Is Aspartame Bad For You?

Science disagrees!

The study that that the negative links were on silly amounts.

While there was a dose-response relationship between aspartame consumption and the prevalence of cancer, the rats were given an absurdly large amount: between 4 mg/kg all the way up to 5,000 mg /kg of bodyweight.

In an 80kg human, thats 2139 cans per DAY. You’d drown first! 😀 PLUS we’re not rats 🙂

In further study, In 2002, “Aspartame: Review of Safety” was published in the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal, Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, concluding:

More than 30 years have elapsed since the foundations of today’s aspartame safety database were laid. Since that time the portfolio of studies assessing the safety of aspartame has continued to grow. A search of the scientific literature on the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s MEDLINE reveals almost 700 citations for aspartame with a number of these relevant to aspartame safety. The extensive body of research undertaken on aspartame clearly and overwhelmingly demonstrates its safety for its intended use. The aspartame safety data have been evaluated and found satisfactory by regulatory scientists in all major regulatory agencies and expert committees, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the EU Scientific Committee for Food (SCF), and the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Further, aspartame has been approved for human consumption by regulatory agencies in more than 100 countries and received wide consumer acceptance with consumption by hundreds of millions of people over the past 20 years, representing billions of man-years of safe exposure.”

Read that last bit – again: consumption by hundreds of millions of people over the past 20 years, representing billions of man-years of safe exposure.

But, I’m not done yet.

In 2006 researchers from the National Cancer Institute looked at cancer rates in more than 500,000 older adults.

Yep 500,000.

No increased risk of premature death.

Some people will vehemently argue that aspartame causes weight gain. Firstly, this makes zero fucking sense because, as I noted earlier – aspartame is essentially calorie-free. You’d have to consume an impossible amount of diet drinks for it to have an impact on your weight, and seeing as you’d die from water intoxication first weight gain would probably be the least of your worries.

Secondly, research disagrees with this idea.

In one study, 41 overweight men and women were split into two groups. Guess what happened? That’s right: the group consuming the sucrose supplement – you know, the one that contained calories – saw increases in energy intake, body weight, fat mass, and blood pressure; while “these effects were not observed in a similar group of subjects who consumed artificial sweeteners.” Because that’s what happens when you control calorie intake.

So then why do people think aspartame causes weight gain?

Because people are dumb. Ok, I’m sorry. It’s because people make false correlations. People who drink calorie-free drinks tend to fall for the Health Halo of Food effect: they assume because they’re drinking zero-calorie drinks they can eat more food. This leads them to consume a greater number of calories and gaining more weight (and fat). People then make a faulty correlation between the two: “Diet drinks cause weight gain”, instead of, “People end up eating more calories leading them to gain more weight”.

So, what do we know and what can we say?

Take Home Points

1. There are over 200 studies that confirm aspartame to be safe for human consumption.

1a.If you believe that the Illuminati or some dark secret society is trying to poison you, I suggest you stop watching conspiracy theories on YouTube. I mean, I’m no Illuminati expert but I’m pretty sure a bunch of old rich billionaires have more important things to address than poisoning people through Diet Coke.

1. Unless you’re a rat and/or injecting diet drinks straight into your blood, you have nothing to worry about from consuming aspartame-based foods and beverages.
2. The only real concern is that diet drinks can rot your teeth if consumed in large amounts.

3a. If you have the extremely rare, genetic disorder phenylketonuria then you should avoid aspartame. If you are suffering from a super rare disorder you probably already know this but seeing as people were losing their shit over me not putting this point here, I’m putting this point here.

1. There is some emerging research that aspartame can have a negative impact on the gut microbiome. This is still up for debate and I’ll hazard a guess that as long as you’re not being a complete dumbfuck with your consumption of artificial sweeteners, you’ll be fine. Danny Lennon did a great podcast on that topic and artificial sweeteners in general, here.
2. While there aren’t any studies confirming this, anecdotally, some of my clients have noted that drinking diet drinks tend to increase “sugar cravings”. If this happens to you, then simply don’t drink them or reduce your intake.
3. Constantly consuming really sweet food and drink changes your taste palate. I know people who can’t drink plain water as they don’t “like the taste” and need to sweeten everything. This isn’t exactly ideal.
4. Aspartame doesn’t spike insulin levels and ‘trick your body into storing fat’. On the contrary, it can aid fat loss due to helping you reduce and control your calorie intake.
5. Once again, don’t be an idiot with these things and you’ll be fine.
6. Drink more goddamn water.