Aspertame and vision problems.

[Beefitarian]

I'm watching a documetary from Australia about processed foods. There is a discussion about Aspertame, they are claiming there is danger of it causing issues with vision.

One of the people speaking claimed that it's known within the pilot community that you don't drink diet soda. I have never heard that.

[Prairie Chicken]

New one on me, and heaven knows I've drank enough diet Pepsi to blind me if that was the case. It is supposed to be carcinogenic though.

[Beefitarian]

Yeah, it can't be good for you but niether is regular soda pop. I wish there was an AVAUSTRALIA.au I'm wondering if the guy is telling the truth or if he just said it to sound cool.

He claims they don't drink it in the pilot community. I've never heard that but then again this is as close as I get to the pilot's community these days for the most part.

[North Shore]

Isn't the whole point of pop that it's full of sugar and caffeine to make it taste good? Why would you want to mess that up by adding in some evil-tasting sh!t like aspartame?


Diet anything is a plot cooked up by Obese-r-us so that they can continue to stuff their faces, and not feel bad about it.

[PointyEngine]

There's a heap of stuff out there about the dangers of aspartame, but nothing I've seen with documented side effects under normal dosages with any solid results and credibility to back it up.

Some entertaining reading can be found for the long legs from various "health freedom organizations" and "self proclaimed food specialists". Below is a extract from one in particular, where they took 551 individuals who reported toxicity where they believed it due to aspartame ingestion.

Neurological Effects. Number of people affected. Percentage of total sample.

- Headaches 249 (45%)
- Dizziness, unsteadiness, or both 217 (39%)
- Confusion, memory loss, or both 157 (29%)

Eye
- Decreased vision and/or other eye problems 14 (25%)
(blurring, "bright flashes," tunnel vision)
- Pain (or or both eyes) 51 (9%)
- Decreased tears, trouble with contact lens, 46 (8%)
or both
- Blindness (one or both eyes) 14 (3%)

Psychologic-Psychiatric
- Severe depression 139 (25%)
- "Extreme irritability" 125 (23%)
- "Severe anixiety attacks" 105 (19%)
- "Marked personality changes" 88 (16%)
- Recent "severe insomnia" 76 (14%)
- "Severe aggravation of phobias" 41 (7%)

Firstly, just by looking at the psychological symptoms there is something interesting going on. At least a quarter of the subjects reported Severe depression or Extreme Irritability, so they were probably nuts to start with. Secondly, 50% of subjects reported headaches, dizziness or confusion.. So they're nutters with headaches and looking for something other than the cheap alcohol to blame it on...

Secondly, you have to wonder where these "individuals" were found, probably worked out cheapest to send the interview team to asylum or loony bin in some backwater town... Alternatively they may have setup a hotline offering to help win a multimillion dollar cases against the evil corporations... "Simply phone this toll free number with your aspartame poising experience and you could be eligible for $1000's!!"

This is just an example of some of the "research" out there. Despite the articles of lab animals developing tumors and some nasty side effects with huge dosages, there are virtually no documented side effects from a reasonable intake of aspartame.

On a serious note, I recently heard of a woman who died from drinking too much normal coke!! So beware, glucose and caffeine are also serial killers!! Although she was averaging 10L/ day...

As with everything. moderation is key.

[Beefitarian]

The claims got pretty interesting. They said it makes your body create fat cells to store it and some other chemicals and that combined with caffiene was highly addictive.

I'd rail against the stuff but the only people I see doing that are the "Hey buy my (vitamins, juice, herbs, etc.)" people.

[Pratt X 3]

I do my best to avoid artifical sweeteners (and I try to avoid the real thing too but that sugar stuff sure is good) after I read about the possible link to Desert Storm Syndrome and diet drinks.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... r-syndrome
There is also the theory about the harmful effects of aspartame in airline pilots.
http://www.mpwhi.com/pilot_aspartame_alert.htm
http://www.aspartamesafety.com/Article4.htm

[Beefitarian]

Thanks Pratt, there's some scary claims in those links also.

[Shiny Side Up]

On a serious note, I recently heard of a woman who died from drinking too much normal coke!!

I know someone who almost did that too. Silly bugger even flies airplanes still.

[Beefitarian]

10 litres in a day? Nice work. Thanks for the bump Shiny I somehow missed pointy's post there.

I knew a guy that has some kind of ulcer or something from too much regular pepsi.

[TG]

Aspartame:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

They call it a big "False" on this one.

[Beefitarian]

The snopes article you link does contain this.

Third, 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
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/as ... ZujpRf3.99

Kind of looks more like, they call it a big "MAYBE" on this one.

A better direction if you wanted to promote the stuff would be. It's being put in nearly anything and dietitians have been pushing it for nearly twenty years now. Or you could tell us it's delicious.

[2R]

I have been looking for the Advisory Circular that the FAA put out in the early ninties about pilots NOT using these products as they were not tested.If i find it i will post it as it threatened lose of medical to pilots using those products containing those products.
It is ironic that a well known airline has a sim training video with a pack of gum that contains sorbitol and asparteme between the pilots
Sorbitol has some interesting side effects as well.

[Heinz57]

I stopped drinking Diet soda's last month. No particular reason, but I have I feel better heath-wise...

[atmos]

Check out a utube video called "sweet misery" you will never touch diet pop again...

[dashx]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/201 ... sugar.html

Canada is always right there on top of this stuff......

I have worked with a more than just a few pilots who drank diet cola and claimed they "liked" the taste........Never mind their dinner plate was overloaded with steak, fries, dessert etc etc (at company expense usually)

It takes a big man (pun not necessarily intended) to admit he has weight problem. To the best of my knowledge however none of the pilots I worked went blind from drinking the diet stuff.

As soon as I saw Monsanto was involved (and methyl alcohol was a component)........

Read the label folks. But I'm sure everyone does these days and makes a conscious consumer decision in regards to their health.

I'll take a large two creams (no sugar)......... No nothing else Thanks. What ??? Play again? @$%$%$%

[Expat]

I never drank much soda, but since coming to Asia eight years ago, I do not touch the stuff. It is funny that for some reason, I don't wear, or need glasses anymore. My vision improved, for some reason.
Canned and frozen food doesn't not exist here, so all products we eat are fresh. I feel healthier than I did 20 years ago. It is an individual choice, to look ahead, and imagine how you want to live the years to eighty, or ninety, depending on your genes.

It is very difficult and expensive in the west to avoid eating food contaminated with additives, and people who do try to buy healthy foods are sometimes looked upon as abnormal, or nuts.

When I go back to Canada to visit, I am astounded at the stuff (quantity and quality) they eat. Of course, I am not subjected to the publicity like you are in Canada.
Happy Nowruz from Central Asia!

[rapid602]

Below is a part of an email ... I kept in my email inbox since 2008. This is Nasty Stuff and please read it and do your own research ... but the public has the right to know ~~~



Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple SODIUM (salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates. It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight!

These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs. Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin andis used primarily to preserve 'tissue specimens.' Many products we use every day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT store it IN our body!

Dr. H. J. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the 'diet products' and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.

Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics.
We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient with retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame.
The Aspartame drives the bloodsugar out of control. Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the other amino acids necessary for a good balance.

Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE. Especially with diabetics, the Aspartame passes the blood/brain barrierand it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain; causing various levels of brain damage, seizures, depression, manic depression, panic attacks, uncontrollable anger and rage.

Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as well.
Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their behavior when these chemicals have been removed from their diet. So called 'behavior modification prescription drugs' (Ritalin and others) are no longer needed. Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in the first place! Most of these children were being 'poisoned' on a daily basis with the very foods that were 'better for them than sugar.'
It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of diet Coke and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the Gulf War, may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War Syndrome.

Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e. mental retardation, if taken at the time of conception and during early pregnancy.
Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should NEVER be given artificial sweeteners. There are many different case histories to relate of children suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological disturbances talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused by the use of this deadly poison.'

Herein lies the problem:
There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included 100 different products and strong objection was made concerning its use. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, and still nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets.

Sadly, MONSANTO'S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED!
There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this deadly chemical and there will be thousands more introduced. Everybody wants a 'piece of the Aspartame pie.' I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame, knows how deadly it is.

And isn't it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians?

This has been recently exposed in the New Y ork Times.
These [organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their link to MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and are required to endorse their products.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially regarding pregnant women, children and infants. The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers and the problems existing in the general population regarding seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and behavioral symptoms.
The bill was killed.

It is known that the powerful drug and chemical lobbies are responsible for this, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting and uninformed public. Well, you're Informed now! YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!



Please print this out and/or e-mail to your family and friends.

They have a right to know too.

[MacStork]

Great post! Very informative and educational, especially for pilots.
Let's just think about some common sense for a minute. One or two cans of soda or diet soda occasionally is probably not going to hurt you, BUT if you are consuming half a dozen cans a day of this stuff, there will be consequences at some point. It is the same as beer ..... MODERATION is the key word here.
Sugar is not good for pilots, but then neither is beer, cigarettes, red meat, marijuana and aspertane.
My advise is to drink more water, and less soda. And, if Montosano is involved in this, just be careful.