aspartame

poynedexter

i drink quite a bit of diluted juice, the sugar free type. with trying to lose the final few pounds, i'm wondering what if any are the downsides of this aspartame sweetner stuff. from what i read although its low calorie, its loads sweeter than sugar. so could the sugar free juice be mucking up my digestion and not helping my weight loss plans?

would i be better making a real fruit juice drink? if so, what?

danlikesbikes

Its not that good for you - http://www.healthychoices.co.uk/aspartame.html

If your after weight loss and want something thats not bad for you green tea is your answer. Basically make 2 litres in the morning and let it cool & drink that through the day. Your basic over the counter weight loss pill is made up of mostly green tea in case your wondering.

poynedexter

that paints a poor picture. i'm trying to focus on the GI of the carbs i'm eating at the min, and am concerned that this aspartame is giving my body false signals in terms of insulin and blood sugar reactions. i'll give this green tea a rattle. can it be got in tesco too, or is their version full of crap too.
think ill look at a juicer machine too to make some drinks too.

johncp

poynedexter wrote:

that paints a poor picture. i'm trying to focus on the GI of the carbs i'm eating at the min, and am concerned that this aspartame is giving my body false signals in terms of insulin and blood sugar reactions. i'll give this green tea a rattle. can it be got in tesco too, or is their version full of crap too.
think ill look at a juicer machine too to make some drinks too.

It may be sweet but it isn't a sugar, or any form of carbohydrate, so has no effect on insulin production or sugar levels

jgsi

All I know is that I am trying to avoid it in stuff like the bubonic plague...
if anyone knows of a decent enough tonic water without this crap in, please let me know.

team47b

Green tea speeds up your metabolism slightly and also causes carbohydrates in your food to be released more slowly, preventing sharp increases in blood-insulin levels. This helps promotes the burning of fat.

Sharp increases in insulin cause sharp drops in blood sugar and low blood sugar stimulates your appetite so you eat more.

Appetite suppressants are green tea and almonds.

poynedexter

interesting stuff. this aspertine appears to be everywhere on the "low cal/fat" shelves. i'm wondering now if we are going to have juice, coke, etc... is it better to have the original in moderation instead of this stuff.

just had my first green tea, and its not bad if you like black tea, you'll get on ok with green tea.

danowat

I try to avoid all artificial sweetners, they are bad period, not only do they cause nasty side affects, they also (even though they aren't sugar per day) cause insulin spikes, so are not any better than sugar in that respect.

briantrumpet

JGSI wrote:

All I know is that I am trying to avoid it in stuff like the bubonic plague...
if anyone knows of a decent enough tonic water without this crap in, please let me know.

It's OK, there's no aspartame in the bubonic plague, so no need to worry on that front if you catch it.

Oh, and I've never tasted a tonic water with artificial sweeteners that didn't taste like it didn't have artificial sweeteners. Sorry.

poynedexter

so how do other forms of sugar stack up in the insulin spike league table?

honey? fruit sugars? i ask because i'm eating more raisins cranberries, blueberries etc as well as oranges and am considering making up my own juices to drink on and off the bike.

team47b

ah sugar, my favourite subject :shock:

stole this from Livestrong.com...

GI of Honey
Honey is a naturally sweet substance produced from nectar by bees. According to the American Dietetic Association, honey is made up of several sugars including fructose, glucose and sucrose. The glycemic index will vary depending on the type of honey you use. Floral honeys tend to have the lowest GIs, so use them to sweeten the foods you eat. According to the Glycemic Index Database, locust honey has a GI of 32, yellow box honey has a GI of 35 and stringy bark honey has a GI of 44. Other honeys release their energy faster and are classed as medium on the glycemic index. These tend to be the commercial blends, clover honey which has a GI of 69 and pure honey which has a GI of 58.
GI of Sugar
Ordinary supermarket sugar is also known as sucrose, or refined sugar. According to the database, sucrose has a GI of 60. Other sugars are found naturally in foods such as fructose, which is a fruit sugar, or lactose which is a milk sugar. According to the database, fructose has a GI of 11, glucose has a GI of 100, lactose has a GI of 46 and maltose has a GI of 105.
Formation of Sugar
Refined sugar is made from one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule joined together. Glucose has a high GI and fructose has a low GI, producing an average GI of around 60. Look out for honey which contains larger amounts of fructose as this will give it a lower GI value overall.


Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/27087 ... z2JlmXUhgB

jgsi

briantrumpet wrote:

JGSI wrote:

All I know is that I am trying to avoid it in stuff like the bubonic plague...
if anyone knows of a decent enough tonic water without this crap in, please let me know.

It's OK, there's no aspartame in the bubonic plague, so no need to worry on that front if you catch it.

Oh, and I've never tasted a tonic water with artificial sweeteners that didn't taste like it didn't have artificial sweeteners. Sorry.

The plague as a health kick, shame about the side effect.
anyways Fever Tree tonic with low GI fructrose.. found one... have to go over to shop with the Cheshire set in Waitrose however.

I use Agave syrup on my oat and cold milk breakie sometimes.. exceptionally low GI.. but a bit pricey

stealf

poynedexter wrote:

interesting stuff. this aspertine appears to be everywhere on the "low cal/fat" shelves. i'm wondering now if we are going to have juice, coke, etc... is it better to have the original in moderation instead of this stuff.

Avoid as best you can, it's in far more foods than you think, is on the poisions register under aresnic and has been linked to a cause of dementia, my Father in law has dementia so did loads of research. Stopped him aspartame striaght away, no improvement obviously as damage already done. Stop and find a nataural alternative, I too use agava nectar
Just stop with the aspartame

Team Banana Spokesman

Causes free radical damage = BAD

Sainsbury's cordial uses sucralose, a completely safe sweetener, hundreds of times sweeter than sugar.

AFAIK they are the only well-known supermarket to use it in drinks. They also use a ton of real fruit juice in them too, with nice flavours.

They usually have a good deal on their cordial, but it's disappeared this week. It'll be back soon probably.

johncp

danowat wrote:

I try to avoid all artificial sweetners, they are bad period, not only do they cause nasty side affects, they also (even though they aren't sugar per day) cause insulin spikes, so are not any better than sugar in that respect.

How?

danowat

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19352508

It is also reported that the increase in use of artificial sweetners follows the increase of type 2 diabetes, because of the increased insulin response due to artificial sweetners.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/49/3/427.full.pdf

johncp

danowat wrote:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19352508

It is also reported that the increase in use of artificial sweetners follows the increase of type 2 diabetes, because of the increased insulin response due to artificial sweetners.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/49/3/427.full.pdf

Interesting. The first paper uses an isolated cell line in vitro if I'm understanding it right. And suggests that there is an insulin response to aspartame. BUT there's a difference between a cell line and a whole organism such that it's not correct to make assumptions.
The second paper has this in the summary "We conclude that these doses of aspartame do not alter secretion of prolactin, cortisol, growth hormone, or insulin in normal individuals. " and as this was carried out in whole people it's more convincing ie no insulin spike following aspartame

Bradders87

On the flip side...

http://articles.elitefts.com/nutrition/ ... fety-test/

Numerous authorities, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the FAO/WHO, the European Community, and the American Medical Association have concluded that aspartame is a safe product, except in the rare cases of phenylketonuria

and

The FDA says aspartame is, “one of the most thoroughly tested and studied food additives the agency has ever approved.” Furthermore, “the more than 100 toxicological and clinical studies it has reviewed confirm that aspartame is safe for the general population” (3). The weight of existing scientific evidence indicates that aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption as a non-nutritive sweetener.

markp80

Interesting article on glycemic index on Training Peaks, here -
http://support.trainingpeaks.com/articl ... index.aspx

MarkP

team47b

only read the bit about diabetes, it said...

"Type 2 diabetes - it is a disease of impaired tissue insulin sensitivity caused by overweight and inactivity"

Which is not true.

johncp

Looks like that definition has been taken direct from WHO website http://www.who.int/topics/diabetes_mellitus/en/ "Type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin-dependent or adult-onset diabetes) is caused by the body’s ineffective use of insulin. It often results from excess body weight and physical inactivity."
How would you define it?

poynedexter

omg, what the hell are we to believe. there is always debate :shock:

team47b

It is not 'caused' by obesity, it can be triggered by excess fat around the organs. It is not caused by the ineffective use of insulin it is defined by this.

If lack of exercise and excess fat 'caused' diabetes then all fat people would have to be diabetic. Not all fat people are diabetic.

And all T2 diabetics would have to be fat and not do any exercise.

This is not the case. I am T2, 55kgs, active and insulin dependent.

Diabetes T2 is genetic and the cause of this genetic disorder is unknown.

(The WHO says 'it often results from' not it is caused by)

Tom Butcher

It's fair to say obesity is a cause - that doesn't mean everyone that is obese will have T2 diabetes - that isn't necessary for causation.

mustol

Evil stuff. I try to avoid all artificial sweeteners (processed foods in general), I don't have loads of sweets things, but when I do, I want the real stuff. Same with butter! If most of what you eat doesn't come in a packet i.e. fruit, veg, fish and meats, you shouldn't have to worry! I even add salt to my food (I'm waiting for the salt police to arrive any moment now!).

zx6man

I have T2 due to being overweight and inactive and eating 10x more carbs than I should have all these years, we have no diabetes in the family what so ever

team47b

Tom Butcher wrote:

It's fair to say obesity is a cause - that doesn't mean everyone that is obese will have T2 diabetes - that isn't necessary for causation.

It is fair to say that diabetes can be a result of being obese, being alcoholic, being pregnant etc but is caused by a genetic variation.

It is true that 80% of obese people don't become diabetic, and also 80% of T2 diabetics are obese.

Probably just a problem with my understanding of the transitive verb 'cause'.

team47b

zx6man wrote:

I have T2 due to being overweight and inactive and eating 10x more carbs than I should have all these years, we have no diabetes in the family what so ever

You didn't cause your diabetes you only contributed , genetic variations are mostly inherited but not always. If it's not genetic and is solely down to your diet causing insulin resistance this can be altered by you.

this is really interesting/thorough info on diet etc...

http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/20/5-st ... esistance/

flanagaj

I too avoid this stuff, and find it amazing that SIS use it in most of their energy products. High5 and Powerbar do not.

JimboPlob

Id be interested to understand how drinking lots of tea can impact on iron levels. I have read that tea inhibits the absorption of iron.

jane90

poynedexter wrote:

i'm eating more raisins cranberries, blueberries etc as well as oranges and am considering making up my own juices to drink on and off the bike.

Hi poynedexter, I was reading an interview in the Times with Dr. Robert Lustig who's just published a book "Fat Chance: The Bitter Truth about Sugar" who was explaining why drinking fruit juice is just as bad as drinking full fat Coke:

" “You have to understand the biochemistry to understand why it’s such a problem,” he says. If you eat 120 calories of glucose (two slices of white bread), 80 per cent is used by all the organs in the body — every cell can use it — while 20 per cent goes to the liver, where it can be stored without harm. By contrast, when you consume 120 calories of fructose (a glass of orange juice or a shot of coke) it all goes to the liver, as nowhere else in the body can metabolise fructose. And here it wreaks damage — liver fat, high blood pressure, high insulin levels and leptin resistance — which has the catastrophic effect of making you want to consume more and not move around much.

But if fruit juice is so damaging, are we supposed to stop eating fruit as well? “Not at all. Eat fruit as a fruit — the way nature intended,” he says. Apparently, it’s all about the fibre. “Every fruit comes with inherent fibre — no matter how much fructose there is, there are equal amounts of fibre — with the exception of grapes, which are little bags of sugar,” he explains.

“Sugar cane is the perfect example. It’s got the most sugar of anything on the planet — and it’s a stick. When you eat a whole fruit, you’re getting an inordinate amount of fibre and that forms a barrier to the intestine. It slows its absorption so the liver has a chance to catch up. A lot of it won’t even get absorbed — it will get transmitted down the intestine. “When you juice it, the fibre ends up in the garbage. When you smoothie it, the fibre is sheared to smithereens so it can’t develop the latticework to decrease your absorption. It goes straight to the liver, just like soda. A direct hit.”"

(+1 to avoid aspartame like the plague)