Buy Walking VideosFDA Defends Aspartame Safety
Aspartame is the artificial sweetener that has taken over almost EVERY diet product on the market. Even though there are many artificial sweeteners available, aspartame seems to be the favorite right now. It’s also the favorite scapegoat of many groups, saying that aspartame was pushed through the FDA approval process and is the cause of a wide number of ailments.
The European Ramazzini Foundation in Bologna, Italy conducted a study on aspartame which stated that it caused cancer. The FDA has released their review of that study here:
They asked for the data and the ERF provided some, but not all the data. They also refused to let the FDA review the pathological slides, which are thin slices of the organs of the test animals mounted on slides so they can be analyzed. Based on the data that they DID receive, here are their findings.
Additionally, the data that were provided to FDA do not appear to support the aspartame-related findings reported by ERF. Based on our review, pathological changes were incidental and appeared spontaneously in the study animals, and none of the histopathological changes reported appear to be related to treatment with aspartame. FDA believes that additional insight on the study findings could be provided by an internationally-sponsored pathology working group examination of appropriate tissue slides from the study.
Considering results from the large number of studies on aspartame’s safety, including five previously conducted negative chronic carcinogenicity studies, a recently reported large epidemiology study with negative associations between the use of aspartame and the occurrence of tumors, and negative findings from a series of three transgenic mouse assays, FDA finds no reason to alter its previous conclusion that aspartame is safe as a general purpose sweetener in food.
To be honest, aspartame is fake food. It makes things sweet like sugar does, but doesn’t add calories. It hasn’t even been proven to help you lose weight. It might be safe to eat, but there are doubts as to whether it’s the best for you. If you have a diet soda addiction, then you can rest easy knowing that the FDA has reviewed its safety and still deems it safe, but remember that nothing quenches thirst better than water.
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May 10th, 2007 at 10:37 am
FDA opinions are a bit questionable these days anyway, but why worry about it? As you said, water is the best drink there is. It’s cheap, it’s refreshing, it has no calories and if you get it from the tap, it doesn’t even have environmentally harmful packaging.
I wrote a little article recently about how much money people spend on drinks. Add up your daily drinking habits and you could end up with around $2000 a year spent on junk like this. Makes no sense to pay that kind of money to be unhealthy.
GJ http://www.60in3.com
May 10th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Aspartame can cause headaches in some people and should be avoided with PKU but the brain tumor stuff is an urban legend it’s actually safer than steiva but steiva doesn’t spike blood sugar.
May 10th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Why do you say it’s safer than stevia?
May 21st, 2007 at 4:20 am
nice web site