Aspartame, the artificial sweetener, like Fluoride in drinking water is a favorite topic of the aluminum foil hat wearing paranoid brigades. So deciding which side of the debates has better science on their side is quite difficult for the layman.

I don't much use Aspartame, eg: diet soda/sugar-free foods, but have bought a lot of Trident gum & Frisk mints. Very handy for certain types off fragrant but cautious paranoids.

As I "understand" it: Aspartame is supposed to break down into Formaldehyde, which the body has difficulty eliminating, & Methyl alcohol. Now Methyl is a natural component of many foods, but in very small quantities. I heard a doctor talking about it & he said that an orange has more Methyl than a common dose of Asp.?

Do any of you have opinion on this based on your knowledge of chemistry? Is the Methyl that comes from Asp released in a different form than that from that which is naturally occurring? Is the Formaldehyde a problem?

Coast to Coast had special about it couple of weeks ago, where "experts" dissed Asp. big time. I don't know whether these experts had the proper qualifications to back up their claims? Are they just paranoid? Are there really mental & physical maladies with the Asp at their root?

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2008/09/02.html

I'm really backing off using it. Some people really pound back the liters of diet pop, though evidence seems to suggest that it only leads to an increased desire for carbohydrates.

Does it make you worried? It sure is hard to find gum without it.

If you ask me all gum is kinda gross, I try to avoid it, the idea of it just doesnt sit too well with me.

Never need to cover suspicious breath or do just breathe over everyone & damn the torpedoes?

mints do the trick for me. having some flavor producing rubber that you cant swallow in my mouth is just weird

Sugar mints like Tic-Tacs or do you care?

I'm partial to Altoids, if I ate a bacon egg and cheese sandwich but throw a huge hunk of onion on it a tic-tac isn't going to cover that up, but the curiously strong scent of Altoids will mask even the gnarliest breath

Seriously people, at least try to keep on topic.....

Aspartame(phenylalanine) excites your neurons........ to death:o

I listened to that Coast2Coast...I was bored out of my mind. I know George and Art could've come up with something better than this garbage.

its also converted into dopamine, which in turn is converted into adrenalin....

From what I learned in bio there are two ways our body can process methyl alcohol. If methyl alcohol is consumed on it's own (or formed in the body as with aspartame) the enzymes that break it down make it into harmful by products such as formic acid and formaldehyde. But if your body is already processing ethyl alcohol, the methyl alcohol will be degraded with the same pathway and make less harmful by products. This is why the aspartame in gum is more dangerous then the orange. An orange has methyl and ethyl alcohol in it so our body processes it the safer way. This is why a bit of methyl alcohol inside wine for instance is safer then the same amount on it's own. Also the chewing of the gum means most of the aspartame is going to enter your blood through your sublingual membranes making it hit you harder. Methyl alcohol causes permanent optic nerve damage along with a bunch of other things. I stopped chewing aspartame gum because I've noticed I get fucked up head aches that feel like someones pushing a needle into the back of my eye, only on days that I chew gum. But I can't find gum without it. I could be wrong I'm not an expert.

What the fuck does this have to do w/ BLTC? Meta you are seriously a fucking piece of shit. You leave these faggoty threads open and close all of mine. I mean I guess its funny but its really fucked up.

OP: Get this thread the fuck out of here don't post this shit.


I know some idiot is going to come in and post a link to that one website where that weirdo mom says her kids were snorting aspartame in crystal lite to get high. BTW that site was a hoax, and the OPs thread isn't about getting high on aspartame its about whether or not it is bad for you.

Ease up shithead. It is a question about a chemical that some say fucks up your head, let alone your body.

What? Are you addicted to the sugar-free? Suck it up like a junkie & you got to protect your shit? Go on...admit it! You see a bottle of Fresca or Diet-Pepsi sitting open & you don't care who's it is. You suck it back like a man dying of thirst!

You'll feel better if you get it off your chest!

IDK... I think that just because Old Man Cheney had something to do with bringing it to market is a good reason to avoid it. Though personally? I think I'd like to see him ingest 100x a normal daily dose for a couple of years to see how he does on it.

All scientific like? :)

When I eat/drink anything with any amount of aspartame I get some flu like symptoms (headache, achy jaws and neck, sore throat) for several hours.

How the fuck isn't this BLTC. People think they're gonna lose weight cause of a chemical that tastes like sugar. That's practically the definition of bltc.

I wonder? It seems like it would be easy to feed white rats a normal or even 2 or 3 times normal, as opposed to 100x dose, for a couple of years? I know that sometimes they feed test animals incredible doses of a substance to see how it effects them. They hope to get results quickly that way.

I hesitate to try to Goog papers about it, as I don't have the expertise.

i havent brushed my teeth in days and no ones said anything