unreasonable doses in the tests) or stevia should be okay.
But best of all is to get over the idea that drinking sweet stuff all
day is a good idea.
YOU MUST DRINK YOUR WATER!
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