Fresh Fears about Aspartame

[Celebration]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1528885,00.html

The European Food Safety Authority is reviewing "as a matter of high priority" the results of a large new study into aspartame, the artificial sweetener consumed by millions of people worldwide and used in more than 6,000 food and drink products.

Researchers at the Ramazzini Institute for cancer research in Italy say their study shows that aspartame causes lymphomas and leukaemia in female laboratory animals "at doses very close to the acceptable daily intake for humans". The authors of the study also say that while rats fed aspartame ate less food, there was no difference in body weight between treated and untreated animals.

One of the largest manufacturers of aspartame, the Japanese multinational Ajinomoto said the allegations made by the Italian study were "not consistent with the extensive body of scientific research which already exists on aspartame".

[CitrusLib]

1. Well that's one reason to avoid it.

Even without the health risks, Rumsfeld's involvement in bringing it to market are enough to turn me off.

[soothsayer]

4. indeed! i hate that ghoul

[jilln]

2. So rats shouldn't eat it...

what about people?

[dbonds]

3. Somewhere there is a big list of reasons.

(best I remember) It metabolizes into a poisonus type of alcohol and causes some a lot of memory problems as well as other health risks.

[nashville_brook]

5. for the very first time in my life, i started drinking diet soda

a couple of months ago and have felt horrible. headaches, nausea -- all sorts of badness. i'm laying off to see if i have any improvement. thanks for the info.

[gate of the sun]

6. I and my family do not ingest artificial sweeteners

it's as abhorrent to me as artificial meat

[Astarho]

7. isn't the taste reason enough

to avoid it?