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Michael Ward's avatar

Outright LOL. A great way to experience science and the world is to find the humor. It also helps promote thinking (and change perspectives. See Dennett et al's Inside Jokes and Barrett's How Emotions are Made. What else have we been told is good that is really bad - and why. ;^) The humor is much appreciated over here.

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Nick Norwitz MD PhD's avatar

Glad you enjoyed the puns :)

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ilaria bertini's avatar

bitter smiling reading how deeply you touch the topic.

"understanding risk and making informed choices" my face cit.

be sure of something is not always possible, but an opened and aware mind is able to calculate cost, benefit, risk and then choose

aspartame is a non self chemical and can disrupt neuro plasticity and neurotransmitters metabolism, activates the microglia and ... maybe many other things like epigenome mark

and we have to think about millions of others substances in food beverages, air, water we find every day in our life

if I can give up consciously to one ... I think it's worth it

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Nick Norwitz MD PhD's avatar

Cheers Ilaria :)

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ilaria bertini's avatar

;)

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Rebekah Bavry, RN, CPHC, CKNS's avatar

I’ve hated Monsanto for a very long time (dad was sprayed with agent orange), but the more I learn about aspartame, the more I wonder how this stuff is even still on the market. But I guess it all comes down to 💰.

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Nick Norwitz MD PhD's avatar

It often does...

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mani malagón's avatar

Great post, thx!!

IMHO, there's the underlying issue of probable insulin activation as soon as we think of "sweet" (CPIR —Wiedemann, S. J., Rachid, L., Illigens, B., Böni-Schnetzler, M., & Donath, M. Y. (2020). Evidence for cephalic phase insulin release in humans: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Appetite, 155, 104792. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104792).

So, in the long term, learning to love sourness, as in kefir, cheese, curds, kimchi, ..., while limiting that tip-of-the-tongue sensation so pleasing, is an approach that can aid in our long-term dietary choices.

BTW, sparkling water, especially if made at home from water that has been cleansed of the pollutants that ride along in "tap water" can be enhanced with magnesium, salt, etc. and some lemon juice to make a refreshing, non-sweet, lemon-aid. ;-)

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Nick Norwitz MD PhD's avatar

The magnitude of the CPIR can be quite small. I don't think the harms of AS generalize across all 'sweet' molecules.

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Wanda's avatar

They did a study with mice on saccharin sweetener in the 80's and got it pulled from the market plus scared every one of artificial sweeteners for years. It was a miss leading study maybe this isn't but the Trump and Musk data plus I'm too old to have anymore children so I am probably not stopping Diet Coke Aspartame was the replacement for saccharine while it was off the market, a much better sweetener in my opinion.

Nothing mentioned about allulose sweetener here but anyone who reads your articles knows you advertise allulose sweeteners. Could that add bias to your writing?

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Austin's avatar

Informed choices matter. If diet sodas are mitigating other higher risk factors (alcohol, seed oils, obesity, smoking, etc.) then it's a reasonable trade-off. If that's not the case, or no longer an issue for someone, then sure, let's move on to one step better.

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Florence Smith's avatar

A relative of my is a pilot. He flys small bush planes in Ontario Canada. There must be more data on aspartime because for the 20 years he's been flying planes he has been instructed to completely avoid aspartime. Aspartime messes with your ability to judge direction and as a pilot of this type of planes you need your own navigation skills. It's been known for several years that aspartime messes up your nervous system.

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Nick Norwitz MD PhD's avatar

Really. That's interesting. I've never heard of that restriction/recommendation for pilots.

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buddhi's avatar

This study includes a belief system that rests on unexamined assumptions, which seem reasonable, possibly because they are. (People do the same, thus living inside a reasonably constructed virtual reality.)

Two assumptions are more Aspartame is worse than less Aspartame and more anxiety is worse than less anxiety. I note these because this study failed to mention the Obvious outlier to its results.

What about Trump who drinks 12 of the big Diet Coke cans each day? He's 79 but has the energy of a adderall-fueled teenager, sleeps 4.5 hours a night, and is shockingly smart if you watch him answer reporters' questions. Nor does he seem to have a spermatozoa deficit.

Could one escape the results of this study by combining high-dose Aspartame with Trump's processed food diet? He also snacks on Oreos - could that be the secret to exceptional health?

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Nick Norwitz MD PhD's avatar

On inspection of his children, I think you're making more of a case for the human relevance of these data... does Don Jr seems mentally healthy to you?

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buddhi's avatar

I considered his kids, wondered if there was any insight there; not sure, don't know much about them. But Barron is 6' 7". A freakish occurrence or a superman?

Don Jr. seems like he could be a bit off but that may be explained by too much money. Maybe not, can't tell. I once went out with a multi-billionaire's daughter and she was perfectly normal, not spoiled, although she lived in a penthouse and would charter a private jet to shop in Milan.

Musk is also fueled with Diet Coke; his night side table is stocked with it.

https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/diet-coke-and-guns-elon-musk-tweets-photo-of-his-bedside-table-2302753-2022-11-28

Bill Gates, is another one, and many Stars drink it. Diet Coke may be the secret to success!

In the old days Sunshine Beer 1936 (with D3) was a big health drink, until the medical establishment knocked down the D3 content. Everyone got sick again, making the newly built hospitals to serve the rich profitable.

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Dee Lau's avatar

I bet Donald Rumsfeld was rubbing his hands in glee when he authorized its' use whilst in charge of the FDA.

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