• LAVA Moderator: Mysterier

Discussion of potentially harmful food ingredients and additives

Since you guys all seem so educated about these food additives, whats the deal with Aspartame?
Only reason I ask is because I am addicted to Diet Coke (Strange that this thread got recently bumped as I've made a conscious decision this week to give it up, just because I know it can't be good for my body). Have started drinking water instead which is so boring, but there you go...
Aspartame is composed of two amino acids which can both be excitatory neuromodulators. I'm not clear on how much they cross the blood brain barrier. We probably consume plenty of both through other sources. I personally think a lot of anti-aspartame websites and articles are pure hysteria. I do think there may be people with individual sensitivities. Aspartame does occur naturally in small amounts in some fruits.

Some people feel and there have been animal studies that somewhat corroborate that consuming sweetness without calories can cause more consumption later and it isn't an effective strategy for dieting.

Other stuff in soda concerns me more like sodium sorbate. I'm sure every substance has some upward threshold where it causes problems. I don't know how many two liters of soda one can consume without some problems from something in them. On the subjective sense that something is bad for you without studies or objective data my opinion is that sucrolose is the chief devil among artificial sweeteners.
 
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