Is it dangerous?

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Pine Marten

Pine Marten

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Sorry if this question has been asked before, but I'm wondering about aspartame. I'm quite fond of the, er, odd G&T, and usually have Schweppes slimline tonic, which has no carbs but does have aspartame. My husband (not diabetic) likes sugar free lemonade from Tesco or Waitrose, which also contains it.

What is the opinion of this august gathering? Is it dangerous/poisonous, as the internet says? Would you have to drink gallons of the stuff to have an adverse effect...?

I don't want to give up my G&T, or indeed brandy & Schweppes slimline dry ginger ale...:(
 
It is dangerous if you have a specific medical condition called Phenylketonuria. The rest is largely the usual tinfoil hat brigade, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend drinking gallons of the stuff.

Put it this way; aspartame is probably the most widespread artificial sweetener in the world. If it was genuinely dangerous, we'd have seen evidence by now.
 
Mrs Jonsi banned me from drinking bottles of fizz after reading something about this. I shall happily tell her that my diet IrnBru and diet Cream Soda are fine for me to guzzle.

One thing I don't know is how Aspartame is pronounced ...is it As-Part-Ame (Az-part-aim) , A-Sparta-Me (ah-sparta-mee) or A-Spar-Tame (Aze-par-tame)?? :confused::confused:o_O
 
I think anyone without a specific allergy to it ie 99.99999% of us - would have to drink about a swimming pool full at least, to have any bad reaction. I'm not about to do that - any more than about 300ml - the tonic goes flat once its opened! And you always need enough for the 'other half' cos you don't buy a whole bottle of any mixer in a pub, and let them throw the other half of it away, do you!! LOL
 
Jonsi said:
Mrs Jonsi banned me from drinking bottles of fizz after reading something about this. I shall happily tell her that my diet IrnBru and diet Cream Soda are fine for me to guzzle.

One thing I don't know is how Aspartame is pronounced ...is it As-Part-Ame (Az-part-aim) , A-Sparta-Me (ah-sparta-mee) or A-Spar-Tame (Aze-par-tame)?? :confused::confused:o_O
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Irn Bru?????? Wrong 😛

Cream Soda????? Wrong 😛

Irn Bru and Cream Soda????? Wrong, wrong wrong on so many levels 😛
 
This is probably one of the few circumstances when I would gladly throttle a non diabetic. Some people think they have the right to suggest that artifical sweeteners including but not soley confined to aspartame- be banned. So while they can fill their pious gobs with so called healthy " natural" fruit juice or water - if they actually like the stuff then bully for them- but personally I like something with a bit of flavour which does not affect my blood glucose levels and can be used as a treat with no guilt, additional monitoring or insulin calculations involved. I do however worry about cola drinks as aparrently they contain phosphoric acid which " may" be bad for bone health- so I only occasionally treat myself to a diet pepsi, pepsi max, cherry pepsi max or cola zero. Don't especially like diet cola- also I through coke zerowas sweetened with sucralose but on recently checking a label, noted it was sweetend with aspartame- so if you are trying to limit consumption of the same that's one less option. Like the oringal poster I like slimline tonic water- and tastes almost as good without the gin- or so I can convince myself if driving or not trying to turn into a hardened alcoholic!. Spa orange crush zero is nice and this does not have aspartame- I think it uses Acesulfame K- has real orange juice in a very small amount so still very minimal carbs unless you drink several litres at once.
I saw a patient who had "prediabetes" who continued to drink non diet coke and hence developped full blown diabetes. ( okay I know it couldn't be the cole cause unles he was drinking gallons of the stuff each day) but when questioned about it stated that he had not wanted to change to diet versions as aspartame is " bad for you"
What really p***ss me off is when a non diabetic smoker starts laying the law down that artificial sweeteners should be banned. ( Oh, the irony) or when a (slim non diabetic lady) refused to buy a friend a bottle of shandy as it had diet lemonade in it - and then admitted to eating 2 cream cakes in one sitting!
 
I've always said A-Sparta-Me (ah-sparta-mee) - but Michael Moseley said ASpar-Tame (Az-par-tame) on telly - and I hated it! LOL

In truth I don't have a clue!
 
Ah, thank you, kind friends! I thought it was probably a load of old codswallop but thought I'd check here. I don't consume gallons of G&T (honest, guv!) and will happily carry on, and tell Mr Marten he can have his lemonade 🙂 ...oh, and I don't know how to pronounce it either, but prefer ah-sparTA-may - Az-par-tame is just wrong!
 
ROFL - as a not so slim now, diabetic smoker with obviously self inflicted PAD - I rarely lay down the law to anyone about anything except the Eatwell Plate, the need for BG monitors for T2s and Jeremy Hunt - and I absolutely truly believe both the first and last are 'poisonous' - and the latter could easily prove to be lethal to more than just 'people'.

And - I really really doubt you'd actually disagree with me!
 
The local Fox Hunt used to ride around the countryside until they caught the fox ...then they'd destroy it because of the damage it would do.
Can I join the Jeremy Hunt? Tally-Ho!!
 
If it's harmful I'm done for lol.
 
Jonsi said:
One thing I don't know is how Aspartame is pronounced ...is it As-Part-Ame (Az-part-aim) , A-Sparta-Me (ah-sparta-mee) or A-Spar-Tame (Aze-par-tame)?? :confused::confused:o_O
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Just to clarify ...how to pronounce Aspartame is just one thing I don't know. It is not the only thing I don't know. Frexample...I don't know how horses can walk and do that at the same time ...I've tried and it's not easy! :confused:
 
Jonsi said:
The local Fox Hunt used to ride around the countryside until they caught the fox ...then they'd destroy it because of the damage it would do.
Can I join the Jeremy Hunt? Tally-Ho!!
Click to expand...
Can I join you , can I , can I, can I.
 
So I found this:- Another study using isolated pancreatic cells found that only those artificial sweeteners with a bitter aftertaste (acesulfame K, saccharin, stevia, and cyclamate) augmented the insulin response in the presence of glucose. Aspartame, which does not have a bitter aftertaste, did not affect insulin
 
I've always been an as-par-TAME-r pronuncuation-wise. And yes, certainly not something I worry about at the level of consumption I currently have.
 
'Ass per tame' sounds somehow wrong to me because I'm absolutely convinced too much of it gives me the trots! Doesn't tame my *** :D

And I absolutely refuse to believe it's the vodka to blame.
 
I never know how to pronounce most drugs. Nor do the medical profession, I discovered, when three nurses pronounced Diclofenac three different ways. OH and I refer to his blood thinner as Cloppy Doggeral because it's the only way we can remember the name of the ruddy thing, though I bet it's pronounced completely differently!
 
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