Aspartame Poisoning Real or Myth?
Currently staying at my parents last few nights had a ginger beer waitrose
Felt awful joints started to swell I can hardly move had a terrible night in so much pain
This morning I checked the can! You guessed the dreaded aspartame is in it.
I had put the joint pain down to current damp weather and stress but it's all done to
Aspartame.
Has anyone else found this awful hidden poison and issue to their health problems?
Generally I have confidence in the studies that have been done on all these sweeteners, and some of the other additives, that show they are safe. However, it really does seem that some people are very sensitive to particular ones and have bad reactions to them. I'm fine with sweeteners, but avoid MSG as it makes my knees hurt.
Personally, I have no problem with sweeteners per se, we have to be aware of specific sugars (glucose & fructose) in our house anyway though as my h is diabetic. Commonly we each have a tendency or capability to be intolerant to foods or additives but, often without realising, we just avoid them. Have you never said that you avoid eating such & such because it doesn't agree with you? I know I have, prawns & all red seafood especially yet I used to be able to eat them all, in fact prawn curry was my very fave! Now I'm very intolerant very soon after eating. I'll spare you the details but save to say I've to be very careful even if there are prawns in a shared salad because I react if they've touched anything I've eaten.
I avoid additives & E numbers where feasible, our normal daily diet is as a rule based around fresh ingredients but I'm not going to worry if I eat something & it doesn't affect me! I switched to Coke Zero & haven't noticed any difference save for less thickening round my waist so that to me is a bonus! Now Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke that's another story, I get a banging headache from those & that might be down to quantity of artificial sweetener but it might not though it's quite simple, now I know what it does to me I just don't drink those particular drinks. Which I think is the commonsense approach, if something affects you avoid it.
Hi sunflower, I am a strong believer in the rubbish that they put in our food as being a trigger with some people to illness, the pesticides on our food...its just not natural. I don't have anything that has aspartame, and although I do try to look at things from both angles i just can't get my head around aspartame or sweetners...I shop in aldi but find it is in loads of there products even vitamin c tablets. I have fibromyalgia so its just really not worth the added risk for me. But I suppose everyone reacts diffrently to things. You could try cutting it out completely then have some and see if it does trigger your flare. Its so hard isn't it when we flare up and can't understand why it has happened out of the blue.
Good luck xx
Hello,
I have never heard of Aspertame poisoning before. I do know lots of people are very sensitive to artificial sweeteners.
I have IBS as well as RD and I have many food intolerances and sensitivities. I do not use artificial sweeteners for this reason, but I wish I could because I would love to enjoy a diet Pepsi once in awhile and the regular has so much sugar, about 10 or 12 tbs.
I have diabetic clients, all whom use Nutra-sweet with no issues.
I'm no doctor but I would suspect that if your joints hurt more when using artificial sweeteners you likely have a food sensitivity to it. Lots of foods can cause this, including those sensitive to lactose, gluten and nightshade vegetables.
Very interesting, I don't like Aspartame but the Calcium tablets the GP prescribes as it in them and I can't avoid it now! Though not sure I'm intolerant to it, however I am to MSG (makes me vomit), and have other intolerances that upset my IBS.
I avoid anything that says "no sugar added" but a friend who has diet drinks is now on this new "Life" Coke, which has a natural fruit sweetner instead of artificial and I tried it the other day as I hate diet drinks and it was really good. So maybe worth a try.
This is awful that the GP is giving you this poison have you asking if he can prescribe a different calcium tablet
To be honest I've not tried I just stopped taking them until the Surgery asked why I wasn't put them on my prescription requests and gave me a ticking off. I might try the line of they agree with me. Does anyone know of an alternative?
I would tick them off and say you rather not overdose on Calcium as they can give you a heart attack! Seeing as they do not measure what your calcium levels are in your bones what right have they to tick you off?
Yes, it's stevia they're using jaydeeh & we tried it but for some reason it sent my h's blood sugars haywire. We also tried Aldi's own brand Stevia sweetener tabs & that did the same. Maybe he's odd but he also said there was a "back taste" to them, similar to Hermesetas? He's ok with Coke Zero so we've kept with that but he limits how often he drinks it.
I would not take Calcium tablets now, I have stopped them altogether, they don't harden bones but harden arteries and increase the risk of death from any cause. See The Calcium Lie on YT or Death by Calcium on YT. The Calcium goes into your body not your bones. Even Pharma knows that or they would not have made artificial calcium channel blockers! Magnesium does the blocking naturally.
Hi, I have always had a problem with Aspartame giving me migrain headaches. They say it is really bad for you.
Aspartame Poison: The Silent Killer - Healthy Holistic Living
healthy-holistic-living.com...
Aspartame is extremely poisonous, and here is why. One of the toxic ingredients of Aspartame is wood alcohol. When the temperature of Aspartame exceeds 86 ...
Just google it there are many people who have had problems with it
I thought the FDA in america had banned aspartame, probably wrong! but I have had jointpain after consuming this and avoid it at all costs. Also gives me instant bloating, bloody stools, back ache and kidney pain.
Keep away from it
Yea it is banned in the USA you are correct
Where did you read that Sunflower? I can't find anything to suggest it. I'm not disputing it, just can't find anything to say it's been withdrawn or banned.
I think you are confusing aspartame with cyclamates. Cyclamates have been banned in the US since 1969. Aspartame is still in use.
Thank you Sissy22. I've been been searching the internet & all I can find is that the FDA has rejected petitions by 2 citizens but not that it's been banned.
Please everyone, let's not get carried away with this. We all know there are things that set us off so to speak but I feel the best thing to do is avoid what does & not to be focussing too much on what's in our food or drinks. Yes, check labels, I think we're all sensible enough to eat what's best for us & what doesn't set off inflammation but also there are reports out there, & this applies to most things in our world today, which have a sensationalist touch. Much depends on how much is consumed at any one time.... does anyone remember it was reported we'd all get cancer from eating cornflakes? Well the ingredients remain the same except for a reduction in salt content so guess that wasn't true or was seen to be unrealistic. Better to look on these as a differing perspectives & not the Food Standards Agency's viewpoint otherwise why would they be allowed to be manufactured, sold & used? We each have intolerances, RD & our drugs prove that but there's no point in getting het up about anything until when or if they're banned. Let's try to keep things in perspective. 
I am not getting het up however it is banned in the USA the UK have just not got there act in gear to do the same yet.
Not you specifically, I replied to your post & it's a valid point. I said I react to sweeteners, but sometimes we need the backing of certain associations to prove the point & in this case it is an allowable sugar substitute or sweetener, however you wish to describe it, & not banned here or in the US. It remains to be seen whether it is proved to be a poison as you say but until or if it does best to just avoid it, we all have choices to make in life, it's my choice too, you'll get no argument from me there. Having said that it is in Coke Zero & that doesn't give me headaches, my main reason to look out for it on ingredients lists. I can only think it's used in smaller quantities & I don't drink so much of it to have an affect so unless the recipe's changed & it does start to affect me I'll continue to drink it.
I can't drink any sodas/fizzy drinks really without feeling some bad effect on my joints exception lime and weak lemonade ... without getting stabbing joint pains especially in my arms ... but nothing to the extent you have described. Hope you are feeling better now. I think often we become quite immune to certain foods and drinks if we have excluded them and become very selective in what we eat and do not! I know if I have caffeine coffee which I love but don't touch at home (and haven't had much at all in the past 20 years!) the caffeine will make me nauseous. Caffeine tea has me running to the loo after I drink it. It is hard to not drink or eat things at times when we are visiting etc. NK x
Another good example of how different we are with intolerances. I can drink coffee, wherever & whatever & have no problem yet with my h some, as he says, rip his stomach apart! A friend of mine can have one espresso but have another & she's hyper & can't get to sleep!
How did your review go? It was this week wasn't it?
Yes ... OK .. ish .. thank you for asking NMH 
The Rheumatologist cleared up some things I asked. Apparently some of her patients have gone 2 years before repeat infusions! Will tell you this weekend under my thread on Rituximab as wanted to have enough time to answer Kiki and another kind reply too. Ive also got toothache ... ... flossed out some filling .. good, eh?! Sprained my wrist too squeezing a tube of face wash .... doh! Hope you are alright and not inflicting any madness on yourself as I appear to be doing to myself this week .. and will post again tomorrow/Sunday. Waiting to hear how Twitchy got on too at hospital? NK xx
Also I am allergic to shellfish too NMH .. rashes/blobs and bad stomach .. and also sensitive to anything with chilli in. Have to be careful there .. make my own curries or know the restaurant goes easy with it. Makes my joints jump but not anything like as much as when my RA was out of control and ESR high. I think I felt it more with additives and sensitivities much much more when my RA inflammation was bad/ESR high. Already enough inflammation to start with. I have become pretty sensitive to many additives and find most sweets unbearable wince-y and overly sweet compared to how I used to be as I am that used to eating a very selective more natural diet (says she who had a choc eclair tonight!!) That was a treat and not overly sugary sweet. Things like flavoured crisps and highly flavoured drinks make me very unsettled in my tum now and it growls disapproval. Don't touch them any more really. I have obviously turned myself into a "wimp" and can't tolerate additives but it does not mean they are all going to be harmful to you if you have things in moderation I doubt it. The odd fizzy drink or sweets. Unless you have an absolute allergy of course. I know a girl who ate a bag of Haribo each day at College and she was used to it so did not touch her but if I had a couple I was feeling yuk. I have almost cut out bread now .. got some Warburtons gluten free thin sandwich squares and toasted to go with soup ... they are not bad actually ... but buy oat crackers mostly. Bread was hard to stop eating at first about two years ago ... but we hardly ever buy it. Never have sandwiches at home. I will have a bacon sarnie (pork is another thing I don't eat much of) every now and then. If you know something upsets you enough .. you don't tend to keep having it. Those things I can get away with every now and then .. I DO! The only thing wheat things I can't leave alone are Twiglets !! They do Marmite rice cakes now so switching to those as a savoury treat.
Moderation, that's the key I think & that's only really used when you have a strong will or determination. Take me, I tried twice more to eat shellfish after my first had reaction, prawns then crab & my body just got rid of it within minutes so I'm not prepared to go through that to eat shellfish so I don't. I bet you'd like to eat some of the things that don't like you but you don't because you'll suffer for it. It's about choice too & why I think common sense plays a part, we cannot possibly avoid everything that may not agree with us because it is just not realistic. I'm a lover of Marmite (unlike my h who thinks who thinks it's made by the devil) but over Christmas a friend gave me a square of the chocolate flavoured with it, now that I wasn't keen on & it repeated on me the rest of the day. Not seen the rice cakes, that's gone on my list lol!
What are you like, but oooch?! You keep that sprained wrist strapped up & rested. I'll look out for your update. x
Hi NMH .. passed the Marmite rice cakes just this evening in Tesco! didn't get any as had four packs of six assorted yoghurt/choc topped ones which were half price. Got some seaweed ones too I sent for ... now they could be made by the devil too LOL!! .. how could your hubby say that but more for you! I love samphire and those little Japanese crackers covered in seaweed but not sure how the rice cakes with seaweed will be .. will let you know.
I have been wanting to try the Marmite choc but think I may be disappointed too! They also have Marmite covered cashews ...
I can eat crab and lobster .. not that I do that often but we had some on holiday in St Agnes ... it is so fresh and lovely and I think as those a larger critters and classed as crustaceans .. they don't have the same affect so I am very glad about that. I did try prawns about ten years ago at a wedding and thought I had got away with it then two days later .. ugh! Rashed and blobs. sorry you have side effects when you like them too. However I have no desire ever to eat cockles and whelks and clams ... never!
My wrist been resting today... doing things one handed and will continue to rest the rest of tonight and update on rheumy review tomorrow. Hope you have had a good day.
NK xx
Yes, if you'll let me know about the seaweed rice cakes, that appeals but like you not sure how the two will work together. Cashews I prefer just roasted though I did try the cashew butter (like peanut butter) but won't bother again.
Iit's basically anything that turns red when cooked I've been advised to avoid (by the anaesthetist I saw previous to my carpal tunnel op) so that rules out lobster, crayfish, crab etc. I'm fine with mussels so far but my GP feels they may have the same effect at some time as it usually follows to all of the same group of foods. So as you well know it is just not worth the aftermath, ah well!
You make sure that wrist is ok before reporting back, even one handed, don't risk the other one too! x
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