Dangerous but legal? how????

[JaneP]

Probably everyone has heard at 1 time or another in the last decade or so about aspartame and its dangers. I've looked at hundreds if not thousands of pages and writings on-line, talked to several herbalists, MD.'s & believe it or not even pharmacists say "NO!" to this stuff! Everyone (literally that is) I've talked to about this stuff says not to use it. It's a neurotoxin that upsets our nervous system that can greatly affect brain operation. I've read in many of these pages and have heard at least 1 other person say to me that this stuff was originally used as an ANT POISON! So, curious, I took a couple pink packets with me after eating out 1 day, and tried an experiment.....I put a bit of sugar on the table and a bit of that fake sugar next to it. Soon a fly came, sat down & started enjoying the sugar. After, he went over by the other stuff and in less than a second took off like heck!
Later I tested the ant poison thing I heard. I poured a packet on & around a couple little ant hills on my sidewalk. THE VERY NEXT DAY there were absolutely NO ants to be found and the sand mound that I had brushed away had not been rebuilt! (They're STILL not there) Gee, go figure.....!
I've also in the same articles read that because of its toxicity to nerves properties that the military once thought of it as a biological warfare additive (which a few others I talked to had said they heard too).
There was 1 time I bought some yogurt without reading the label, got home & noticed it was low fat. Right away I'm like; "Oh shhhhhugar! Don't tell me....!" Bingo! There it was, aspartame as a sweetener! Not wanting to throw it out and against my better judgment I figured I'd try to use it. Well, I had a HALF CUP of it. About 15 mins. later I had a seizure! (This similar thing has happened several times before I learned to read EVERY label before buying anything.)
Anywho, my question is....how can something that's been proven in many ways to be so harmful be legal??? Apparently the FDA doesn't give a darn about our health as much as our government wants us to think. (Same as with GMO's & several other things which is another story). How can these people get away with this kind of stuff in a Country like ours??

 

[Endless]

Hi, Jane,

Yes, there are lots of substances approved by the FDA that have unfortunate side effects. It's why I cook from scratch and eat organic when I can. I'm also a vegan. It sounds hard core but once you relearn how to cook it's pretty easy.

Don't even get me started on how many ways there are to hide MSG on a label. That can also act as an excitotoxin on the brain:
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excitotoxicity

Is there a trader joe's near you? That store's brands have a lot fewer additives and gmo's, and more organics. I find I have to label-watch less there. Buying any brand that is "organic" is a shortcut to not have to read as many labels, too. Other great stores: your local produce stand, whole foods, and Safeway's organic brand.

Thanks for the hint about ant poison. I'm going to remember that one.

 

[masterjen]

Hi, Jane
I'm not criticizing you in any way, and in fact I whole heartedly share some of your concerns. But you could potentially be saying the same thing about pesticides and herbicides that are used on plants, antibiotics given to animals, and the residual pesticides and herbicides (if any) that might be in the meat we eat from animals. Oh and what about all those "other nonmedicinal ingredients" in our pills and supplements? How about preservatives in cereals and breads? And were those grains in the cereal and bread treated with herbicides? The list goes on, making it very difficult to single out one thing and say "THAT is the bad one that bothers me!" Really, we should be questioning everything, but that would send us either into the loony bin or force us to starve ourselves to death.

The key these days is to keep ourselves educated about what we put into our bodies, which is easy to do nowadays with the internet. What can we do to minimize our exposure to that which we do not want to eat? We need to do our homework and learn how to avoid or at least minimize our exposure to substances we don't want to put in our bodies. And sometimes we have to know when to draw the line.

As for aspartame, I started avoiding any artificial sweeteners ever since the one (I forget the name) from about 15 years ago was found to be carcinogenic if consumed in large (albeit ridiculously large) quantities.

 

[epileric]

I like the idea of staying healthy & eating properly but time & time again the aspartame scare has been shown to be a hoax. According to Snopes

the claim that the two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid have neurotoxic effects. This is true in certain individuals and in high enough doses. The only subpopulation of individuals potentially susceptible to adverse effects from phenylalanine is homozygous phenylketonurics and in this case, food itself with much higher levels of phenylalanine from the protein in the diets contributes much higher toxicity for these unfortunate individuals.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp#hwFZKExT7Y7K9Rzt.99

and

there have been numerous animal and human studies done to evaluate the possibility that aspartame causes seizures or enhances the susceptibility to seizures. In clinical studies done in adults and children with pre-existing seizures, there was no evidence of contributing to the frequency of occurrence or severity of seizures in seizure-prone individuals. There were additional studies done on seizure-prone experimental animal models to assess the possible influence of aspartame on their seizuring activity. Again, the result was the same and no influence was demonstrated on the frequency or severity of seizures.
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp#hwFZKExT7Y7K9Rzt.99

 

[JaneP]

I can see this is 1 area we're definitely going to disagree on Eric. I've been into natural/Eastern/herbal medicines for years and have seen them stop (often in SECONDS) things like seizures (TWICE witnessed by an M.D. I know on a personal level [family friend] on seizures I've had in her presence -I still tease her about it, out of fun of course, when I see her), I've seen them stop migraines in seconds on several people, as well as many more things I've seen them work on first hand. Not to turn this into a theological run, but frankly the more I witness natural stuff work, the more I'm convinced that GOD already gave us everything we need in a state He knew was a lot better than anything man can come up with. The answer to your hoax article Eric is simple....controlled "studies" by manufacturers themselves & FDA staff bribed by these companies (Illegal? Of course! But Congress does it we all know, and it's illegal for them to take bribes too!) There are 2 free on-line newsletters I get from Dr. Douglass and Dr. Mercola. They are 2 M.D.'s that have broken away from the A.M.A. & F.D.A. and have started uncovering tons & tons of this stuff. I'd strongly suggest looking them up on a search engine & subscribing to their newsletters and you'll see in a hurry what's all been hidden from public eyes for decades.

 

[epileric]

I have to say I've also been very much into that sort of thing. I was trained in Massage, reflexology & acupressure. I've come to the conclusion that the vast majority of these cures are that of placebo, though I do believe they do have some positive effects, especially massage.

The one thing I have to say is that first of all there were numerous studies published in well respected journals that have shown aspartame to be safe. Just being a double blind study before being presented to the public is a standard that supplements don't have to adhere to.

I'm not familiar with Dr. Douglas but Dr. Mercola I'm very familiar with as he is notorious among the medical community for using unproven methods and opposing proven ones. He is even thought by some to be a threat to public health for spreading false info. Of course he claims it to be a conspiracy but the problem is that most of Mercolas claims are not based on proof, just anecdote and conspiracy claims.

What I've always found interesting is when he claims that everything is done for money yet believing him means buying his own brand (or another) of supplements that he sells. Even Newsweek Criticized his marketing techniques on his site

Mercola gives the lie to the notion that holistic practitioners tend to be so absorbed in treating patients that they aren't effective businesspeople. While Mercola on his site seeks to identify with this image by distinguishing himself from "all the greed-motivated hype out there in health-care land", he is a master promoter, using every trick of traditional and Internet direct marketing to grow his business... He is selling health-care products and services, and is calling upon an unfortunate tradition made famous by the old-time snake oil salesmen of the 1800s.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mercola#Views_and_controversy

 

[Endless]

Public policy and research aside, I just go by how I feel. I have an additional neurological disease that is made worse by inflammation. The cerebral spinal fluid pressure in my head is too high, pressing in on my brain and spinal cord. It can cause seizures, headaches, along with a very long list of other stuff. A couple things I do know: If I eat aspartame or monosodium glutamate I get much worse!

Now if we DO drag research into it, here's some info from pubmed (the NIH repository site for medical research published in peer review journals). Based on it, I wouldn't risk eating MSG or aspartame. Not because of cancer, because it seems safe on that item. Because of what it does to our brains, and the rest of our bodies.

Research advances in basic mechanisms of seizures and antiepileptic drug action. (includes info on glutamate receptors, and he possibility of tnew drugs to block glutimates as a treatment for seizures.)

Direct and indirect cellular effects of aspartame on the brain.

Gender dimorphism in aspartame-induced impairment of spatial cognition and insulin sensitivity

Administration of aspartame potentiates pentylenetetrazole- and fluorothyl-induced seizures in mice.

Neurobiochemical alterations induced by the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet).

Studies on the effects of aspartame on memory and oxidative stress on mice.

Why would we eat something (glutamates), when researchers are trying to develop a drug to block that very same thing to treat seizures? Why put more in our bodies when less in the brain is the desired result?


And just because we're whole people:

The effect of dietary glutamate and aspartame on fibromyalgia and irritable bowel symptoms.

Prediabetic changes in gene expression induced by aspartame and monosodium glutamate in Trans fat-fed C57Bl/6 J mice.

 

[epileric]

All of those were done on mice which makes them very preliminary whereas there have been ones on humans that showed it to be safe. I did find the study on IBS & fibromyalgia interesting though. I do have to agree that the research is mixed when it comes to aspartame & diabetes.

Personally I am not too big a fan of aspartame because of the preliminary tests but there have been many rumours about it that have since been disproven by objective individuals.

 

[JaneP]

I don't know but I've found Mercola to be very logical & truthful -if you know how to interpret what he says. Much of what is said by these 2 is not only brevity for allotted space in newsletter but you have to know how to read into some of it. Such as all the stuff we've heard for decades about how dangerous smoking is. Well, it might sound odd at first when I say that Douglass actually says it's beneficial in cases. The thing is, he's referring to UNprocessed RAW tobacco. NOT the stuff in pre-made cigs. that has who knows what all done to it & what all chemicals put in it before it's sold. The same as him saying wine is good for you. Obviously he doesn't mean sit down & drink a gallon a day.
Interesting note: there is a website that goes through a whole list of foods & what they look like in comparison as to what part of our body they help -many of which have been, yes, scientifically shown. Called (am I allowed to mention?) "eat lots of sweet potatoes" It's from "my healing kitchen" . Check it out once......VERY interesting!
But much of the discredit for these 2 guys comes from the "other side", if you will. I mean, to sum it all up, look at it this way: healthy people don't buy drugs. If everyone knew exactly what to use naturally to heal & cure everything, the drug companies would all be out of business, right? Did you know that peanuts were at one time banned by some churches for men to eat? The main component (arginine) of....AHEM....a certain modern day blue oval shaped male-only pill comes from peanuts! Problem is, peanuts are natural food so you can't patent them & make tons of $ off them. But process them into something of different shape, size, taste and look (to paraphrase) and VOLLIA! You have a brand new item you can get exclusive rights to! Point being, man doesn't HAVE TO mess with things to "improve" them. Science is NOT better than Mother Nature. Again, I just think that we were given MUCH, MUCH more from Someone that we care to open our eyes to due to pride & ego many times. Power of suggestion? In many cases yes -THAT's exactly where "mind over matter", psychics, reflexology, energy flow rebalancing (the proper term I can't think of off hand but I've had it done & I can't describe how much better I felt after) and other such things come into play. It's just that we use so much the wrong way nowadays that it affects our health & life in ways we don't even connect it with often. Soybeans, GMO's, antibiotics, etc. A lot of this stuff makes our bodies worse and, in cases such as ours with sensitive systems to begin with, causes havoc more so than the average person.

 

[Cint]

All of those were done on mice which makes them very preliminary whereas there have been ones on humans that showed it to be safe. I did find the study on IBS & fibromyalgia. I do have to agree that the research is mixed when it comes to aspartame & diabetes.

I have Type 1 Diabetes along with E, so I do have to watch my sugar in-take. I've tried Equal, NutraSweet, and several others.

I found this about Aspartame on Snopes.com: "Aspartame--Sweet Poison?"
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

Aspartame

Claim: The artificial sweetener aspartame has been proved responsible for an epidemic of cancer, brain tumors, and multiple sclerosis.


* FALSE

And more from the Snopes article:

Fourth, there have been numerous animal and human studies done to evaluate the possibility that aspartame causes seizures or enhances the susceptibility to seizures. In clinical studies done in adults and children with pre-existing seizures, there was no evidence of contributing to the frequency of occurrence or severity of seizures in seizure-prone individuals. There were additional studies done on seizure-prone experimental animal models to assess the possible influence of aspartame on their seizuring activity. Again, the result was the same and no influence was demonstrated on the frequency or severity of seizures

 

[JaneP]

Everyone's entitled to their opinion. I'm just going by everything I've learned seen & experienced.
I'm thinking I should move onto another subject before I turn this thread into a rumble

 

[Endless]

lol..... I'm imaging a brain rumble - literally! Glblbgrrebaddfihglb!

Maybe think about going straight to pubmed for info - it is more reliable than a secondary site, whether it be a doctor's site or snope.

Anyway, I think everything we do in life depends on each person's risk adversity, and the importance of the subject. Some people are going to have a risk adversity of zero on this and will eat aspartame and glutamates until the cows come home, no matter how many studies outline the possible negative effects and how serious they may or may not be. Others may avoid it at all costs, even though some epidemiology studies say no effect (while the bio-chem ones do).

We all can't be careful about EVERYTHING everyday! I choose to eat carefully, but have a glass of wine once month or two, now that I'm off seizure meds. Risky? Yes! but I guess that's me living dangerously, lol...... Now for others, they swig that artificial pop and live on the edge.

 

[epileric]

I don't know but I've found Mercola to be very logical & truthful -if you know how to interpret what he says. Much of what is said by these 2 is not only brevity for allotted space in newsletter but you have to know how to read into some of it. Such as all the stuff we've heard for decades about how dangerous smoking is. Well, it might sound odd at first when I say that Douglass actually says it's beneficial in cases. The thing is, he's referring to UNprocessed RAW tobacco. NOT the stuff in pre-made cigs. that has who knows what all done to it & what all chemicals put in it before it's sold. The same as him saying wine is good for you. Obviously he doesn't mean sit down & drink a gallon a day.

I’ve found that whenever someone says that you have to know how to interpret someone they’re usually saying something very general & really nothing at all. One person would say he said one thing & they know it’s true because it works with them but someone else says no it meant something else & I know it because it works with me. Meanwhile both are feeling the placebo effects & the “doctor” says nothing yet he is given credit (eyeroll). One thing you will notice about all good doctors is that they are very precise & specific so as not to have unneeded misunderstandings.
How do you know that’s what he meant? Did he say so or are you assuming it? If you’re assuming it then it wasn’t said & I see no reason to assume anything. That’s usually how mistakes are made.

Interesting note: there is a website that goes through a whole list of foods & what they look like in comparison as to what part of our body they help -many of which have been, yes, scientifically shown. Called (am I allowed to mention?) "eat lots of sweet potatoes" It's from "my healing kitchen" . Check it out once......VERY interesting!

I checked it out and they do say that their claims are clinically proven but they don’t cite any studies so I’m not too thrilled. I’m also very familiar with the “Dr.s” whose advice they use & I do know them to be well….. not very legit.

But much of the discredit for these 2 guys comes from the "other side", if you will. I mean, to sum it all up, look at it this way: healthy people don't buy drugs. If everyone knew exactly what to use naturally to heal & cure everything, the drug companies would all be out of business, right?

First of all you’re assuming that “Natural” means “Safe”. Remember, cyanide, belladonna, mercury and numerous other toxins are very natural. Your theory goes on the assumption that there is a “natural” cure for everything & that has not been proven nor is there a reason to assume it to be true. I know I’d be in deep trouble without my Tegretol & after over half a century of looking for something else to help my seizures I have no reason to assume that I just have to find the right herb.

Did you know that peanuts were at one time banned by some churches for men to eat? The main component (arginine) of....AHEM....a certain modern day blue oval shaped male-only pill comes from peanuts! Problem is, peanuts are natural food so you can't patent them & make tons of $ off them. But process them into something of different shape, size, taste and look (to paraphrase) and VOLLIA! You have a brand new item you can get exclusive rights to! Point being, man doesn't HAVE TO mess with things to "improve" them.

What the church does is based on spiritual belief as opposed to proven fact. I don’t see what they have to do with what medicine we use. Even in this day & age there are churches that think all epileptics are possessed.
I hope you’re not telling me that if I eat enough peanuts it will have the effect Viagra has on me. Again, maybe with placebo effect but that’s all I see. Again, how would Mercola know this? Is it just an old wives tale? At least Science tests things in as objective a way as possible.
Also, I keep hearing that “exclusive rights” argument, especially from people like Mercola. That always amazes me because the supplement industry is a pretty huge industry on its own. What Mercola keeps claiming is that something that makes enough money can’t be valid & I have no argument that many pharmaceuticals are overpriced but that doesn’t mean they don’t work or that they are evil.
According the the National Institute of Health, in 2009 $33.9 billion was spent on alternative medicine http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2009/073009.htm?nav=gsa

Science is NOT better than Mother Nature. Again, I just think that we were given MUCH, MUCH more from Someone that we care to open our eyes to due to pride & ego many times.

I see no dichotomy between science & nature. If you look at any medication is started out as something natural. Basically scientists have to understand nature better than most people to make it help us. We were given a lot & that’s exactly what science is working on but again I see no reason to assume there’s a cure for everything out there.

Power of suggestion? In many cases yes -THAT's exactly where "mind over matter", psychics, reflexology, energy flow rebalancing (the proper term I can't think of off hand but I've had it done & I can't describe how much better I felt after) and other such things come into play. It's just that we use so much the wrong way nowadays that it affects our health & life in ways we don't even connect it with often. Soybeans, GMO's, antibiotics, etc. A lot of this stuff makes our bodies worse and, in cases such as ours with sensitive systems to begin with, causes havoc more so than the average person.

What you have to realise is that the placebo effect only works on our perception. Many people feel cured by placebo but in reality they are not. Many people have thought their illness was cured & next thing you know they die. It has been shown to be able to help subjective things like pain, depression & insomnia. As for the mind over matter…… I’ve not seen any proof of that though I have seen that some “doctors” blame the victim by saying s/he wasn’t positive enough when their false medicine doesn’t cure them.

 

[epileric]

Oohhh no! I should have read this earlier, I'm not in the mood for a rumble either.

 

[masterjen]

I don't see this as a rumble at all! It has brought to light a lot of debate and uncertainty that is out there, and I have learned a lot from the various links people have posted

 

[epileric]

I don't see this as a rumble at all! It has brought to light a lot of debate and uncertainty that is out there, and I have learned a lot from the various links people have posted

It is how we learn but I'm pretty tired tonight so it's feeling like a rumble. LOL

 

[Cint]

Everyone's entitled to their opinion. I'm just going by everything I've learned seen & experienced.

:agree: And I'm going by things I've seen, heard and experienced.

 

[KatieCoy83]

My 2 year old is sensitive to MSG. It makes her chin and cheeks blotchy where ever it touches. Doctor said unless her lips and tongue swell not to worry. BS! I'm not allowing her near it. You will not believe how much stuff has it in there. Just last week we got muffins from the store bakery. Think its ok? Nope! It was in the cinnamon mixture they used. Salad dressings, chips, butter(!!!), and ect. I read every label. My husband tries but grabs things he assumes doesn't. It's crazy what they get ok'd to do.

 

[KatieCoy83]

My family had a get together at a restaurant for a birthday party. My Grandma grabbed sugar for her iced tea, read it and said "ugh! That stuff makes rats feet fall off". Threw it back and grabbed another brand.

Not sure where she sourced that info from but it was funny as hell how she said it.

 

[SlimBlue]

As soon as I saw this thread title, I went straight to snopes (link posted by Cint, above)
just to double-check. Again. Just like I do every time lol

This is one of the memes that's been travelling the internet since forever. If you've ever run a hub/board/site you'll have seen someone raise this at least once, and have probably had something about it arrive in your inbox at least once, since the original chain mail about it causing MS has been going round since the late 90s.

Now, that's not to say that it's perfectly fine, but I think I'd tend to agree with the studies that have been done over the years as opposed to the usual internet bumf...