Federal Study Rejects Aspartame Risks

A federal study by the National Cancer Institute has cast doubt on the role Apartame playes in causing cancer. The study looked at over 340,000 men and over 226,000 women aged 50-69. No link was found.

Cue the 'Government is a tool of corporation rants". However, this is a large based study that used techniques to eliminate "memory bias".

Federal Study Rejects Aspartame Risks

Very interesting study, Fred. Thanks for posting it! Perhaps now a few of those voices screaming "Aspartame causes cancer!" will quiet down, no?

~MFP

A study like this would be really conclusive if all other variables of the subjects were equal, but they aren't accounted for, right?

If the group who didn't drink diet soda instead consumed another carcinogen, their cancer rate has no bearing on the relative poisonousness ( ) of aspartame. They could also have been ingesting aspartame through another product. During the period of cancer increase some folks blame on diet soda, weren't the 'safe' arsenic levels climbing due to industry pressure? I'd feel a heck of a lot safer drinking diet sprite than arsenic-laden water. :shk:

For all we know, the 'control' group was a gang of syphilitic smokers. In general, without doing a detailed, expensive analysis on the individual cancers, one simply can't know where they came from, what contributed to their growth, and perhaps least importantly, whether or not aspartame was responsible.

There's a really good way to find out just what's causing all the cancer. It's not like the technology doesn't exist. It's in the best interest of the public health to do a detailed analysis of every reported cancer, to develop a workable understanding of the origins of this scourge, right?

O ya it can cause cancer when studied in rats but they fed them the equivalence of there body weight in a week or less if im not mistaken. In studies less than that amount its link to cancer is negligible. So unless you can choke down your body weight in it don’t worry

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
If the group who didn't drink diet soda instead consumed another carcinogen, their cancer rate has no bearing on the relative poisonousness (

) of aspartame.

Its a large controll group. If Aspertame was causing cancer, like most cancer causing agents, they tend to produce a few types, and do not spread out unless they spread once started. SO if this was causing cancer, you would have seen a rise of one or two different types in the the group when compared to the statistical average of those particular types.

Is it a perfect study? No, but short of basically locking people up for 20 years and perfectly controlling thier environment, its a pretty good study. 1/2 a million people is a large sample base.

The only flaw as i see it in the methodology is the age group selected. A younger group say 25-40 would to me have even more signifigance. As this would be the group more likely to be consuming these products with greater frequency.

I drink 4 to 5 diet cokes a day so this is encouraging news ......but i still have lots of people telling me it's bad for me

Originally posted by the_sentinal
I drink 4 to 5 diet cokes a day so this is encouraging news ......but i still have lots of people telling me it's bad for me

Hmmmm that is quite a bit and the other stuff in them can be bad as well. The issue lies with 'average" consumption. At some point even an otherwise harmelss chemical can cause metastatic shifts in cells if its levels get high enough. My guess is that the statistical sample (age 50-69) by and large (there are always exceptions) did not consume that much NutraSweet.

However during my University days, I consumed that much if not more daily just to stay awake during class

That stuff gives me headaches and makes it hard for me to concentrate or remember anything.

I refuse to buy diet pop for my husband. He says "thank you for caring" and then buys himself the stuff.

There are plenty of things that can cause cancer, though. Might be that aspartame is one of them.

The sentinal I will advise you that you should cut your soda intake and substitute with water, at the end it will benefit you health wise.

I agree Amethyst, aspartame give me head aches too, I only use raw natural sugar when needed and I switched from splenda to stevia.

I also has been drinking and cooking with nothing but spring water and the only head aches I have is the seasonal related to allergies and they are different that the ones I had before all the time.

I only can say that people need to understand how much money the food industry pops for advertisements and for studies and the studies can be manipulated easily.

Anything manufactured and anything unnatural in what we eat do not belong in our food at all.

If you can not read it then it doesn't belong there.

Stay healthy, eat clean and as natural as possible and you see how better you will feel and look.

[edit on 6-4-2006 by marg6043]

Anything manufactured and anything unnatural in what we eat do not belong in our food at all.

Well, you know...technically the heating of foods is unnatural, due to the fact that animal flesh isn't spontaneously grilled by nature upon the animal's death. Overcooking meats can lead to production of carcinogens to a smal ldegree, so I guess using your argument we should stop cooking all foods as it is unnatural, right?

~MFP

Originally posted by bsl4doc

...technically the heating of foods is unnatural, ...Overcooking meats can lead to production of carcinogens to a smal ldegree, so I guess using your argument we should stop cooking all foods as it is unnatural, right?

Interesting you should say that. Here's a 1984 study that shows heating and canning not only creates mutagens but also creates "Salmonella strain specificity."

Occurrence of mutagens in canned foods. Mutat Res. 1984 Nov-Dec;141(3-4):131-4. Krone CA, Iwaoka WT. PMID: 6392876

Mutagens are shown to be present in a variety of commercially heat-processed foods. Since these substances are not present in the unheated raw material, it appears that they are produced during processing. Canned salmon and beef broth showed the highest mutagenicity while other canned beef and fish products yielded lower but detectable levels. These findings are significant not only because of the large proportion of the food supply which is processed by canning, but also because the mutagens in these foods exhibit chemical behaviors and Salmonella strain specificity similar to mutagens in grilled foods which have been shown to be mammalian carcinogens.

Seems to me this aspartame study mainly proves that our world is SO contaminated and polluted that there is almost no point looking for single direct cause-and-effect relationships.

We live in an ecosystem, right?

Originally posted by bsl4doc
Very interesting study, Fred. Thanks for posting it! Perhaps now a few of those voices screaming "Aspartame causes cancer!" will quiet down, no?

~MFP

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That'll be the day!

Do you honestly believe that people will let such triflings as sound science and good medicine stop their agendas? Not likely!

Besides, even if you do get them to quit yelling about aspartame, they'll just start blaming it on MMR vaccines or Thimerisol or flouride or prions or cranberries, or maybe even fornits. With these people, there is a nearly pathological compulsion to believe anything but accepted medical doctrine and sound scientific research.

I commend you for your optimism, but if you want proof, look one post up.

Know what, there is SO MUCH junk in our food, even in our SOAPS (sodium laureth sulfate, which is in a lot of soaps, is not good for you either), that all you can do is "go natural."

When you have everything coming at you from all directions, it's easy to say this thing here doesn't do it, it might be this other thing--when in fact, they're ALL the culprits!

I too use Stevia when I can get it--stuff's not cheap.

Originally posted by bsl4doc

Well, you know...technically the heating of foods is unnatural, due to the fact that animal flesh isn't spontaneously grilled by nature upon the animal's death. Overcooking meats can lead to production of carcinogens to a smal ldegree, so I guess using your argument we should stop cooking all foods as it is unnatural, right?

~MFP

And your argument is overstated and for impact. and btw I know exactly what cooking does to foods and flesh.

Cooking animal flesh can be rewarding and. . . nutritious but only if the flesh is from natural sources without the manipulation of hormones, pesticides and antibiotics so actually even before we Cook it it has been manipulated artificially.

So I have been around the block and got my knowledge here and there of what goes on with our Manufacture food supplies.

I grew up with fresh products from my parents backyard and animal Flesh from my grandfather farm with not of the junk is use now in animals and we grew up healthy.

Still cooking is one of the best ways to avoid many diseases.

Perhaps I should add that I enjoy raw fish and eat it whatever I am able to do it after all I was born and raise in an Island.

Now Amethyst yes stevia is no cheap but the key is that if you need some sweet flavor just use half of the littler packages it last longer and the sweetness of stevia is very strong a littler bit give enough.

Cooking animal flesh can be rewarding and. . . nutritious but only if the flesh is from natural sources without the manipulation of hormones, pesticides and antibiotics so actually even before we Cook it it has been manipulated artificially.

Cooking foods, however, is not natural. We are the only creatures who do this. Also, beef and other meats, when heated, contained nitrosamines, a commonly known carcinogen. Normally, our body can handle certain amounts of these as neutrophils actually produce it. However, high cooked meat diets can overload your system with nitrosamines. Perhaps this is why Asian cultures who eat plenty of fish raw survive for much longer than us Europeans.

~MFP

People consume aspartame in huge amounts -- I'm sure some clearly identifiable link would have shown up by now if there was one to be found. IMO aspartame is as safe or safer than sugar.

Originally posted by bsl4doc

Cooking foods, however, is not natural.

Yes you are right is not, but we have been bombarded by the food industry that we need to over cook, kill and decimate our foods so they do not kills us.

Sad but true the only flesh that my father always used to cook very well was pork because the parasites in it.

Now he doesn't even eat pork due to his religious believes and occurs we have plenty of fish available.

Also, beef and other meats, when heated, contained nitrosamines, a commonly known carcinogen.

Trust me Is hard to live with a daughter that is a biology major so she reminds me of all the bad things that we do and eat and what goes on inside our bodies she has turned into and organic eater.

However, high cooked meat diets can overload your system with nitrosamines.

Yes we are a society that depend on over processed food because many people do not have the time to make time with the preparation of food.

Like I said I grew up in an environment that both my parents cook and they made a ritual of food preparation I am one of those people that actually enjoy preparing meals and I find it very rewarding.

Perhaps this is why Asian cultures who eat plenty of fish raw survive for much longer than us Europeans.

I am not Asian but I love sushi, also in my island we make escabeche is no like sushi, ours is raw fish in vinegar, olive oil and lemon with black peppers.

Been part of the US our diet has changed drastically and now many people in my island suffer from weigh problems and all the others problems that has come with manufactured foods and Fast food chains.

Twenty five years ago when I was a teen you could not find a MacDonald or berger king in my island, now they are every where.

Shame.

I think you're missing my point, Marg. Nitrosamines occur regardless of whether the meat is processed or organics.
`

Originally posted by bsl4doc
I think you're missing my point, Marg. Nitrosamines occur regardless of whether the meat is processed or organics.
`

My daughter doesn't eat animal flesh. she is not a full vegetarian and as for me I have also given up on red meats.

She has convinced me of how bad our country is when it comes to testing animals for diseases like mad cow. and how we can all be infested without knowing.

Her colleague does studies on that particular subject.

A nitrosamine isn't a bacteria, virus, or disease of any sort, it's a naturally occuring compound that can produce free radicals.

~MFP