I have been ingesting artificial sweetners since 1974—god love Fresca and Tab Cola - my first 2 carbonated drinks…and i got to ‘fit in’ with all the other kids in the 70’s. All of my life I have been told that these sweetners will cause cancer…do you guys worry about this? My children are not diabetic but I almost always by diet soda/pop/cokes for them and dont think twice about it. I use the Pink without caution - and dont object to yellow or blue…
I always figured that these research studies would feed the rats their body weight in sacchrin and poof they would get cancer.
I try to avoid them, I drink lots of coffee with soy milk, and lots of water. If I do have soda it is diet, and I eat ice cream that has artificial sweeteners. Beyond that mostly fresh fruits, etc to crave my sweet tooth.
I think it is a good question but at my age (47) I think my main concern is my glucose level now verses any long term side effects of sweeteners, I might feel different if younger.
Maybe we should stop feeding artificial sweeteners to rats. Haha.
In my opinion, I think I’d rather feed the kids the fake sugar instead of a load of high-fructose corn syrup.
(And by kids, I guess I mean my husband and my roommate. LOL.)
I have a wicked sweet tooth, so if it comes down to not having something sweet or having something artificially sweet, it’s pretty easy to figure out which one I’d pick.
I absolutely agree about the HFCS junk–if I remember, it’s actually processed in the liver (that can’t be good!)
I’ve used Splenda since it came out, I like the taste, and I can actually cook with it! My older sister is a Type 1 as well, so we ran the gamut of saccharin, aspartame, Sugar Twin, Equal–all of it. I like to use Stevia as well, but I’m not yet accomplished at baking with it.
I’d like to use Stevia exclusively , but I don’t always remember to bring my little packets with me, when I go out. I’m not convinced that any of the artificial sweeteners are good for us, but I do like to have my dessert!
I swear by Splenda in food and all kinds of diet sodas. If I didn’t have such a severe sweet tooth, that may be different, but I figure the potential health effects can’t be worse than (especially as a diabetic) ingesting metric ton upon metric ton of refined sugar.
yo. whenever people see me using fake sugar they are always like, “you know that stuff will kill you.” and im like, “um. yeah. have you heard about the ‘beetees’? its a well documented killer.”
i heart sweet 'n low. couldnt keep my rockin a1c without it
I love Equal/aspartame. When I was diagnosed, the endo in the hospital was raving about a new artificial sweetener and told me that I wouldn’t miss regular soda at all. She was right, and I took to diet soft drinks right away. I used to drink Tab & Fresca with saccharine when I’d visit my babysitter (not diabetic, just always on a diet) and hated it but it beat drinking milk. I really hate saccharine and haven’t used it in years. I like Splenda for baking, but not in wet foods because I do find it has a nasty aftertaste in drinks, pudding, jams etc.
I’ve been an aspartame addict for 20 years now and have never had any issues with it.
Personally, I do not feel that artificial sweetners are a bad thing, nor do I feel that there is one that is better or worse than the other (in fact, I don’t really think Splenda is a better alternative). I do think the latest study is not necessarily a sign that aspartame should be avoided, either. In fact, there have been extensive studies on aspartame and all have shown that its safe, including a rather extensive one that was done by the National Cancer Institute a number of years ago, so I find the comment that we should stop doing rat and mouse studies very funny! The key to using these things is moderation anyway … too much of anything is not really a good thing,
I am all about the aspartame! I don’t give a crap what the rat studies say, my sweet tooth is mighty, and if it’s not artificial sweetener then it would have to be sugar, and I’m way more scared of the complications than I am of any bad effects from artificial sweeteners – well, maybe except for the taste of sucralose gag
I was told at an ADA conference that aspartame is the most research food in existence and there has been no scientific studies that show it causes cancer. I guess it might have other side effects, but not cancer. But I agree, everything in moderation.
Have you tried Stevia? It’s natural and you only need a little for tea/coffee etc. (otherwise you may gag from the sweetness)
As for soda, since diet sodas are now my only resort (except in the case of a hypoglycemic attack), I’m not going to give them up unless there’s definitive evidence about sudden and/or horrible death. I don’t drink them a lot, but I do rely on them when I’m having a nonsensical desire for the taste of something sweet. I think the ones I drink are sweetened by aspartame.
Well I’m not 100% sure if they’ll kill me or not, but I drink a diet Coke or coffee with various sweeteners like sweet&low or splenda. I keep it to a minimum. Maybe once a day or every other day. I’m sure diabetes will kill me, not the artificial sweetener.
In most of the tests I have read about over the years where Artificial sweetener caused cancer in rats, It was because they fed them more than a person would ever consume in their life time. I don’t worry about it.I’ve been diabetic for 22 years and haven’t had any problems with them yet.
To be honest, Mollie, I don’t think about it. I know that something is going to get me…either the diabetes or a complication, maybe heart problems (they run in my family) or other problems. I can’t worry about everything, and I choose not to worry about this. I have cut myself down to one diet soda a day, if that…for the salt intake reason more than artificial sweetner, because I eat enough artificial sweetners in other foods anyway. Most of my fruit and vegies are fresh rather than canned.
My father once told me that if you worried about everything that you breathe, drink or eat, your life would be nothing but worry, and that’s what would get you…worry and stress.
