Could the sweetened drinks we're consuming be making us feel a little more anxious? A 2022 study looking at the effects of the artificial sweetener aspartame on mice suggests that it's a possibility that's worth investigating further.
When a sample of mice were given free access to water dosed with aspartame equivalent to 15 percent of the FDA’s recommended maximum daily amount for humans, they generally displayed more anxious behavior in specially designed mood tests.
What’s truly surprising is the effects could be seen in the animals’ offspring, for up to two generations.
We know that when it’s consumed, aspartame splits into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol, which can all affect the central nervous system. There have already been question marks over potentially adverse reactions to the sweetener in some people.
We know that when it’s consumed, aspartame splits into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol, which can all affect the central nervous system.
This is precisely why this all sounds like BS and such studies have frequently been called out for their poor methodologies. Aspartic acid and phenylalanine are crucial amino acids that we consume in a bunch of foods at much higher concentrations. And the methanol produced in its breakdown is extremely minimal.
Hence why the vast amount of pseudoscience claims about aspartame have been debunked one after the other.
Of course. But those sorts of impacts have not been shown for these amino acids in their otherwise much higher consumption concentrations. Unless you have phenylketonuria, but you’d know if you did already.
There are also a shit ton of studies done by food processing & manufacturing companies that are bogus. Knowing how your own body reacts to foods isn’t pseudo science. You’d agree that nutrition is part of that, yes?
You sound like team cigarette! “It’s made from all natural materials and plants and people have been smoking for centuries”.
Oh no, I’m an actual scientist who knows molecular biology and the decades of research showcasing pseudoscience health claims to indeed be pseudoscience.
History check: it’s the scientific community that showed cigarettes were bad for you years before the public ever listened to the facts.
Oh no, I’m an actual scientist who knows molecular biology and the decades of research showcasing pseudoscience health claims to indeed be pseudoscience.
So great, then you know that a small percentage of people can react to things that you can’t explain. We’re on the same page.
History check: it’s the scientific community that showed cigarettes were bad for you years before the public ever listened to the facts.
Interesting, I bet the cigarette companies didn’t do their own studies to show everything is fine. And if they could have, go online and convince the scientific community is pseudoscience.
I admit I haven’t read the article, or the study, but they can be doing science and also doing it wrong. From reading this thread, it sounds like they used a DRASTIC dosage of aspartame for one, and for two, as the guy above was saying they’re attributing the issues with aspartame to mechanisms that don’t make sense.
People need to get in touch with their groceries. I’m lucky that I have really strong reactions to food because it’s obvious what affects me or not. I become a full on grouchy interrogator when I have aspertame, same with MSG but that’s more of an accumulation thing.
So you also believe in MSG health claims, despite that being a salt of glutamate, an amino acid found in all meats, mushrooms, and plenty other foods already.
I’m going to answer this question once and only once.
There are some people allergic to peanuts, sometimes a whiff could kill them or sometimes it takes a ton of it. MSG is concentrated, taken from many different products, and known to cause reactions in some people. Symptoms don’t happen to everyone and maybe I’m allergic to what the original source is? It could be the histamine causing effects? I don’t know, I just know it effects me and would put me in the percentage that gets symptoms. Peanuts are natural too, do you question people’s allergies to that?
And yet all the studies done on MSG have found no such effect. In fact, when conducting comparative tests where people were given a placebo but made to think it had MSG, they claimed they were having negative health effects.
This has been studied for decades and no evidence of a negative physiological impact has been shown. Especially since MSG was used in Asian cuisines in America for years prior with no such effects up until the hysteria the one writer caused.
Some people are allergic to nuts. Some to shellfish. And sure, a small portion probably to MSG. That’s fine, absolutely be conscious of what you eat and how it makes you feel.
There’s a GULF of difference between that statement and saying “msg is bad because it causes a reaction in some people” though. Are peanuts dangerous? Are shellfish dangerous? Because with the metrics you’re providing, you have to label them as just as dangerous to the general public as it sounds like you want for aspartame, msg, etc.
This is my last comment to you, and I’m going to say this only once as well. Not causing symptoms right away isn’t an indication that it’s safe. It could still cause long term effects in a cumulative way.
Dr Claude Lambré, member of EFSA’s Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food, and Chair of the working group tasked with the re-evaluation, said: “Based on the available evidence, we are confident that the newly derived group ADI for glutamic acid and glutamates is protective of consumers’ health, as it is below the doses that have been associated with certain effects in humans, such as headache, raised blood pressure and increased insulin levels.”
You don’t have to reply, I will anyway so that everyone else gets a more clear picture.
I’m not advocating for putting anything into your body without thought. That’d be dumb. I’m merely pointing out there’s a MASSIVE DIFFERENCE between being aware, and being overly reactive, or advocating for really safe (in moderation) additives be banned or similar.
The article you sent states “Currently, there is no numerical safe intake level ( ADI ) specified for glutamic acid and glutamates used as food additives in the EU.” This is not stating that a safe level does not exist, but that the government has not determined what it was (prior to that article). They then go on to state that they have set a safe level at 30mg/kg body weight. For context, using the average body weight of males, 90.62 (rounding to 90), this comes out to 2700 mg. Salt’s RDA is 2300 mg. Sugar is 4800mg (48g). So, we can conclude that msg, as it is, is between sugar and salt in terms of detrimental effect, at least as far as current science tells us.
By all means, limit your intake. That’s your right. Don’t compare it to a food allergy, though. Or try to tell other people they’re wrong for coming to a different conclusion.
This is precisely why this all sounds like BS and such studies have frequently been called out for their poor methodologies. Aspartic acid and phenylalanine are crucial amino acids that we consume in a bunch of foods at much higher concentrations. And the methanol produced in its breakdown is extremely minimal.
Hence why the vast amount of pseudoscience claims about aspartame have been debunked one after the other.
Taurine is an amino acid we generate ourselves
Its also a blood thinner and critical component of all energy drinks. And is why energy drinks can kill you.
Just because its an amino acid doesn’t mean its harmless.
Of course. But those sorts of impacts have not been shown for these amino acids in their otherwise much higher consumption concentrations. Unless you have phenylketonuria, but you’d know if you did already.
This is literally them doing science, lol. It’s a study.
There are plenty of studies done by those wishing to push pseudoscience claims. We wouldn’t have people like Andrew Wakefield otherwise.
And nutrition is one such field that has an outsized amount of pseudoscience pushers.
There are also a shit ton of studies done by food processing & manufacturing companies that are bogus. Knowing how your own body reacts to foods isn’t pseudo science. You’d agree that nutrition is part of that, yes?
You sound like team cigarette! “It’s made from all natural materials and plants and people have been smoking for centuries”.
Oh no, I’m an actual scientist who knows molecular biology and the decades of research showcasing pseudoscience health claims to indeed be pseudoscience.
History check: it’s the scientific community that showed cigarettes were bad for you years before the public ever listened to the facts.
So great, then you know that a small percentage of people can react to things that you can’t explain. We’re on the same page.
Interesting, I bet the cigarette companies didn’t do their own studies to show everything is fine. And if they could have, go online and convince the scientific community is pseudoscience.
I admit I haven’t read the article, or the study, but they can be doing science and also doing it wrong. From reading this thread, it sounds like they used a DRASTIC dosage of aspartame for one, and for two, as the guy above was saying they’re attributing the issues with aspartame to mechanisms that don’t make sense.
15% of the daily recommended maximum dose. I’m going to go ahead and block you.
That’s fine bud. Have a good life. Sorry for politely asking for clarification lol
I didn’t read the study, and I’m not going to, but was this a double blind test? Especially for the offspring claim?
People need to get in touch with their groceries. I’m lucky that I have really strong reactions to food because it’s obvious what affects me or not. I become a full on grouchy interrogator when I have aspertame, same with MSG but that’s more of an accumulation thing.
So you also believe in MSG health claims, despite that being a salt of glutamate, an amino acid found in all meats, mushrooms, and plenty other foods already.
I’m going to answer this question once and only once.
There are some people allergic to peanuts, sometimes a whiff could kill them or sometimes it takes a ton of it. MSG is concentrated, taken from many different products, and known to cause reactions in some people. Symptoms don’t happen to everyone and maybe I’m allergic to what the original source is? It could be the histamine causing effects? I don’t know, I just know it effects me and would put me in the percentage that gets symptoms. Peanuts are natural too, do you question people’s allergies to that?
And yet all the studies done on MSG have found no such effect. In fact, when conducting comparative tests where people were given a placebo but made to think it had MSG, they claimed they were having negative health effects.
This has been studied for decades and no evidence of a negative physiological impact has been shown. Especially since MSG was used in Asian cuisines in America for years prior with no such effects up until the hysteria the one writer caused.
Some people are allergic to nuts. Some to shellfish. And sure, a small portion probably to MSG. That’s fine, absolutely be conscious of what you eat and how it makes you feel.
There’s a GULF of difference between that statement and saying “msg is bad because it causes a reaction in some people” though. Are peanuts dangerous? Are shellfish dangerous? Because with the metrics you’re providing, you have to label them as just as dangerous to the general public as it sounds like you want for aspartame, msg, etc.
This is my last comment to you, and I’m going to say this only once as well. Not causing symptoms right away isn’t an indication that it’s safe. It could still cause long term effects in a cumulative way.
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/170712
You don’t have to reply, I will anyway so that everyone else gets a more clear picture.
I’m not advocating for putting anything into your body without thought. That’d be dumb. I’m merely pointing out there’s a MASSIVE DIFFERENCE between being aware, and being overly reactive, or advocating for really safe (in moderation) additives be banned or similar.
The article you sent states “Currently, there is no numerical safe intake level ( ADI ) specified for glutamic acid and glutamates used as food additives in the EU.” This is not stating that a safe level does not exist, but that the government has not determined what it was (prior to that article). They then go on to state that they have set a safe level at 30mg/kg body weight. For context, using the average body weight of males, 90.62 (rounding to 90), this comes out to 2700 mg. Salt’s RDA is 2300 mg. Sugar is 4800mg (48g). So, we can conclude that msg, as it is, is between sugar and salt in terms of detrimental effect, at least as far as current science tells us.
By all means, limit your intake. That’s your right. Don’t compare it to a food allergy, though. Or try to tell other people they’re wrong for coming to a different conclusion.
MSG is more of a racism thing. It was just a trick crackers came up with to keep their business from going to Asian restaurants.