I did confirm with her - perhaps there is something about me in particular that made her suggest that aspertame was bad.
Look, I’m really not trying to dis anybody. But we’re told over and over not to ask for medical advice on here. So I didn’t, I asked about aspertame. I have a real, live Dr. that’s given me a piece of medical advice as a direct response to her about my own particular medical issue. While I appreciate that some people here don’t agree with her advice, she is my real live Dr. and I feel it would be foolish to ignore her and listen to people on the internet, regardless of how clever I think they are.
I really hope no one is offended. Furthermore, I don’t think they’res anything in aspertame that’s GOOD for you, so I can’t imagine that by eliminating it, I’m going to be hurting myself, ya know?
What is new Coke Zero made with? It tastes markedly different from Diet Coke (almost like regular coke if you ask me). Is it made with splenda?
What on earth is “sodium aspartame”? I know aspartame is often combined with acesulfame potassium to cut the aftertaste, but I’ve never heard of “sodium aspartame.” Aspartame is made up of two amino acids: phenylalanine and aspartic acid. There’s no sodium involved. You can see that in the diagram on Wikipedia’s Aspartame page.
Could your doctor be thinking of sodium saccharin, an older and, to my taste buds, considerably more bitter sweetener?
It’s not made with Splenda, but I’m still surprised nobody’s mentioned Tab. Tab does still exist, and is still made with saccharine. It also takes care of that “too sweet” taste you’re talking about.
Then she might want to share her insight with the US FDA and Canada’s counterpart, as both of them have said that they can find no health risks associated with it (althought there is something on the FDA’s website about pregnant women).
It’s possible, though, that there are real health risks associated with them, but Monsanto has paid them hush money. That is well attested on various aforementioned kook websites.
Mmmmmm, cyclamates.
Google Scholar couldn;t come up with anything on “sodium aspartame”. Thus, I have a strong suspicion there is no such thing. There is sodium asparate, aka sodium (poly)aspartate. Aspartate is an amino acid (from Wiki*: Aspartic acid (Asp), also known as aspartate, the name of its anion, is one of the 20 natural proteinogenic amino acids which are the building blocks of proteins*". “Sodium poly(aspartate) is used as an anti-scaling agent. It is a chelating agent.”
Aspartame has nary a bit of sodium in it (Wiki again:Aspartame - Wikipedia
"Aspartame, (IPA: /'æ.spɚˌteɪm/ or /ə’spɑɹˌteɪm/), is the name for an artificial, non-carbohydrate sweetener, aspartyl-phenylalanine-1-methyl ester; i.e., the methyl ester of the dipeptide of the amino acids aspartic acid and the essential amino acid phenylalanine…[NH3+] C@@HC(N[C@@H]
(CC1=CC=CC=C1)C(OC)=O)=O…Upon ingestion, aspartame breaks down into several constituent chemicals, including the naturally-occurring essential amino acid phenylalanine which is a health hazard to the few people born with phenylketonuria, a congenital inability to process phenylalanine. Aspartame products generally include a warning label related to Phenylketonuria to help protect these people. It is safer for those with the disease to monitor their diets and to attempt to avoid such products.
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare (about 1 in 15,000 babies is born with PKU) inherited disease that prevents the essential amino acid phenylalanine from being properly metabolized. Because of this, phenylalanine can accumulate in the body and cause health problems including mental retardation. People with PKU are placed on a special diet with a severe restriction of phenylalanine from birth to adolescence or after. Women with PKU must remain on the special diet throughout pregnancy.
Since individuals with PKU must consider aspartame as an additional source of phenylalanine, aspartame-containing foods must state “Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine” in the U.S."
Humm - what to do, what to do.
Do I listen to a bunch of people on the internet that I’ve never met, but seem to have good, solid information, and continue to enjoy my diet Pepsi.
Or do I listen to my Dr. who I actually see on a pretty regular basis, and who has never given me a reason to doubt her abilities, but - from the looks of things - could be wrong on this issue, and no longer enjoy my diet Pepsi.
I tell ya - if I follow the advice here, drink my diet pepsi (loving every minute of it) and wind up with a BP higher than the 145/95 that is was at my last check up, I’m gonna feel mighty foolish.
“Well, I know you told me not to drink aspartame, but there were these people on the internet…”
Take this with a grain of salt [sup]1[/sup], but if it were me, I’d speak to the doctor again and (tactfully, of course) ask her if she was perhaps confusing sodium saccharin with aspartame. And find out what she thinks about other sweeteners, maybe – did she say it was okay to drink sucralose (Splenda)?
And whatever you decide to do, make sure you check the label of the drinks you drink – some of them do contain more sodium than others. (And some drinks have way way way WAY more than others – I think V8 vegetable juice has an insanely high amount of sodium, for instance.)
[sup]1[/sup]Man, unintentional puns are the best kind. The BEST, I tell you!
Why can’t you just print out the research and ask your doctor about it?
Yes, exactly. Never go against your MD’s advice on something this trivial (of course on serious matters a second opion is often a good idea). However, the research here is pretty stong, if I do say so myself. Print out a few of the papers, take them to her and see what she says. If she’s a good MD, she’ll look into it herself, perhaps realize she is wrong and won’t pass the bad info along to other patients.
She said that Splenda was fine.
I have a feeling I’ll wind up on an ACE inhibitor regardless of what I do - I don’t actually salt food so there’s not many places that I can reduce my socium intake. I eat sweet processed foods, but not salty ones (although there might be a tonne of sale in PopTarts - I’ll have to check).
It seems to be my luck - like the high cholesterol - it doesn’t matter what I eat, it’s always high. Hypoapobetalipoproteinemia, apparently.
Uh, sodium intake.
How does the sodium content of splenda sweetened soft drinks compare to aspartame sweetened ones? I’ve got a bottle of Diet Pepsi here which shows 25 mg sodium per 8 fl oz serving, approximately 1% Daily Value. Even though aspartame itself is sodium free, it might be that soft drink makers may typically balance aspartame with some flavoring that contains sodium.
If you look carefully, I believe you’ll find that no one here has advised you to drink your Diet Pepsi. We have just pointed out that your doctor is apparently mistaken.
It’s always a good idea to check out the advice of your doctor with reputable sources, isn’t it?
I think they usually only combine it with another sweetener, acesulfame potassium, which somehow gets rid of the aspartame aftertaste. As far as I can tell, the only source of sodium in most sodas would either be the “natural and artificial flavorings,” since those don’t actually list what flavorings are used, and whatever form of … um … going from memory here … disodium EDTA? that is used as a preservative.
Asparatame and Ace K.
Nitpick: I think the sweetener is “saccharin,” without the “e” on the end, while the adjective has the “e” on the end.
My diet pepsi bottle lists “sodium benzoate” as the 5th item.