@Joel Marion –
hey joel, i already mentioned the “informed consent” article from 1994 that talks about how aspartame DID NOT get approved by the FDA the first time around. also, check out the LANCET and THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION on the subjet. you’ll be amazed at your findings!!! one more; Wurtman, R. & Ritter-Walker, E. “Dietary Phenylanlanine and Brain Function” 1988, p 374. there are many more. i can’t list them all, but this is a good start.
Time: 7:12 AM.
Location: a little “fitness” event I attended a few weeks back in Austin, TX.
State: tired.
So what did I do? What 99% of the rest of the world does in that type of situation – I got myself a cup of coffee.
And THEN—believe it or not—I proceeded to pour the contents of two little blue packets to my morning cup of joe.
You should have seen the stares from the fitness crowd.
I immediately checked my zipper, but surprisingly, I was already all-systems-go on that front.
Hmmm.
Why then the stares?
Well, it wasn’t but a couple seconds later when a friend of mine blurted out “you use that stuff??” as if I had committed some moral sin.
My reply?
“Yes… and mostly because I haven’t seen a bit of research to convince me otherwise.”
To which that person said NOTHING.
Frankly, I’m tired of people—be it fitness professionals or just the everyday lay person—making claims, recommendations, and statements based on “what they heard” rather than looking into the actual research themselves.
LAZY.
Now, I’m not saying that there isn’t research out there proving that artificial sweetener use poses substantial risks, I’m just saying that I haven’t seen it, and in fact, the research that I HAVE seen doesn’t seem to even partially validate the whole “use artificial sweeteners and you will surely die tomorrow” phobia that is so apparent amongst much of the world today.
And tomorrow, I’d like to come back and share with you my take on artificial sweeteners, they’re use, and the research I actually use to BACK UP my position.
If you’re interested in that information, drop a comment below. Also, let me know if you use artificial sweeteners, drink diet beverages, or the like – or if you don’t (and why).
At least 100 comments and I’ll be back tomorrow with the information I just promised you, including 8 studies that reveal the TRUTH about artificial sweeteners (or at least something substantially more concrete than simple hearsay).
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel
P.S. My friend Isabel kind of bashes artificial sweeteners in the below video, and while I do NOT agree with that stance, I do agree with just about everything else she shares for losing up to 10% of your unwanted body fat in the next 30 days. You can check it out here:
How to lose up to 10% of your unwanted body fat in the next 30 days <——- Click here
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666 comments - add yours
Stevia is a great natural alternative to artificial sweeteners.. it comes in powder or liquid form. There are many flavored liquid forms as well, orange, chocolate, lemon etc. You need to use it sparingly, as it is super sweet and just like artificial sweeteners, it can take a bit to get used to the taste.
I use the splenda based brown sugar substitute – and a little of the ‘pink’ stuff in my iced tea – what issues are there with artificial sweeteners – (here we go again)
Already past 75 comments, but yes I’d also like to see what you’ve got. Would be nice if you included splenda in your lit review.
@DIY –
Agave nectar is not non-controversial anymore.
Against: http://www.naturalnews.com/024892.html
Stevia is not non-controversial either. You can google “stevia controversy” and find articles questioning its safety. Here’s one:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/stevia-zevia-controversy.php
I have been on artificial sweeteners for at least 30 years. There is a history of diabetes in my family. I have to watch my sugar intake as does my husband, doctors orders. Please clarify which sweeteners are the healthiest & safest. Myra
Yes, I drink diet soda, and Crystal Lite all the time, I would love to hear your take on this, because it seems to be such a controversial topic right now. I agrre, haven’t seen enough “bad” stuff to keep me from using it, at least not yet.
Seems like there is research to prove harmful affects in mice. Give me the facts that support it’s safe. Sugar worked well for past generations.
Hi Joel,
I use Splenda. Would be nice to know what the benefits are…. the only reason why I use this is because it’s not real sugar and has no calories….
Thanks!
Soen
All I use is Splenda at home, in my coffee and for baking and cooking. Good stuff. I have been using it for the past 7 years and I have had no problems.
Originally Posted By Joel Marion
Originally Posted By Heather@Joel Marion – Gosh, it’s hard to find a loyal friend these days, isn’t it? :)
Just to clarify, that was a joke about Mike. We’re still good friends :)
I should hope so. My comment was tongue-in-cheek…
I was told that artificial sweeteners might be worsening my migraines, so I have cut back from two diet sodas per day to one for the past year. Upshot? I still have migraines on an almost weekly basis, but the severity is mostly less. My personal take, based on my research, is the stevia is the only one that is save. That said, I think you would have to drink dozens of diet sodas per day or use dozens of packets to even begin to approximate some of the so-called dangers associated with them.
Originally Posted By Ray DruryWatch the movie / dvd “Sweet Misery – A Poisoned World” and not only will you never touch an artificial sweetener again but you’ll never have anything with corn syrup in it either. You can google it and find it all over the place. Scary stuff.
I watched this so-called documentary and I’m certainly no friend of Big Pharma but, really… My uncle has MS and he’s been told he’ll be blind in 10 years. All through my childhood my grandmother was constantly castigating him for not tightening the lids of her diet soda bottles. It’s all he ever seemed to drink. Do I think this could be a contributing factor in his disease? Possibly. Might it also have something to do with the fact that his diet has always been appalling, he never eats vegetables and exists on takeaway curries? yeah, it might! It could also just be an unfortunate case of having a disease with a strong genetic component, which makes me rather more nervous! I’ve just offered you an anecdote, and that’s all this film does.
The one thing a lot of folks in that film had in common was sheer gluttony: drink a gallon or more of ANY substance other than water on a daily basis and see what happens to you.
As for the people who can’t possibly give up drinking this nutritionally-worthless crap, because they have a sweet tooth or whatever, why not just try rather than seeking affirmation from Joel or anyone else that it’s safe to continue doing so? After all consumption of large amounts of heavily-processed junk isn’t really consistent with the program you’ve paid good money for.
I was recently told I have Non-Coeliac Gluten Intolerance and Lactose Intolerance. I love cheese, bread and pasta. If I eat them, I get very ill and can barely function. I feel very negative about this, I really don’t like having to restrict my diet, but how I feel about it is irrelevant: I know I have to avoid these foods and read every label, so I do it.
The situation regarding High-fructose Corn Syrup is completely different however. It’s made in mile-long factories using transgenic bacteria and then the same companies supply synthetic insulin to the obese people it created, using the same production methods!
Joel ~ I have one cup of coffee everyday at 7.30 AM with 3 packs of Twin or Spenda which ever is closest. Is one better over the other? They are both artificial. I think if you consume copius amounts of anything whether it be soda or coffee or any other artificially sweetened product then the issue is not the sweetener but the amount someone is consuming. However, all that said, something artificial being put into ones body cannot be good for you.
Look forward to hearing about your research.
Jayne
I avoid artifical sweetners unfrotunatly it is in most protine mixes.
Food tastes great for it natural flavor, why does it have to be sweet?
I read today on a lable, “100% natural flavor” But there was sugar added.
Joel, the same exact thing happened to me a couple weeks ago. Somehow it came up that I drink diet soda, and my boss was shocked. All I could say in front of my client was, “neither of us is a nutritionist, so we’re allowed to disagree.”
The truth is I switched to diet soda way back when I got my diet in line. Recently I decided I’d try to take a break and switch to stevia, to see if I feel any different. It’s a pain in the ass, but within a couple weeks I’d like to be only drinking homemade iced tea and lemonade sweetened with stevia. As with everything else, I have to find out for myself.
I am a bit more old-school. I don’t use aspartame very much at all. I will use Splenda over aspartame. But in iced tea, I like (get ready to gasp) – saccharin. It’s been on the market for, what, 30+ years? Yes, they had that study in the 1970s but how much did they feed the rats? Enough that I’d have to eat 20 packs a day, 7 days a week, for 20+ years. I eat maybe 3 packs A WEEK. And am trying to learn to live without it.
One thing I’d be interested in is the effect of artificial sweeteners on blood sugar. DH (who does not watch his food) tells me he has wacky blood sugar after eating it. I had a carb-heavy meal Saturday night (all that was available), drank a splenda-sweetened tea Sunday, and promptly ended up with what seemed to be low blood sugar. Do the “made from natural substances” sweeteners (equal, splenda) have an adverse effect?
Hi Joel, I was glad to read your blog today! I read something earlier this morning that said artificial sweetners are similar to chlorinated pesticide and we shouldn’t be eating or drinking them. I was ready to quit using it all! After reading your post, I went back to see if there were any references for the information… There weren’t. Now I’m really curious… I use just a tiny bit of whatever is there… not even 1/4 of a packet in my coffee & the lite yogurt I eat is sweetened with Splenda. I think they all taste the same, some are just sweeter than others. Thanks for the info! I look forward to reading more.
Hey, yeah, would be very interersting, if that stuff had bad affects on our body or training results:)
I use Stevia at home but at work I normally use Equal if I have coffee or tea. I also use those Nestea water flavor packages that contain Splenda. But it does get me to drink more water! I look forward to hearing more about these!
hi joel well u see i actually use splenda and similar because sometimes i just need to drink something sweet (like my tea or my coffe like you did) but i actually try to avoid it, i read that the fda put some restrinctions about not only aspartame but sucralose, aselsufame-k and others, in fact theres supposed to be some investugations that link aspartame with some kinds of brain tumors an brain cancer im not saying they are a thing from the devil or anything like that they are tool an we should use it, but with some responsability, so its good if you avoid them as much as you can, i mean use them, just do not over do it
I drink 10 two liter bottles of diet Dr P a week. And I have for years.
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...