Will Nutrasweet Be Banned For Causing Cancer?
The Huffington Post is reporting that new FDA chief Dr. Margaret Hamburg is expected to ban the use of aspartame, the substance in Nutrasweet. Who expects the ban, columnist Samuel S. Epstein neglects to say.
But why? That is well covered:
In January 1976, then Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Schmidt testified before Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) that Hazleton Laboratories, under contract to Searle, had been charged with falsifying toxicological data on the sweetener.
The FDA subsequently convened a Public Board of Inquiry to review concerns on aspartame's carcinogenic effects in experimental animals. In 1980, the Board concluded that aspartame could "contribute to the development brain tumors." The FDA then recommended that, pending confirmation of these findings, this sweetener should no longer be used.
In 2006, based on highly sensitive and life long feeding tests in groups of about 200 rats and at doses less than usual human dietary levels, the prestigious Italian Ramazzini Foundation confirmed that aspartame is unequivocally carcinogenic. A high incidence of cancers was induced in multiple organs, including lymph glands, brain and kidney.
True, Nutrasweet conspiracy theories have grown up with the Internet. And we'll grant that there's no shortage of bad science over at HuffPo. But Dr. Epstein sounds like the real deal.
At any rate, as someone who has long found that Nutrasweet gives me headaches, I'm a believer. So down with Diet Coke! (Tab is better anyway.)
An Overdue Ban on a Dangerous Sweetener [Huffington Post]
(Thanks, Shaula Evans!)
[Photo: niallkennedy]
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Comments:
Geez just use sugar. It's pretty clear that all these alternatives are going to kill you somehow.
So what if it causes cancer, it tastes like crap. That's reason enough and then some to not ingest it. For me at least.
how is aspertame bad your body turns it to co2 and water
I remember when this stuff first started coming out in consumer products. Quaker Oats had a cereal called Halfsies, half sugar (HFCS of course), half aspartame. It looked just like one of the Captain Crunch variants.
It gave me a terrible headache, helped in no small part by the idea that one could eat a lot of it and not worry about sugar so much. Or so we thought.
It will be a happy day when this stuff is banned. Now if they'd only tackle HFCS next.
@FooSchnickens:
I don't know if it contains Aspartane, but I have a major Coke Zero addiction. I think you inform consumers of the risk and then let them make the choice.
What is left for artificial sweeteners if Nutrasweet goes away?
There have been concerns about this for years. I can't stand the stuff, it gives me horrible headaches. Splenda gives some people horrible headaches also. That is made out of some chlorine derivative.
The better option is probably to just consume less sugar.
Epstein is far far far from the mainstream in cancer research, and NIH, the ACS, and the European Food Safety Authority do not agree with his conclusions regarding the safety of aspartame:
@tbax929: Oh well. Can I interest you in a real sugar Coke from my local Hispanic Grocery? They're deeeeeeeeelish.
@Marshfield: Sweet'n Low (saccharin) and Splenda (sucralose) both have pretty strong holds on the artificial sweetener market still.
Oh, here we go again! See an article in Reason from Oct. 1993:
"In 1970 the Food and Drug Administration banned the artificial sweetener cyclamate. For more than a decade, until the arrival of aspartame (Nutra-Sweet), dieters with sweet tooths had to put up with the wrenching aftertaste of saccharin.
The FDA's cyclamate decision was based on a 1969 study in which rats who were fed high doses of the sweetener developed cancer. The World Health Organization, the U.N. Joint Committee on Food Additives, and the National Academy of Sciences have since rejected that study as a fluke because its results could not be reproduced. Yet cyclamate remains illegal."
@bohemian: But why leave it up to individuals to take care of their own health and well being when we can just have the government ban it for everyone?
@NeverLetMeDown: How exactly? Sugar is a natural product that is grown in dirt rather than a petrie dish...so...how is that exactly supposed to kill you? I would be willing to bet that a lot of the diabetes in the US is caused by corn syrup, which the body doesn't really know how to process. Want to die less quickly, use sugar instead of "artificial sweeteners" or corn syrup. Sugar based coke tastes hellishly better anyway!
@Marshfield: Splenda works great and doesn't causes headaches...so far that is...
Then of course, there is always sugar in moderation...
After looking into this for just a few minutes, I'm certain that this article (like all others from HuffPo about science) is complete bunk. I think Consumerist needs to change this post to link to sources other than HuffPo.
Here are a few bits knocking down this poorly conducted study from the Italian Ramazzini Foundation (the 2006 one referenced in the article):
I'm disappointed, Consumerist. You're supposed to be protecting consumers, not parroting these fear-mongering rants.
@NeverLetMeDown: But they have also been wrong before no doubt. Science isn't science if it is concrete. Science changes and those that don't change with it are wasting our time.
Then again...I've had cancer...and no, I don't use Equal (aspartame) unless there is no other option. The biggest problem with sweeteners in general is people use just too dang much of them.
Everything causes cancer.
Except cancer.
That causes death.
How exactly? Sugar is a natural product that is grown in dirt rather than a petrie dish...so...how is that exactly supposed to kill you?
Wait, so natural products that are grown in dirt can't kill you? Really?
@bohemian: To be fair they plug a chlorine ion into the sugar molecule (Thanks Alton Brown!)-"chlorine derivative" sounds like a pool byproduct.
It gives me a headache too though.
@crymson777: Whoa...watch yourself with the "it's a natural product grown in the dirt so it can't kill you" thing. Unless, of course, you'd like to sample that hemlock?
@NeverLetMeDown: Aha-thanks for the links. Should be interesting to see any more studies come to light.
@crymson777: I find Splenda so supremely vile I can't eat it even in tiny amounts. It literally makes me gag, even in a sugar/splenda mix.
I know that's just a personal thing -- my husband can't stand aspartame, which I like the taste of -- but if we were stuck with splenda for low-cal stuff, I'd have to avoid them all completely. Blergh.
Bring back cyclamates!
Whether or not Aspartame causes cancer, it has other things that make it not good for us as well. The first is that it has phenylalanine in it, which lowers your seizure threshold. (This is especially bad for people who suffer from phenylketonuria, who can not tolerate phenylalanine, but can affect you even if you do not suffer from it). Secondly, it can atrophy your organs (the liver being a big one) if you drink too much of it. It is 200X sweeter than sugar, so companies use it because they can use much less of it than sugar.
I work in a health food store. So yes, you can call me a crazy hippie if you want, but I know that I feel much better since I've stopped drinking diet coke (no more headaches) and no more of that awful metallic after taste.
@henrygates: So what about those of us who'd like to not get or make worse diabetis? Excess sugar WILL kill us, pal.
Hasn't this been debunked enough?
MIT News: [web.mit.edu]
American Council on Science and Health (ACSH): [www.acsh.org]
The previous FDA position: [vm.cfsan.fda.gov]
More sources at snopes: [www.snopes.com]
@FooSchnickens: I think that choice should be left up to the consumer. Or should Brussels sprouts be banned because i think they "taste like crap"?
I discovered in the mid 90s that aspartame makes me pretty thoroughly and nastily ill, so I wouldn't miss it.
Good. It's about time. Asparatame tastes like dog shit. (Yes, I've tasted dogshit. No, it wasn't on purpose)
As I've said before.... I'll take cavities over cancer, any day of the week!
@Marshfield: For my money, nothing on the market, not even real sugar, can hold a candle to saccharin (sweet n low) in my coffee
@henrygates: Great idea! Unless you're a diabetic, or just on a diet. I like how saccharin tastes, too
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Definitely a personal thing. I used to be okay with aspartame but now all I taste is chemicals. I definitely prefer Splenda.
Haven't tried the new stevia (Truvia, etc.) sweeteners yet. I've heard not everyone likes those, either.
I guess ya can't please everyone. :)
@meredithw: Wrenching aftertaste of saccharin. Jeez, I prefer the taste of saccharin to every other artificial sweetener. And I'm no old fart either-I'm under 30
@parapluie101: Seriously though, that's all incorrect. You clearly have no idea what phenylalanine is. It's just an amino acid... you know, the building blocks of proteins that you get shit loads of from any type of meat. The only reason that phenylalanine is dangerous to people with PKU is that they are unable to metabolize it. If you don't have PKU, you're fine.
In your health food store, they probably even sell phenylalanine as a supplement. Even though taking extra won't really do anything. But hey, that hasn't stopped the supplement industry from packaging up every other thing under the sun.
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): @Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): @MadameX:
I personally use Splenda and Xylatol. Both are quite good.
I gave up Diet Dr. Pepper due to its use of Aspartame.
Dagnabbit.