Aspartame?

[velo]

ah, moved....the thread has been returned to the bowels of SDN from whence it came...

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[THP]

During my GI block we learned about hormones called incretins. Examples include GIP (glucose dependent insulinotropic peptide) and GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1). These are hormones (especially GIP) released by the GI tract in response to dietary glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids. These hormones can stimulate beta cells to release insulin.

This is why there is a greater insulin spike in response to equal amounts of consumed glucose compared with injected glucose.

I still don't understand why increased insulin release would actually cause weight gain, if you are not consuming extra calories.

 

[mustangsally65]

I still don't understand why increased insulin release would actually cause weight gain, if you are not consuming extra calories.

I might be able to answer this one. I was diagnosed last year with polycystic ovarian syndrome, and this includes insulin resistance.

This is the way it was explained to me: My body doesn't respond well to my own insulin (I produce enough, so I'm not diabetic, just pre-diabetic). Cells couldn't use my insulin to help transport glucose into the cells for energy, and this resulted in hyperinsulinemia and elevated blood glucose levels.

So when your body detects excess glucose in your blood, it thinks that you have excess food available (since in normal people all the glucose that was needed would have been taken into the cells with the help of insulin) so it responds to this by storing all of the glucose in your bloodstream for a later time when you might not have as much food available.

In my case, I was hungry all the time, eating every few hours (and eating a lot of food) but my body was essentially starving since the glucose wasn't reaching the cells where it was needed, but instead was being stored away. I gained weight around my waist, and have since been put on Glucophage, which helps my body become sensitive to my own insulin again.

So back to your question: Since I had excess sugar in my blood, my pancreas kept producing insulin, so there was excess insulin in my blood as well. Insulin makes it easier for you to store body fat, and it also makes you hungrier (especially carb cravings).

High insulin levels can stimulate your appetite, making you feel even hungrier than normal for carbohydrate rich food, while lowering the amount of sugar your body burns as energy, and making your cells even better at storing fat, and even worse at removing fat.

When you're creating this excess insulin, it also prevents your body from using its stored fat for energy. Hence, your insulin response to excess carbos causes you to gain weight, or you cannot lose weight.
from http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/losingweight.htm

Let me just say from experience that insulin problems suck. Diet drinks have helped me stay sane, since they still taste pretty good, and they don't make my blood sugar levels rise.

Feel free to correct me if I've gotten anything wrong, it's been a long week.

 

[THP]

This is the way it was explained to me: My body doesn't respond well to my own insulin (I produce enough, so I'm not diabetic, just pre-diabetic). Cells couldn't use my insulin to help transport glucose into the cells for energy, and this resulted in hyperinsulinemia and elevated blood glucose levels.

So when your body detects excess glucose in your blood, it thinks that you have excess food available (since in normal people all the glucose that was needed would have been taken into the cells with the help of insulin) so it responds to this by storing all of the glucose in your bloodstream for a later time when you might not have as much food available.

What you are describing here does not result in weight gain. Remeber that obesity causes insulin insensitivity in type II DM, not the other way around.

edit: I don't know anything about how polycystic ovaries affects glucose regulation.

In my case, I was hungry all the time, eating every few hours (and eating a lot of food) but my body was essentially starving since the glucose wasn't reaching the cells where it was needed, but instead was being stored away. I gained weight around my waist, and have since been put on Glucophage, which helps my body become sensitive to my own insulin again.

Sproducing insulin, so there was excess insulin in my blood as well. Insulin makes it easier for you to store body fat, and it also makes you hungrier (especially carb cravings).
.

If hyperinsulinemia stimulates feeding then I can understand how excess calorie intake will cause weight gain. In the example given, it seemed that the only thing that changed was the elimination of diet coke. If this then made her less hunger because she stopped making insulin (if that even happens) then she could lose weight.

 

[mustangsally65]

If hyperinsulinemia stimulates feeding then I can understand how excess calorie intake will cause weight gain. In the example given, it seemed that the only thing that changed was the elimination of diet coke. If this then made her less hungry because she stopped making insulin (if that even happens) then she could lose weight.

I think I thought you were asking a general question about insulin and weight gain, not the one from the specific example that was being discussed. And I'm pre-med, so I don't know much about this stuff yet anyway

As for the Diet Coke, I have no idea. I do know that diet drinks act as diuretics for me. Before I got my blood insulin levels back to a closer to normal level, I was peeing all the time, even if I didn't drink much. I guess that was from excess glucose in my blood, but I don't have any theories about why this happens yet.

 

[NRAI2001]

I use to drink a lot of diet coke....like atleast a 2 litter a day. I noticed adverse effects.

I would feel kinda sick all day, my thinking wasnt as sharpe anymore and when i drank alcohol it took my body much much longer than it use to (before i started drinking diet sodas) to metabolize the alochol. I then stopped and my body went back to normal, noticed right away that I metabolized alcohol much quicker, would wake up sober the next day; where i use to wake up still feeling drunk the next day and sometimes into the next night.

Leading to the question, what effect does aspartamate have on liver function?

 

[Dr Trek 1]

Figured I would revive this thread...

Since I have recently been experiencing unexplained nausea (normal CBC and upper GI series) I am turning toward possible asparatame or food allergy. My body has always been kind of unique in the way it manifests allergy symptoms

My body hates Splenda- it does weird things to me for about 3 days. So I suppose I will have to cut out all diet sodas for the next few weeks and see if it makes a difference. Anyone else ever detox themselves from asparatame or Splenda this way?

 

[isotope1979]

Ugh, I tried some low-carb icecream (sweetened with splenda). That stuff if horrble. It tore up my stomach, gave me the most horrific gas, and I couldn't sit right for a few days...

Didn't they once say Nutrasweet was safe before they found out it was carcinogenic?

It wasen't the splenda that gave you the gas, it was the sugar-alcohols in the icecream. Sugar alcohols are found in many diabetic candies and can cause laxitive type effects if eaten in large quantities.
From wikipedia...
"A sugar alcohol (also known as a polyol, polyhydric alcohol, or polyalcohol) is a hydrogenated form of carbohydrate ... They are commonly used for replacing sucrose in foodstuffs, often in combination with high intensity artificial sweeteners to counter the low sweetness. Some common sugar alcohols are:
maltitol
sorbitol
xylitol
isomalt
lactitol
erythritol "

Moral of this story: don't eat that whole bag of sugar-free starburst while studying in the library.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

Yes, sugar alcohols are part of the problem, but consider this:

The molecular formula for asparatame is: C14H18N2O5

The molecular formula for Splenda is: C12H19Cl3O8


Cl is not exactly something I want to be ingesting. No wonder it causes diarrhea in so many people as their bodies desperately try to get rid of this toxin.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Yes, sugar alcohols are part of the problem, but consider this:

The molecular formula for asparatame is: C14H18N2O5

The molecular formula for Splenda is: C12H19Cl3O8


Cl is not exactly something I want to be ingesting. No wonder it causes diarrhea in so many people as their bodies desperately try to get rid of this toxin.

What? Just because it contains Cl doesn't mean it gets metabolized to Cl2. Even if it gets metabolized to Cl-, I'm not aware that Cl- is particularly toxic.

From what I understand about Splenda, it isn't metabolized at all.

 

[EctopicFetus]

Yes, sugar alcohols are part of the problem, but consider this:

The molecular formula for asparatame is: C14H18N2O5

The molecular formula for Splenda is: C12H19Cl3O8


Cl is not exactly something I want to be ingesting. No wonder it causes diarrhea in so many people as their bodies desperately try to get rid of this toxin.

WHAT? Then clearly you arent using any table salt.... you do know it is Na Cl

Are there a lot of premeds on here or am i missing something

 

[Dr Trek 1]

I am sorry I was misinterpreted. Of course chlorine is not necessarily harmful- it is in table salt, lettuce, mushrooms, etc. What I meant to say was that Splenda is a chlorinated sucrose derivitive that even the FDA has claimed that the body can absorb up to 27% of it. So it does not always just "pass throught the body" unabsorbed.

Splenda is not natural like NaCl, lettuce and mushrooms. It is a sugar molecule that gets three chlorine atoms artifically added to it.

 

[OSUdoc08]

I am sorry I was misinterpreted. Of course chlorine is not necessarily harmful- it is in table salt, lettuce, mushrooms, etc. What I meant to say was that Splenda is a chlorinated sucrose derivitive that even the FDA has claimed that the body can absorb up to 27% of it. So it does not always just "pass throught the body" unabsorbed.

Splenda is not natural like NaCl, lettuce and mushrooms. It is a sugar molecule that gets three chlorine atoms artifically added to it.

Correct---Splenda is a chlorinated hydrocarbon, which is carcinogenic in large doses.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

Aspartame is artifically chlorinated as well.

I am not saying that asparatame is not bad for you, but...

The molecular formula for aspartame is C14H18N2O5. It is a methyl ester of the dipeptide of the natural amino acids L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine. Where are you getting that it is chlorinated?

 

[OSUdoc08]

I am not saying that asparatame is not bad for you, but...

The molecular formula for aspartame is C14H18N2O5. It is a methyl ester of the dipeptide of the natural amino acids L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine. Where are you getting that it is chlorinated?

Oops--I misread something. Disregard.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

Oops--I misread something. Disregard.

No problem.


Bottom line, though, is that I would rather have aspartame than Splenda any day.

I would optimally have sugar, but in small amounts.

 

[OSUdoc08]

No problem.


Bottom line, though, is that I would rather have aspartame than Splenda any day.

I would optimally have sugar, but in small amounts.

Splenda tastes better than aspartame.

They are both carcinogens in high doses. What other detrimental effects does Splenda have that aspartame does not?

 

[Brickhouse]

Splenda tastes better than aspartame.

They are both carcinogens in high doses. What other detrimental effects does Splenda have that aspartame does not?

Anything is a carcinogen if you have enough of it.

I think I posted before that you'd have to drink 64 oz. of diet coke every day for 7 years before you were at risk for anything. I'm sticking with that data - because if I had to face giving up diet coke....well you wouldn't want to get too close. not that I'm addicted....

 

[OSUdoc08]

Anything is a carcinogen if you have enough of it.

I think I posted before that you'd have to drink 64 oz. of diet coke every day for 7 years before you were at risk for anything. I'm sticking with that data - because if I had to face giving up diet coke....well you wouldn't want to get too close. not that I'm addicted....

Yup. Vitamin C and Black Pepper are also Carcinogens, according to the notes for this final I'm studying for.

 

[EctopicFetus]

Splenda tastes better than aspartame.

They are both carcinogens in high doses. What other detrimental effects does Splenda have that aspartame does not?

Maybe you guys dont know the motto in the field of toxicology, which is basically that everything is a poison it just depends on the dose.

Heck carrots are bad for you if you eat enough of them. It doesnt mean you shouldnt eat carrots. I know it isnt natural but neither is the plastic that makes your soda bottle. What r u people talking about?

 

[EctopicFetus]

Yup. Vitamin C and Black Pepper are also Carcinogens, according to the notes for this final I'm studying for.

I mean so is Vitamin A and vitamin D. Lets be serious here.. Its not like the Asprin people take is "natural" it is chemically synthesized and while I know "real" asprin is natural its not like thats what people take. how about prescription meds?

BTW Coke and heroin are "natural" so is tobacco and alcohol.. Is this thread really happening..?

Regards,
A chemistry major and current M4

 

[Hurricane]

You guys need to stick with unsweetened ice tea. You can even brew up some decaff if you wish. Not many will argue that tea is not bad for you.

Tea is bad for me. The oxalate in coffee and tea causes renal stones in some unfortunate souls. I was getting 3-5 of the damn things every year, but I haven't had a single one (knock on wood) since I completely cut out tea 5 years ago. Never was much of a coffee drinker.

My soft drink of choice is sparkling water. Canada Dry makes a tasty raspberry flavored one. No salt or sweetener - just water, bubbles, and raspberries. I hate most of the flavored waters that are all the rage because they're so salty. Ick. And I like the occasional spenda diet coke. I think it tastes better than aspartame.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

I am sorry I was misinterpreted. Of course chlorine is not necessarily harmful- it is in table salt, lettuce, mushrooms, etc. What I meant to say was that Splenda is a chlorinated sucrose derivitive that even the FDA has claimed that the body can absorb up to 27% of it. So it does not always just "pass throught the body" unabsorbed.

Splenda is not natural like NaCl, lettuce and mushrooms. It is a sugar molecule that gets three chlorine atoms artifically added to it.

OK, I stand corrected, but you originally posted the formula, highlighted the Cl, and said "...your body is trying to get this toxin out."

1. Why did you highlight the Cl, if you didn't mean that Cl = toxin
2. If Cl != toxin, what were you talking about?

.....or were you just saying that Splenda is "obviously" a toxin based upon its molecular formula (with Cl highlighted)?

.....not really sure what point you are trying to prove here.

.....or are you just saying that anything that is not "natural" is a "toxin"

 

[Brickhouse]

Maybe you guys dont know the motto in the field of toxicology, which is basically that everything is a poison it just depends on the dose.

Heck carrots are bad for you if you eat enough of them. It doesnt mean you shouldnt eat carrots. I know it isnt natural but neither is the plastic that makes your soda bottle. What r u people talking about?

exactly....carrots = diet coke...diet coke is natural....do not take away my diet coke.....

brb....need another diet coke...

 

[OSUdoc08]

exactly....carrots = diet coke...diet coke is natural....do not take away my diet coke.....

brb....need another diet coke...

I never understood the whole diet coke obsession. It tastes horrible.

I only drink beer and tea.

 

[Brickhouse]

I never understood the whole diet coke obsession. It tastes horrible.

I only drink beer and tea.

mmmm.....beer.....

 

[EctopicFetus]

I never understood the whole diet coke obsession. It tastes horrible.

I only drink beer and tea.

Me and mrs fetus are diet coke addicts.. its diet crack... Ilove beer and tea as well. The thing is drinking beer in the hospital as a med student, resident or attending is usually frowned upon

 

[Dr Trek 1]

This thread is making me depressed. I think I have developed an aspartame allergy :--( due to my persistent dull nausea that no one can explain any other way.

And I also can't take Splenda. Ah well, looks like ice tea will now be my friend;-)

 

[eleventh]

My favorite drink is coffee. I have about two or three cups a day. I'm trying to cut back so some days I have just black or green tea. I fill my cup about three quarters with coffee, then I add Irish Creme, and Mudslide from Friday's if I have it, and sugar if needed. I am also addicted to peppermint mochas from Starbucks.

 

[NRAI2001]

This thread is making me depressed. I think I have developed an aspartame allergy :--( due to my persistent dull nausea that no one can explain any other way.

And I also can't take Splenda. Ah well, looks like ice tea will now be my friend;-)

Hmmm....i got that dull nausea feeling often also....I drink a lot of diet soda = a lot of aspartame

 

[8744]

Yet these foods that contribute to much of heart disease are approved by FDA.

Does the government need to approve all of our food?

 

[8744]

You now don't trust the FDA because they approved sugar?

Are you familiar with the expression "the dose makes the poison"? The FDA approved aspartame with an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 50mg/kg. At this level aspartame has repeatedly been shown to be safe. Studies also show that even the 90th percentile of aspartame consumers in the USA do not exceed 10mg/kg.

Now you claim that the FDA is not to be trusted because they approve of simple carbohydrates--one of the bodies principle sources of energy--which in excess can cause obseity, diabetes, CAD, etc etc. sigh. Ask yourself this question--the FDA approves aspartame, sugar, and aspirin to name a few things. Does the FDA approve of people eating enough sugar to cause chronic disease? Taking a whole bottle of aspirin? Taking in 1000mg/kg aspartame?

mull that one over big guy

Velo, you know we don't always agree but your posts are probably the most insightful and well-written of any on SDN.

 

[8744]

Why not? Because life is too precious to forfeit to a can of soda. Your cavalier attitude towards life is unreal!!!! Gotta go smoke a cig now to calm my nerves.

Come on now. Don't any of you ever smoke a cigar, drink tequila, east a steak the size of a hubcap, or pick up low women in seedy bars?

Life is too precious to spend eating friggin' tofu and mineral water.

(Although for the record I don't drink, smoke, or eat that much red meat. Nor would Mrs. Panda tolerate low women. I do drink a lot of Diet Cherry Coke. Not that awful Cherry-Vanilla stuff which is just carbonated Robitussin. It has caffeine. It tastes good. It's harmless.)

 

[Apollyon]

Come on now. Don't any of you ever smoke a cigar, drink tequila, east a steak the size of a hubcap, or pick up low women in seedy bars?

Life is too precious to spend eating friggin' tofu and mineral water.

(Although for the record I don't drink, smoke, or eat that much red meat. Nor would Mrs. Panda tolerate low women. I do drink a lot of Diet Cherry Coke. Not that awful Cherry-Vanilla stuff which is just carbonated Robitussin. It has caffeine. It tastes good. It's harmless.)

As I was telling someone earlier this evening - morning, noon, or night, a GREAT meal is steak with a side of bacon.

As far as the Diet Cherry Coke - I TRIED and TRIED to get that in the cafeteria, and I can't get them to stock it (I did get them to stock regular Cherry Coke a few years back, but that didn't last). However, now, there is the "Diet Berries and Cream Dr. Pepper". Avoid it.

 

[8744]

As I was telling someone earlier this evening - morning, noon, or night, a GREAT meal is steak with a side of bacon.

As far as the Diet Cherry Coke - I TRIED and TRIED to get that in the cafeteria, and I can't get them to stock it (I did get them to stock regular Cherry Coke a few years back, but that didn't last). However, now, there is the "Diet Berries and Cream Dr. Pepper". Avoid it.

Every now and then I find a bottle of Diet Cherry Coke in the cooler of our high-priced dining facility. Even with the 12 percent housestaff discount it's pretty expensive. I can usually get a moderately priced sushi tray and a Diet Snapple with my ludicrous on-call meal allowance but that's about it.

You know how cheap Duke is? I have to give back the PDA (that we ostensibly "won" for having all of our paperwork in early) when I leave in June. No big deal because I believe my new program is giving us the same PDA but how much will they get by selling it back?

 

[8744]

...As I was telling someone earlier this evening - morning, noon, or night, a GREAT meal is steak with a side of bacon....

****ing-A, bubba. I'm not one of those pathetic girly-men who apologize sheepishly every time they eat a donut or gnaw into a piece of bloody meat.

"Tee hee hee. Oh my. Well this donut is going to blow my diet!"

Jeezuz H. Keerist. Grow a friggin' pair already. Eat the goddam donut. Have two. Hell, eat the whole ****ing box and then lick the lid. Chase it with some bacon.

Oh yeah, after a military career spent drinking vast quantities of beer and tequila I'm going to get my panties in a bunch over a ****ing diet soda.

 

[Apollyon]

Every now and then I find a bottle of Diet Cherry Coke in the cooler of our high-priced dining facility.

What? What the ****? When? Where? Dammit - I've been gunning for years for that! Mother****er!

PS Bummer you had to spend Armed Forces Day on call.

 

[sweet2th]

Ugh, I tried some low-carb icecream (sweetened with splenda). That stuff if horrble. It tore up my stomach, gave me the most horrific gas, and I couldn't sit right for a few days...
QUOTE]

You are not kidding...despite my name of 'sweet2th' i'm a healthy eater and i have tried my share of low carb and low sugar products. my worst offender was sugar-free chocolate covered raisins. never, ever, ever eat those. i thought i was going to end up in the ER. OUCH. Then again, i have had my share of dried apricots which are coated in preservatives and that was nearly the same result. why don't we all just eat balanced meals instead of opting for all the low carb money making products?

 

[velo]

Velo, you know we don't always agree but your posts are probably the most insightful and well-written of any on SDN.

right back at ya P-Bear. We aren't always on the same side but its nice to have you around.

 

[Dr Trek 1]

Hmmm....i got that dull nausea feeling often also....I drink a lot of diet soda = a lot of aspartame

Care to elaborate on your symptoms? I have had so much medical testing done on my stomach, all negative/inconclusive.

 

[Igni Fera]

This thread is making me depressed. I think I have developed an aspartame allergy :--( due to my persistent dull nausea that no one can explain any other way.

And I also can't take Splenda. Ah well, looks like ice tea will now be my friend;-)

From a very young age (9 or 10 yrs old), I noticed I would get nauseous, tinny headaches, a "buzzing" in my mouth (for lack of a better way to describe it) and a weird lightheadedness anytime I drank diet sodas. Same with sugar-free chewing gum, to a lesser extent. So I stopped drinking/eating the stuff. This suited me just fine, 'cause I didn't like diet sodas at all anyway and loved Coca-Cola and bubbalicious, baby!

And I continue to avoid consuming artificial sweeteners of all kinds. It was the first food allergy I discovered in myself before I even knew that food allergies existed. And no, I do not have PKU. Also, and maybe this part IS psychosomatic, but I have a physiological response to most sugar alcohols too. I can tell if a product contains artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols as soon as they hit my tongue, even if I haven't seen the label or know what I am putting in my mouth...not from the flavor, but from the instant "alarm bells" that the substances set off in my mouth.

I am sure this is all very anecdotal, but the allergy exists, and I am curious to know why?

The FDA's stance: "After reviewing scientific studies, FDA determined in 1981 that aspartame was safe for use in foods. In 1987, the General Accounting Office investigated the process surrounding FDA's approval of aspartame and confirmed the agency had acted properly. However, FDA has continued to review complaints alleging adverse reactions to products containing aspartame. To date, FDA has not determined any consistent pattern of symptoms that can be attributed to the use of aspartame, nor is the agency aware of any recent studies that clearly show safety problems.

"Carefully controlled clinical studies show that aspartame is not an allergen. However, certain people with the genetic disease phenylketonuria (PKU), and pregnant women with hyperphenylalanine (high levels of phenylalanine in blood) have a problem with aspartame because they do not effectively metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine, one of aspartame's components. High levels of this amino acid in body fluids can cause brain damage. Therefore, FDA has ruled that all products containing aspartame must include a warning to phenylketonurics that the sweetener contains phenylalanine." http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/wh-alrg1.html