# Are (almost) all fat people "allergic" to artificial sweeteners?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-almost-all-fat-people-allergic-to-artificial-sweeteners/553071>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [September 8, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-almost-all-fat-people-allergic-to-artificial-sweeteners/553071 "2010-09-08T17:05:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 59

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2010, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-almost-all-fat-people-allergic-to-artificial-sweeteners/553071/59 "2010-09-09T06:57:45Z")

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> [@Cazzle](#):
>
> I’ve never heard anyone claim to be allergic to artificial sweeteners, but I know people who claim to be allergic to things they don’t like. Why not? People don’t seem to respect their preferences until they pull out the big guns so they head off the argument by starting there.
> 
> I’ve claimed to be allergic to things that I don’t strictly have an allergy to, things that inevitably upset my stomach and cause… erm, gastric distress. It’s not usually something I want to be detailed about, so “allergy” is a nice way to just put that conversation behind us.

This is something that irritates me. WHY can’t people accept the fact that other people might not want to have alcohol, or caffeine, or whatever? I’m not allergic to shellfish, I don’t have bad physical reactions to it, but I think that most shellfish tastes horrid. Really, I do. I don’t care how nice the cocktail sauce is, I’m NOT going to love your shrimp cocktail, because it involves shrimp.

I have irritable or inflammatory bowel disease/syndrome. If I eat certain things, I WILL have extreme adverse reactions to it. And some people can’t accept that I really don’t want to eat anything with black pepper on it or in it, because I’ll spend the next three days in the bathroom, in pain. I’ve had people say, “Oh, come on, a little taste won’t kill you” while putting a bit of food on my lips, and I’ve shoved their hands away. I’ve been told that I’m rude. Yes, it won’t KILL me, but I might very well wish that I were dead in the near future, and I think that literally pushing food on someone is rude.

Grrrr.

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