AsPartAMe

I knew there was a reason I always felt really uncomfortable about aspartame. I remember back in high school I once read the side of a package of Carefree gum and noticed a little box saying that when aspartame was given to rats (in large doses) it caused cancer. Now I know that almost anything in large doses given to lab animals usually results in something horrible (yay, medical research ethics) and that supposedly we are eating much lower doses so we aren't supposed to worry, but I don't know... it seems to me that if you're eating a little bit here and there, it probably adds up.

I don't know if my worry about aspartame possibly causing cancer was what made me dislike the taste, or whether I just dislike the taste to begin with, but I usually find myself choosing real soda over diet soda (of course, it helps that I rarely drink soda), real yogurt over diet yogurt, etc. I pretty much assume that the more "substitutes" food has, the less it ends up being actual food.

Just a little health warning for the day. :)

I think blogging is going to be light for the next few days, at the very least. When we get to Philly we may not have internet access for a couple of weeks (I know, it's almost unthinkable), and there is still this festering dissertation that I need to attend to...

Comments

[cheeqz]

Aspartame is evil! At least for me. Those tiny "safe" doses trigger an immediate migraine. And don't even get me started on Splenda...nausea, sweating, and other weird things that shouldn't happen after you drink orange juice.

Give me real sugar any day!

[Buffyb]

I've always thought aspartame was evil.

Seriously.

Mainly because it makes me fat.

No cal or not.

[Claude]

I've always thought that if you experiment on a rat, it will get cancer.

What? I'm just saying.

[Kira]

i don't think it tastes like sugar at all and i avoid it too.
but i forwarded the link to my parents who sometimes eat it!