Do You Give your kids "aspartame"

xxfelix

Hi all,

Hope its ok posting here but of late i discovered that aspartame is in most cordial drinks and sugar free stuff and Tonics for kids - its really scaring me!!

Just looking for ur opinion etc.....maybe im stressing too much on ingredients but u want the best for them dont u??

Thanks in advance

metrovelvet

xxfelix wrote: »

Hi all,

Hope its ok posting here but of late i discovered that aspartame is in most cordial drinks and sugar free stuff and Tonics for kids - its really scaring me!!

Just looking for ur opinion etc.....maybe im stressing too much on ingredients but u want the best for them dont u??

Thanks in advance

Nope. Never.

KittyeeTrix

I've never watched out for any of the "E" additives or anything like that and nothing has gone amiss with my 4.
Loads of friends say that coca cola and sweets etc drive theirs la-la but honestly never saw it in my own kids. They're all fairly relaxed to be honest:)

implausible

Given the choice between sugar and aspartame, the sugar wins every time. I'd rather feed my young fella an actual foodstuff than a chemical.

byhookorbycrook

I avoid any "diet" drinks for this reason.I am always suprised that most people are unaware of this stuff.

gaeilgegrinds1

Only milk, water and juice to be honest.

Moonbeam

Yes , but mainly because I can not eat it

SugarHigh

deemark wrote: »

Given the choice between sugar and aspartame, the sugar wins every time. I'd rather feed my young fella an actual foodstuff than a chemical.

You realise sugar is also made up of Chemicals?

You realise water is also a chemical and even has an E number?

SugarHigh

I think the negative effects of aspartame are grossly overstated mainly by day time tv and Internet message boards.

I don't personally drink it but not out some health fear.

implausible

SugarHigh wrote: »

You realise sugar is also made up of Chemicals?

You realise water is also a chemical and even has an E number?

Obviously every food is made up of chemicals, but sugar is grown in a field, not created in a lab. I prefer sugar to sweetener for the same reason I prefer butter to margarine - they're closer to nature and what we should be eating.

SugarHigh

deemark wrote: »

Obviously every food is made up of chemicals, but sugar is grown in a field, not created in a lab. I prefer sugar to sweetener for the same reason I prefer butter to margarine - they're closer to nature and what we should be eating.

Poison mushrooms grow in fields and cancer medication is made in labs.

I'm not sure why you think field = good and lab = bad.

implausible

SugarHigh wrote: »

Poison mushrooms grow in fields and cancer medication is made in labs.

I'm not sure why you think field = good and lab = bad.

Obviously, we're being quite pedantic here with the terms chemical and field. The atomic bomb started in a lab too, if you want to go down that road.

My personal choice and what I chose for my child is as far as I can to use natural produce and the kinds of food that we have been eating for centuries e.g. butter instead of margarine, fresh whole fruit instead of processed juices, fresh meat and veg instead of ready meals.

grissom1

aspatame is known to cause cancer in lab rats but the tests carried out are not that specific, thats why only so much is permitted in food stuffs.

Anyone that has ever bought the sugar substitute tablets can see that they are tiny, the reason is aspartame is about 10,000 times more sweeter than sugar in its pure form. If it was consumed pure like a couple of spoonfuls of sugar it would probably be lethal.

It is crazy that it allowed in the foodchain in the first place, there is no safe level for a poison.

diet my ass, the reason its called diet is you could die.....

I wouldn't recommend any foods that contain it Ireland is good at the moment because the health dept have fairly strict restrictions on what goes into things but unfortunately its getting a bit relaxed. It's crazy in the US half of the stuff sold contains it

nesf

grissom1 wrote: »

aspatame is known to cause cancer in lab rats but the tests carried out are not that specific, thats why only so much is permitted in food stuffs.

That, and much of the rest of your post is blatantly false. Read this release by the National Cancer Institute on aspartame: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/aspartame


Seriously the amount of bull**** spread about aspartame by people who don't understand what they're talking about reminds me of the vaccine autism scare of the 90s.

grissom1

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/f...Risk/aspartame


"In 2005, a laboratory study found more lymphomas and leukemias in rats fed very high doses of aspartame (equivalent to drinking 8 to 2,083 cans of diet soda daily) (1). However, there were some inconsistencies in the findings. For example, the number of cancer cases did not rise with increasing amounts of aspartame as would be expected. "



In the 90's there was research to say that smoking wasn't causing cancer......

how long before we actually know for sure about aspartame, I don't think anyone would like to try a full cup of it do you?

Joey the lips

i seen the study as well. I dont give my kids diet drinks because i brush there teeth twicw daily anyway but nor do i give them a lot of sugar.

I asked my dentist and he said that all non sugars have to be approved by a body like the FDA(food and drug association) and the tests are stringent.

I drink diet drinks because of the sugar aspect eg diet coke. I am not worried about aspertain I dont not drink 8 cans a day and i certainly do not give my kids 8 cans of anything a day.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy


The above might also be of interest....


Every thing in moderation folks.... Even the rubber chicken nuggets that come from the far east.

Lady Chatterton

"All things in moderation, including moderation." — Mark Twain

Orion

grissom1 wrote: »

In the 90's there was research to say that smoking wasn't causing cancer......

Do you mean the discredited studies that were commissioned by the tobacco companies?

That's enough scaremongering. Drink 2000+ cans of anything and cancer is the least of your worries. Mentioning junk science to back up your position discredits it.

alex73

All the time, its one of the most thoroughly tested and studied food additives. Its far healthier than drink sugar drinks. After all its a methyl ester, we call it artificial because its not natural, But we eat thousands of artificial flavours all the time. (chips, sweets, burgers,) The food industry has many artificial flavours. And even the drinks that say "No artificial flavours" us highly processed ingredients so far removed from nature.

Its what's mixed with aspartame that can often times not be so healthy.

Just because man created a compound does not mean it will be dangerous.. 80% of medicines are man made compounds, and we all take them when the doctor says so. Aspartame has been tested far more intensely and over a longer period than many approved medicines.

grissom1

Macros42 wrote: »

Do you mean the discredited studies that were commissioned by the tobacco companies?

QUOTE]


Yes I do and there were a lot of them...

there is a lot of research there to say aspartame is not safe, next thing it is safe and so on so on, there is research to say it causes headaches and
effects those who are unable to metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine which it contains.


I don't know if it is safe or not but I'm not willing to risk it and avoid buying anything with it in it. in ten years time we will probably know the truth when proper independent research is done. all the research so far is open ended..

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1931116,00.html#ixzz1LnT4ab6N

silverharp

One thing I would say is, dont give your kids sugar free sweet drinks on the asmuption it wont make thm fat. I dont have a link but I gather that when the body eats something sweet it reacts the same way ie it wants to store the food as fat. Diluted apple juice is the most mine get, 7up etc are treats for restaurants.

cynder

If aspartame did cause cancer, would we not see more diabetics with it?

All diabetic type 1s have diet drinks or no added sugar drinks many of these are diagnosed as children, if cancer was that common with aspartame then it would assume that diabetics would be first hit with the amount of it they consume.

unkel

Junk science is right. From the wiki article linked to by Joey the lips:

Reported flaws were numerous and included, but were not limited to, the following: comparing cancer rates of older aspartame-consuming rats to younger control rats

:rolleyes:

That's a blunder of the highest order - you don't need to know anything about statistical methods to realise that.

Ayla

Whatever about testing/cancer-causing/artificial vs natural...

I refuse to give my children those cordial drinks (I won't even call them juice simply b/c they're not "real" juice) because they make me ill. They generally give me serious stomach cramps & the runs, and anything that does that will not be given to my children. I worked as a waitress for awhile & while on shift would drink some diluted cordial; I cramped up so badly I had to go home early. I won't put anything that does that into my babies.

silja

I don't give my kids soda at home, their choice is water, milk or watered juice. But I don't object to them having aspartame occasionally in a cordial or sweet when they are at a friend's house or a few sips from dad's drink when we are out. Never notice any difference in behaviour.

cbyrd

A little pot of actimel, the supposed healthy drink has the same amount of sugar as a can of coke... apple juice can contain up to 12mg of sugar per 100mls. . . while some drinks are labeled as healthy you'd be really surprised how much sugar they really contain.

Aspartame is not only found in drinks but in foods too and unless you read your labels really carefully you're unaware of how much sugar and salt and chemicals are really added to food you would assume is healthy.. even the healthy breakfast cereals have huge amounts of salt, which is a hell of a lot more damaging to childrens heart health than artificial sweeteners. .

Sugar is dangerous, in fact it may well be the most dangerous foodstuff we regularly eat.

Put a bunch of people on the same diet, one group using only sugar in foods and the other lot using only aspartame. I'd bet good money you'd get far more diabetics among the first group than cancer sufferers among the second.

However, you don't give food or drinks containing aspartame to anyone with PKU (affects about 1 in 5,000 kids in Ireland). But then again, you have to be careful to monitor their intake of starchy foods as well.

cooperguy

grissom1 wrote: »

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/f...Risk/aspartame


"In 2005, a laboratory study found more lymphomas and leukemias in rats fed very high doses of aspartame (equivalent to drinking 8 to 2,083 cans of diet soda daily) (1). However, there were some inconsistencies in the findings. For example, the number of cancer cases did not rise with increasing amounts of aspartame as would be expected. "



In the 90's there was research to say that smoking wasn't causing cancer......

how long before we actually know for sure about aspartame, I don't think anyone would like to try a full cup of it do you?

If you eat almost anything in the right doses and form it is a carcinogenic/poisonous. That includes everything from aspartame to almonds to water. So that is meaningless.

Look up Water Intoxication for example