Aspartame: The Sins of the Fathers Passed Down

[NotHardUp1]

Memory Deficits Linked to Aspartame May Be Heritable, Study Says

A new study reveals that aspartame may have negative effects on memory skills in mice, with potential hereditary implications.

www.psychiatrist.com

Learning and memory deficits produced by aspartame are heritable via the paternal lineage - Scientific Reports

Environmental exposures produce heritable traits that can linger in the population for one or two generations. Millions of individuals consume substances such as artificial sweeteners daily that are declared safe by regulatory agencies without evaluation of their potential heritable effects. We...

www.nature.com

Yesterday, I bought a bottle of collagen supplements from Costco. Today, as I opened the bottle, I read the side panel and saw the 20 or so components of the tablets. Among them, I saw large quantities of aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Both are naturally occurring, and both are key components of Aspartame.

So, I returned to the web to again read up on Aspartame and memory studies. Over 20 years ago, I discovered I am among those who have memory impairment after consuming Aspartame. The confusing aspect is that I consume a high protein diet, so must be getting natural phenylalanine and as I do. But, Aspartame is an engineered molecule, using methyl. When the molecule is broken down in the gut, the only three components entering the bloodstream are the aspartic acid, the phenylalanine, and methanol.

I've never been a drinker, other than polite social drinking, so maybe it's the methanol affecting me. I'm not a biochemist, so I don't know.

But, the articles I came across had some pretty interesting, fairly new data on the memory issue. When the diet sweeteners were screened by FDA and other agencies in other countries, it was checked primarily for carcinogenic effects, which are not there. But, memory impairment is more subtle.

The most amazing implication of the study described in the article is that the impairment is passed on to offspring through the father's genes. Whereas the study indicates long-term memory remained intact in the consuming rats, the ability to learn and retain was the big problem. So, passing on that deficiency would impair the offspring's ability to learn, and those offspring don't have the long-term memory laid down beforehand.

Although the impairment took a few weeks to evince, the effects remained for as much as twelve weeks after final consumption.

Taking a huge leap conclusively, it's theoretically possible that weight-obsessed, diet-intensive parents may be causing learning disabilities in their children, which could explain a lot about American society today. A crude way of putting it woule be stupid kids come from fat folks. That's not a rule, a law, or a fact, just a possibility due to our chemical era.

Possible?

 

[gsdx]

Somewhere in these vast archives of threads is a thread I made about Aspartame and its multitude of side effects and how easily it is to become addicted to it. I used to buy Crystal Light, calorie-free water flavouring crystals. Aspartame was the sweetener. After a time I found that I was eating a week's worth of groceries in just a few days. Before long, the more Crystal Light I drank, the more I needed to drink. And then the headaches began when I didn't drink enough. Other bad things started happening to me.

Finally, after a bout of racing heart that scared the hell out of me, I Googled Aspartame and discover how dangerous it is. (I'll never know why it hasn't been banned.) At the time, over 20 years ago, there were over 100 physical side effects caused by Aspartame. I should imagine there are many more now.

Stay away from the stuff as much as you can. Read labels.

 

[Peloso]

You can't cheat nature. Or rather, you shouldn't.

I also read in a few places that diet sodas pack more weight on you than regular sodas. I don't remember the explanation of the science involved, but it would seem to me that 35 grams of sugar would be stiff competition for some internal biological chemical snafu.

So now it looks like we're raising a whole generation of overweight, forgetful, overly sensitive depressed people with short attention spans and colon cancer. I shudder to think how these poor kids are going to navigate living in a fascist regime while battling intense heat, rampant flooding, and the chaos of climate migration.

Looks like we're not to good at this civilization thing after all.

 

[gsdx]

^ Aspartame triggers the hunger sensation causing the individuals to actually eat more. It also triggers the need to drink more. Aspartame is highly and dangerously addictive.

 

[rareboy]

Never liked the taste of artificial sweeteners so dodged at least one bullet there.

I don't even really like sweet things at all except for a craving when sick for cane sugar coke.

After the bout of shingles on my skull some years ago and days on end of gabapentin and pregabelin I was having memory issues and it was the same time as we realized that my uncle had alzheimers...which my grandfather also had before it was really understood. When I went through the testing it was determined that another medication combo I was taking was likely the culprit and it resolved when I was switched ....so the whole aspartame thing with memory and learning deficits makes scary sense.

Aspartame—True or False? Narrative Review of Safety Analysis of General Use in Products

Aspartame is a sweetener introduced to replace the commonly used sucrose. It was discovered by James M. Schlatter in 1965. Being 180–200 times sweeter than sucrose, its intake was expected to reduce obesity rates in developing countries and help ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Of course the other one that the food industry has a lot to answer for is monosodium glutamate.

 

[Alistair]

Aspartame also causes a lot of eye problems. Vision loss, floaters and at the worse blindness.

Artificial Sweeteners & Your Vision | Eye Clinic Surgicenter | Billings

If you’re trying to watch your weight by using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar, you may see an effect on your vision (which can be especially troublesome if you’ve already invested in better vision through The Eye Clinic Surgicenter). Certain artificial sweeteners, such as cyclamates...

theeyeclinicsurgicenter.com

 

[cityboy-stl]

What I know is, all artificial sugar - every one of them - taste unbearably disgusting.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I've tried stevia, but do not like its taste, and it is a natural extract.

 

[gsdx]

When I was dealing with my Aspartame issues, I had a friend who was addicted to Diet Coke sweetened with Aspartame, of course. He drank two 2-litre bottles each day. I haven't seen him in years. I don't know if he's still addicted to it or even if he's still alive.

 

[gsdx]

I've tried stevia, but do not like its taste, and it is a natural extract.

Same here. I didn't really mind the taste, but it leaves a rather disgusting aftertaste.

 

[Peloso]

^ Aspartame triggers the hunger sensation causing the individuals to actually eat more. It also triggers the need to drink more. Aspartame is highly and dangerously addictive.

I remember all the claims of how safe it was (compared to saccharin) when it first started being used.

I've tried stevia, but do not like its taste, and it is a natural extract.

I don't know. "Natural extract"? Those words seem at odds with each other. Do we know what chemicals are involved in the extraction process?

In the case of certain foods, nutrients that are isolated and extracted can sometimes be harmful without the benefit of the other ingredients which occur naturally from where it's
sourced.

BPA in cans. Artificial colors. Emulsifiers and preservatives. All these things make things easier and cheaper for food manufacturers whose profits are apparently more important than the consumer's health. Many of the additives used freely in American products are banned in parts of Europe.

 

[NotHardUp1]

I have no idea how stevia is processed, but I have no difficulty in believing I simply don't like the taste of the plant.

For the record, I don't know what chemicals are involved in processing sugar cane, corn, or sugar beets either. But, I like the taste of sugar.

 

[rareboy]

As-part-a-me.

Sounds like the greek goddess of forgetfulness or obesity.

 

[me203]

(I'll never know why it hasn't been banned.)

I don't know the history of aspartame. But it does seem like a lot of things in general get approved and keep approval even though they shouldn't have that approval. It seems like industry influence is often the explanation.

 

[me203]

I tend to avoid stevia, although I did have a period of using it to sweeten oatmeal. These days, though, I generally stay away from it, although I don't do everything possible to avoid it. I did try a six pack of root beer last summer that was sweetened by stevia--but that was a single package that slowly got consumed.

These days, I'm tending to embrace the idea that one should eat things from plants, not made in plants. Thus, I prefer real sugar, which (while made in a plant) seems closer to the "from a plant" ideal. And when I still bought sugar regularly, I tended to get the less processed "in the raw" type sugar.

 

[rareboy]

If it is a plant (and not poisonous), it is likely good for you (or okay at least)

If it is made in a plant....likely not good for you.

 

[me203]

If it is a plant (and not poisonous), it is likely good for you (or okay at least)

If it is made in a plant....likely not good for you.

Put better than I put it above...

Arguably, for the most part, plants will either be OK or else make you very sick or kill you immediately. The stuff made in factories, on the other hand, will take longer to kill you--and it will likely be a worse death than eating a poison plant.

 

[NotHardUp1]

If it is a plant (and not poisonous), it is likely good for you (or okay at least)

If it is made in a plant....likely not good for you.

I am not so persuaded.

Sassafras tastes great, is not poisonous, but is a carcinogen.

We feel like plants are more healthy for us because we know processed foods often have additions like hydrogenated oil, etc. And, most vegetables and fruits are good enough, but the processing of crops is still a threat to us in many cases.

Without growing our own, it's pretty hard to know crops are as advertised.

 

[Alistair]

I am not so persuaded.

Sassafras tastes great, is not poisonous, but is a carcinogen.

We feel like plants are more healthy for us because we know processed foods often have additions like hydrogenated oil, etc. And, most vegetables and fruits are good enough, but the processing of crops is still a threat to us in many cases.

Without growing our own, it's pretty hard to know crops are as advertised.

Sassafras is poisonous.

 

[Latimer]

I've been using a vegan protein powder for a month or so that's sweetened with monk fruit extract. I looked it up before I bought the stuff. I discounted the supposed health benefits listed in the Web MD piece below, and it seemed harmless. OTH, it probably comes from China, so who knows...

What to Know About Monk Fruit Sugar

Find out what you need to know about monk fruit sugar, and discover its pros, cons, risks, and benefits, and how it may affect your health.

www.webmd.com