Aspartame artificial sweetener. Good or bad?

[Conan The Librarian]

I've been drinking diet coke for a while, and have been seeing some bad vibes about the sweetener used in it. It's supposed to react badly with heat and become toxic, and have some other bad effects. Seems a little unlikely considering the number of people that use it, but I can accept some controversy about it.
 
The interesting thing is that it may fake your body out into thinking it's hungry, so you end up eating more as a result.
 
Do you know anything about this that's got a good basis in science?

[RevJim]

 The chemicals in any soda, diet or regular are pretty bad on your liver/kidneys....if one drinks them everyday. Myself, I "love" Diet coke, but the problem with any "sweetener", real or substitute, is your body treats it like suger, increasing your insulin levels,etc. This really puts your bloodsugar through the wringer, plus the caffeine in the soda ramps up your adrenal gland to where it pumps out more cortizol than adrenaline. How big is your belly now?
 Now, like anything else, "moderation" negates about 99.99% of the worst effects. ha.
Enjoy your life, just be smart about it. I lay off coffee/pop from time to time...let my oragns "rest" awhile, ha.

[Sourdough]

I quite all diet carbonated drinks five years ago.  I don't miss them one bit.  I might drink two or three a year, when I go to parties where that is all they have to drink.  I usually drink unsweetened tea or water.

[Cuts Crooked]

If the good Lord, in his infinate wisdom, had wanted us to drink diet soda he would not have created BEER!

[DDZ]

Of all the artificial sweeteners out there. I have read that  Aspartame is about the worst for you. Don't know if thats true, just what I've read. Yes, beer is better for you than any soda. In moderation that is.

[tcoggins]

I love starting the day with a diet mountain dew.  I don't know if I would live any longer if I stopped drinking it, but it sure would seem longer.


Can't speak about whether the sweetener in it is good or bad for you.

[FPH]

Aspartamine will trigger a migraine for me.

[SHOOTALL]

After becomming diabetic i started drinking Diet Coke and some others. After about a year I started having kidney stones . Last summer I passed 10 and some small pcs. most were 4mm. My doctor ask if I was drinking diet drinks and advised me to stop. He said it causes bones to deteriate . Years ago I had knee trouble and the Dr. told me I might get kidney stones from the deteriation of my bone in my knees I had passed two before becomming diabetic . If you put the two together it might mean something. I stopped using artifical sweetner and drinking diet anything. FWIW.

[FPH]

After becomming diabetic i started drinking Diet Coke and some others. After about a year I started having kidney stones . Last summer I passed 10 and some small pcs. most were 4mm. My doctor ask if I was drinking diet drinks and advised me to stop. He said it causes bones to deteriate . Years ago I had knee trouble and the Dr. told me I might get kidney stones from the deteriation of my bone in my knees I had passed two before becomming diabetic . If you put the two together it might mean something. I stopped using artifical sweetner and drinking diet anything. FWIW.

I had a Doctor tell me the same thing about diet sodas.  I had developed two small (2mm) stones.  However he told me a real soda a day was good, as it would help prevent stones.  I just gave up all carbonated drinks.  Tea is my vise.

[Empty Quiver]

It is not good for you. At the same time neither is Caffiene, Alcohol, Nicotine, MSG, Nitrates,...Have you ever heard the term the dose makes the poison?  Use a little every once in a while it ain't gonna kill you.
 
I can taste the stuff secreated into my saliva for hours after injesting it. That alone makes me drink more trying to get the danged taste out of my mouth ( I swear the damned stuff is in cheap snuff as well, I have the same reaction as I do with diet soda ). My wife is very sensitive to the stuff, it causes IBS for her and triggers migraines at the same time.
 
I have more desirable nasties I would rather injest. Coffee, Rye Whiskey, Copenhagen, Beef Jerky, Bacon,...

[powderman]

My wifes stomach, colon dr said that ALL soft drinks were bad but diet was the worst. He said the art sweetners really tear the stomach up and not to use artificial sweeteners at all. Hard to do, she's diabetic. POWDERMAN. 

[Conan The Librarian]

Holy crap! I gotta quit drinking that stuff.

[SHOOTALL]

My wifes stomach, colon dr said that ALL soft drinks were bad but diet was the worst. He said the art sweetners really tear the stomach up and not to use artificial sweeteners at all. Hard to do, she's diabetic. POWDERMAN. 

There is a natural sweetner blue something that works well . One for diabetics is Stevia and the other one comes from the plant Blue aquave (sp ) . You need very little of either. I for the most part don't use them except limited use. I have gotten used to no sugar or sweetner . Heres the funny thing I hated alot of veggies before cutting the use of sugar out. Now most veggies have a good taste and some like carrots or corn taste like sugar did. I would suggest anyone try going with out processed sugar and see the difference. You get to a point that non natural taste are not very good anymore.

[Conan The Librarian]

I skipped my daily diet coke this morning.

[SHOOTALL]

I skipped my daily diet coke this morning.

hope it adds years to your life.

[jager]

Some people are more affected than others due to allergic reactions.  I'm one of them who gets headaches with a small "dose" and "shakes" with a "continued" doses. If you "google up" the word "Aspartame", it describes allergic reactions from "low grade" headaches to "grand mall seizures".  Aspartame shows up in a surprising number of health food products that claim to be "low calorie".  I have become a "label reader" to avoid contact!

[Swampman]

If the stuff could hurt you, my wife and I would be dead.  It's not as bad for you as sugar is.

[SHOOTALL]

If the stuff could hurt you, my wife and I would be dead.  It's not as bad for you as sugar is.

give it time

[Swampman]

Read all the reports and testing methods.  Zero evidence it's harmful.  Just crap drummed up by the sugar industry to keep folks fat and it's working.

[Spirithawk]

I've a question about artificial sweetners. If they can make sugarless candy taste so good then why the heck do artifialy sweetend soda pops taste so nasty? I've been getting sugarless candy and it tastes as good as that with sugar in it. In fact I can't tell the differance. One sip of diet soda and I'm gagging!

[SHOOTALL]

My results were real .

[Swampman]

I can't drink sugar sweetened soda.  It taste horrible to me.  I drink about 8 Frescas a day.  My wife drinks about a gallon of diet soda a day and she can pass for 20 years younger than she is.  We all have to die from something.

[Conan The Librarian]

I skipped my lunch time diet coke too. I think I'll have a diet coke on Saturday or Sunday while driving.