I am so over posts like this. Get your pro-natural, anti-science, bull-shit, propagandized ad-posts off my tag. Seriously. No matter how many times you link your website to a claim that has no support, I won’t click it.
Until you have unmitigated proof that something is bad for me, I’m going to continue to use it as the alternative to sugar, which actually has hard proof as being bad for me. I can consume it, I just shouldn’t. As a diabetic, I shouldn’t have to live off of water and black decaf coffee just because your dreadlocked, no-poo, all-hemp, kale-eating ass thinks I should.
So here is the breakdown, alright?.
Aspartame – Aspartame was discovered in 1965, and approved for use in food products by the FDA in 1974. In 10 years of testing, they found no evidence that aspartame is harmful for human consumption (except for the development of babies in utero and people with phenylketonuria- which is a rare inherited metabolic disease). The FDA even responded to public paranoia and rescinded approval until 1981. They still found no evidence that aspartame is harmful. For 6 years after that, groups of people tried to contest it and demanded that all of the research be thoroughly reviewed AGAIN, by the CDC. After 6 years of review, there was still no evidence found to support fear theories. In 47 years of ongoing research, and human trials, there is still no evidence that aspartame has any negative effects in the general population (again, only during pregnancy and with PKA). The lasting belief that aspartame is a carcinogen was started by a mass email hoax in the 90s. The information contained in the email was incorrect. The risk, in aspartame, for diabetics, is that it has been proven that the flavor triggers an insulin response, sometimes resulting in hypoglycemic episoes. Even saccharin was proved not to be a carcinogen, and removed from warning labels as a health risk in 2001. So keep sucking from the tin-foil hat tit.
Maltodextrin – Maltodextrin is found to metabolize as quickly as glucose, or dextrose. So yes, consuming it would bump blood sugars- in large amounts. There are trace amounts of it in crystal light. And I hate to burst your bubble, but diabetics CAN consume SOME sugar. So I have to wonder why this is even on here.
Acesulfame potassium – This sweetener is rarely seen on its own. It is generally used in company with another sweetener (commonly aspartame). It’s most common use is in the coating on pills, and in chewable vitamins. It was discovered in 1967, and found to be harmless in human trials, but caused a benign tumor response in rats (rats are not people, nor are they physiologically like people, and for that matter, the rats were fed the human equivalent of 1343 cans of diet soda per day in order to achieve that response). Like aspartame, Ace K triggers an insulin release in humans, but has not been proven to cause any hypoglycemia. The only conclusive side-effect of Ace K in humans is that it can create a preference toward sweets in utero.
I am not even going to bother with the dyes, because honestly, not drinking crystal light or other diet things is not going to prevent me from coming into contact with them. Food dyes are in everything, so really, it isn’t pertinent to this argument. I do agree that for the most part, when people feel the urge to snack, they are mistaking thirst for hunger, and I do recommend having water. I am a huge advocate for water. Not good enough? Have a glass of milk, or even -gasp- crystal light!
If you’re going to try to smack down artificial sweeteners, cite actual science. Don’t cite propagandized health sites that are created to sell products to desperate, gullible people. I’m not saying that there will never be new information about artificial sweeteners. But by the reasoning people continue to point them out as being potentially harmful, I could apply that to anything, artificial or otherwise.
They’ve learned that a diabetic consuming sugar in any more than small amounts can be fatal. So fuck off.
^^^^^^^^
Hey, all you people with working pancreases, you are welcome to not use artificial sweeteners in your own food.
Just don’t tell people who choose to use artificial sweeteners, be they diabetics or not, that they are being horrible and/or doing horrible things to their bodies by consuming their sweetener of choice.
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