Korean Job Discussion Forums

[captain kirk]

http://www.321recipes.com/aspartame.html

And a video with a doc;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mufqfK6Ybjc&feature=related

Has anyone else heard about this? First I knew about it until just this moment. Quite a few doctors saying aspartame changes to methanol and formalin in the body. Also, it overexcites nerve cells in the tongue, that's what makes a sweet taste when no sugar is present. Then proceeds to the brain overstimulating brain cells to death. In 1983 soft drink companies like Pepsi presented their opinion that they didn't want this harmful sweetener but a leading figure in the FDA waived objections, who has since resigned and has 'no comment'. Just unbelievable. Then there's a list of people's remarks stating that symptoms they had of nervous system disfunction (memory loss, foggy thinking) and heart problems (in some, separate, cases) 'went away' after ceasing to drink daily, say, three cans of aspartame sweetened pop.

Is anyone on this forum surprised by this? First I've heard of it but then I've been on Planet Korea for so long, aspartame has been the least of my concerns (thus I've been apparently busily poisoning myself, who knew?)(insert laughing death's head/ skull / grim reaper emoticon here).

[robot]

Uh... yeah, dude; aspartame fear was a huge 80's thing.

[and just to clarify, it should be feared. stuff is nasty. and my mom (who for decades has exclusively drank diet cola, hardly ever juice or water, and now has all sorts of memory and heart problems) is likely proof of these claims]

[schwa]

Sugar isnt the healthiest of substances but its been around for a long time.

Modern sugar substitutes on the other hand tend to get foisted on sweet-obsessed fat people then yanked off the market 10 or 20 years later when dire consequences become undeniable. Big money there though.

[wintermute]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy

According to wikipedia, that ever-reliable reporter of the mainstream view, the claims that it is unsafe are not true and the result of an internet hoax.

Personally, I think the whole thing stinks to high heaven, and is an example of lobbyists influencing mainstream science for profit.

Apparently Donald Rumsfeld was responsible for forcing the FDA to approve it for human consumption in the first place.

[captain kirk]

Robot, sorry to hear about your Mom's symptoms. My Dad, who I'm going to give some internet links to re; side-effects, has diet coke in the fridge. I drink it with a meal set at the mall (until now) and was really liking Fresca for a couple of months height of the Summer. Besides the harmful side-effects pop is expensive. I remember back when I was treeplanting with Uni students one, wanting to save money, rear view mirrored her spending habits and found pop on the days off in town added up. I like the carbonation. There's, at Lotte Mart, a carbonated water made in Korea in a cobalt blue translucent plastic bottle that's nice ice cold in the fridge, for bubbles tickling the throat.

I found this aspartame info then something about 'Codex alimentarius'. This is apparently a legislation circa last year being attemptedly put/forced into place which would set food standards of nutritive levels and approved/disapproved additives into place. The effect, according to those who oppose it, crappy food that makes you stupid, harmful food additives that make you stupid and sick. Along with apparently punishing beurocratic levies/hurdles and required approvals for non-processed food, ie the good stuff. It appears very odd. It's under the management of the UN via WHO, etc. since the sixties.

www.healthfreedomusa.org and click down to various videos re: 'nutricide'.
Also, just a search on www.googlevideo.com with 'codex alimentarius' will bring up lots of videos from different sources. As my sister used to say, 'weird Pepsi'. www.healthfreedomusa.org definitely have some bees in their bonnets! I wonder if there is something to this. What do you think?

[sallymonster]

Health hazard or not, that stuff just tastes nasty. I won't go near diet coke for that reason alone, and I don't understand why other people like it.

[liveinkorea316]

It seems that aspartame is safe. If it were not we would have heard about it by now.

There are similar conspiracies about cell phones, climate change denial and George Bush but in the end there just isn't the evidence to support the conspiracy.

All of these thigns above are being investigated/tested by hundreds of government and private bodies worldwide and results are publicly available.

Diet coke is made intentionally to taste different. It is not because of the additive sweetener. Try Coke Zero - while not exactly the same it is very similar to real coke.

Any food product if eaten to excess will kill you. Same with any activity.

the occasional diet soft drink or gum is not gonna kill anyone.

If someone becomes addicted and has 5 litres of diet coke per day there may be a problem. But they would also be in trouble were it alcohol, normal coke or milk...

[Drew345]

I still think Aspertame is better than the alternative: sugar.
But after reading the above links I did cut my aspertame intake in half, so thanks for the posts.

[Sergio Stefanuto]

I've never overconsumed fizzy drinks, but funnily enough, I had a glass of Pepsi last night, and it was the first time in years and years that I've done so, having always drank diet/zero when I wanted a fizzy drink. It tasted just revolting. I much prefer sweetner. Not only that, I always have sweetner as opposed to sugar in tea and coffee as well (not Aspartame, though). Recently, I ran out and put sugar in instead - and I was similarly taken aback by how revolting sugar tasted.

I don't care how bad sweetner is for you. At least a can of diet coke isn't like eating six bowls of white rice. Oh, and ask me how many fillings I have in my teeth? None. And the so called health hazards of Aspartame are probably total bollocks anyway.

[murmanjake]

Very similar to worries about MSG.

Many individual claims of negative effects. Almost no scientific evidence backing up their claims.

Who knows?

I don't worry about this kind of stuff when there a ton of other health hazards out there. Many of which can be controlled. Inactivity, over-consumption, alcoholism...

[guava]

Ajinomoto has changed the name from aspartame to aminosweet
Food for thought about aspartame/aminosweet:

Aspartame news, articles and information
http://www.naturalnews.com/aspartame.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/GoogleSearchResults.html?q=aspartame&cx=010579349100583850635%3Aw_kzwe9_yca&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&sa.x=19&sa.y=16#1251

Detailed scientific and general documentation regarding the toxicity of nutrasweet, Equal, diet coke, diet pepsi, and other aspartame containing items. Web page includes real life reports of acute and chronic toxicity due to long-term ingestion.
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

Aspartame bioassay findings portend human cancer hazards.
Huff J, LaDou J.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC 27514, USA.

Abstract
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should reevaluate its position on aspartame as being safe under all conditions. Animal bioassay results predict human cancer risks, and a recent animal study confirms that there is a potential aspartame risk to humans.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18085058

[bluelake]

Try the stevia plant (contained in a sweetener sold under the brand Truvia); it's not too bad in most things, although I don't like it much in coffee.

[visitorq]

[murmanjake]

[RMNC]

Too bad Splenda is too expensive to put in sodas, it seems to be safer, whatever that means.