i heard about this from a freind that aspartame was banned by the FDA because it caused cancer in lab rats, but in the 80’s it became legal under regan or something. aspartame is in alot of foods and maybe its just like when smoking started to be popular and alot of people didnt think smoking caused cancer untill they started to die from it. is aspartame dangerous?
Your friend is thinking of cyclamate, the only artificial sweetner to be banned in the US. The whole subject of the ills of various artificial sweetners has been argued to death on the Internet. Just google it.
No cites, but I’ve heard anecdotal reports that overconsumption of aspartame causes an inability to locate the Shift key when using a standard QWERTY keyboard.
marochko’s friend was definitely refering to aspartame. Bottom line is, mix your aspartame with a shot of vodka and your safe.
Although it does not mention cancer, I will link to Cecil’s column anyway, just as interesting reading.
Oh! Oh! Pick me!
The search for this one actually caused me to find the Straight Dope back in 1999, by way of snopes
Your safe what?
If you’ll read my cite, ethanol prevents the metabolism of methanol into formaldehyde. Or at least, your metabolism will spent most of its time turning the ethanol into acetaldehyde while the methanol leaves your system another way.
Of course, it’s silly to take a shot of vodka with your Nutrasweet, so it shouldn’t be taken seriously.
No, you mix the aspartame with your vodka and your safe. It’s an integral part of the mixture.
Leaffan was making a joke about your use of “your” instead of “you’re.”
Myths about aspartame dangers are frequently promoted on the Internet, often by the same sorts of people who rail against water fluoridation and vaccines, and who use the same misleading statements, cherry-picked data and conspiracy theories to promote their agendas.
Aspartame has been heavily studied and the claims against it (including the alleged links to cancer and MS) repeatedly debunked, but the myths live on.
The Wikipedia article is weighted towards the idea that pro and anti-aspartame arguments are about equally balanced, which is false. The Ramazzini Foundation is the major outfit publishing anti-aspartame research, but its findings have been rejected by major health groups due to multiple flaws.
The bottom line is that the great weight of research, supported by public health organizations, is that aspartame is safe.