Health warnings

[paul cottingham]

We eat organic, no aspartame, artificial sweeteners, etc, cause our daughter does way better when we do. On the other hand, my grandfather, who smoked till he was 88, was an active alcoholic, and ate whatever the hell he wanted, died at 96, with all his marbles and mobility. He retired at 92, and only then because he got in a fight with his boss, who fired him.

[David Weaver]

If our combined leadership put all the energy into anti-smoking that has been brought to bear on the gun issue post the Sandy Hill shooting, just think how many more lives would be saved than were lost in that tragedy. Using an example of folks that live to a ripe old age regardless of their bad habits to support your bad habits is like saying there is no global warming because it sure is cold today. There ya go, smoking, guns and global warming. That ought to continue the discussion, and they all can affect our long term health.

Smoking won't be an issue until the exchanges funnel everyone onto a federal exchange and everything becomes uniform ( effectively single payer ). If it doesn't get to that, it's less prevalent now in high schools than it has been in a long time. The exchanges are going to allow smoker / non smoker rates, and employers are going to do it more, and I'd imagine that will slow people down.

And in the favor of anecdotes since we seem to have folks who like anecdotes more than data, my uncle dale lived for 98 years eating bacon and eggs every morning, never wasting the grease, instead using it to fry the eggs.

belinda, I don't believe that the effect of aspartame at some moderate level will be discernible vs. other things. Certainly, obesity effects, smoking effects, etc have been easier to observe. I don't drink it because of my head, but I don't believe it's as bad as the people who want to sell supplements and natural living books would like you to believe. It's better for their pockets if they quote only one side of the story or just plain outright lie.

You can look at the list of things the EU doesn't allow, for example, and aspartame isn't one of them.

[paul cottingham]

Yeah, you know what? I agree with you David. Even if there wasn't any strong evidence that these things are bad for you, even the suggestion that they are ought to motivate us. And I am saying that as a recovering drunk, and an ex smoker. But it's never simple. There is gobs of evidence that we shouldn't eat pork or beef, but we do. There are plenty of other examples.
I just happen to know a few exceptions....

[ray hampton]

what about the report that your pet cat will died from too much sugar -substituting

[David Weaver]

Exactly right, it's never simple. When we've been "on" something for a very long time (aspartame, antibiotics, etc) if there was a huge strong highly correlated strong confidence sort of association, we'd know it already.

That leaves weak associations and the sometimes bad data or not well defined data to be used to tell us what or what not to do.

I love diet coke, I wish I could drink it in volume sometimes to relax. One day we should eat red meat, the next day, no tuna, then no spinach, etc. Sometimes it's nice to enjoy things. I don't have to drink chromium oxide IV or benzene to do it, something that's only as bad as breathing the smoke around a campfire and eating burnt marshmallows may do it.

[Ed Aumiller]

A few years ago my blood pressure went really high.... took some elimination to determine it was the aspartame in the diet pepsi causing it.. did not affect anyone else in family, just me..
Different strokes for different folks...

[paul cottingham]

my blood pressure problems are caused by my in-laws, but that's another story.
Just kidding dear....

[Charles McKinley]

If doctors know what they are doing why is it called a PRACTICE?

If you want to understand a study the first thing to do is to look who PAID for it. Good chance the results show favorably on them.

Longevity past a good mind and functioning body is a CURSE.

Look no further than the nearest old age "home" for proof. I get physically ill each time I visit and binge on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to feel better. (The miniature ones have fewer calories!)

My Great-aunt Elsie was well into her 80s, nearly blind and deaf and really liked chicken. One day the dr. said she should not eat it so much, so she stopped. What good did taking away one of her few pleasures do??? My Gram would have liked to have throttled the dr.

Do what you enjoy as long as it doesn't do direct harm to others, no one get out of hear alive anyway.

Ride hard die young.... if I had know I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself.

Thanks for letting me vent and BTW how much wood dust, finishing fumes, welding smoke and grinding dust and other things do we ingest every day that is just part of life????

Thanks for letting me vent.

[Matt Marsh]

I wonder why the food and soft drink industries haven't done more with Stevia?

[David Weaver]

I wonder why the food and soft drink industries haven't done more with Stevia?

How much does it cost compared to aspartame? What's the supply like? I'd imagine when anyone puts pencil to paper, the combination of cheapest and easiest to get in large supply without any interruptions bears a lot of weight.

[Matt Marsh]

How much does it cost compared to aspartame? What's the supply like? I'd imagine when anyone puts pencil to paper, the combination of cheapest and easiest to get in large supply without any interruptions bears a lot of weight.

Even if it is more, I would think there would be a large market for a natural sweetener with zero calories, that tastes great, and that has none of the ill health concerns that artificial sweeteners have.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...s%2Ck%3Atruvia

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...eywords=stevia

[David Weaver]

I think you're right, we're in the world of "Dr. Oz says".... if he says stevia is better (and he must have because there was a big rush on our house to get it for some reason last year - the excitement has worn off now), then there's already a market for the product if the price can come down some (I googled it and found some cans of soda at wal mart for about $1 each).

I'll bet if you wrote about it to stevia and to pepsi co both would be willing to talk about it and the prospects.

[Jason Roehl]

Is there a problem with just aspartame? Hard to say. I can't imagine, though, that ingesting that, along with HFCS, MSG and other preservatives, artificial colors and flavorings, along with the antibiotics and synthetic hormones in meat, and the pesticides on vegetables doesn't have some sort of negative, long-term effect. I think the body is fearfully and wonderfully made, and is incredible at withstanding some chemical abuse. Some friends of ours have a son who is moderately autistic and/or ADHD. Several years ago they went gluten-free and removed a few other things from his diet (such as bananas and eggs), and he improved greatly.

I think some vaccines are good. This flu-shot craze has me baffled, though. On the one hand, the media touts how close it is this year to the virus causing the widespread flu outbreak, then 10 minutes later they're reporting how it's an epidemic. I've never had a flu shot, don't plan to, and I've had the flu maybe twice in the last 15 years. I stayed home, slept, ate, drank and took fever reducers and got over it. I think if people wouldn't insist on trying to sterilize their entire house and wouldn't use hand sanitizer like it fell from the sky, maybe they would have the immune systems to fend off or if need be, withstand the occasional bout of flu. Some of the healthiest people I know have the dirtiest houses.

Then there's the constant onslaught of airborne chemicals. Perfumes, air fresheners, cleaners, etc. all drive me nuts. I have a big beak, and I can smell all that stuff at distance (if I can smell your perfume as you pass me on the interstate, and I have my windows closed, that's too much). Inhaling all those daily can't be healthy.

Now, do I lose sleep or fret over all this? Nope. I do what I reasonably can and go on with life, doing my best to enjoy it despite it's myriad of trials and troubles. Being some kind of miserable health Nazi just to add a couple years to my life doesn't sound like much of a life to me.

[Kevin Barnett]

Even if it is more, I would think there would be a large market for a natural sweetener with zero calories, that tastes great, and that has none of the ill health concerns that artificial sweeteners have.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...s%2Ck%3Atruvia

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...eywords=stevia

I think your assumption that things, because they are "natural", are better for you than a sweetener that has years of testing behind it is funny. I also got a kick out of the original poster that linked to a website promoting "aids" and "supports" and "nutritional" which are terms used when companies don't want to make a real claim that the FDA can react to.

[Darius Ferlas]

We eat organic, no aspartame, artificial sweeteners, etc, cause our daughter does way better when we do. On the other hand, my grandfather, who smoked till he was 88, was an active alcoholic, and ate whatever the hell he wanted, died at 96, with all his marbles and mobility. He retired at 92, and only then because he got in a fight with his boss, who fired him.

At least when he was young he had a good start with real food. That may have helped.

Today's children will be the first generation to live shorter lives than the previous. (source)