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submitted 1 year ago by ricdeh@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

"The IARC will reportedly classify aspartame as a possible carcinogen. But this isn’t a food safety agency, and the context matters."

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[-] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago
[-] Anonymoose@infosec.pub 0 points 1 year ago

I seriously take issue with how artificial sweeteners taste. It's terrible.

[-] knaugh@frig.social 1 points 1 year ago

I really don't understand how people can't tell, I'm starting to wonder if it's a genetic thing like with cilantro.

[-] Anonymoose@infosec.pub 1 points 1 year ago

I can't claim to taste it everywhere, you could probably slip it by me in something. But with sugar free drinks across the board, they all have this bizarre sickly, sweet taste from the sweetener that I just can't stomach.

[-] ErwinLottemann@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

There are dozens of us!

[-] Dick_Justice@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I mean, to be honest, with 1 in 2 women and 1 in 3 men in the US estimated to get cancer in their lifetime, I'm just not surprised anymore when someone tells me is linked to cancer.

[-] PillowTalk420@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Wasn't aspartame also linked to liver failure in the 90's? 🤔

[-] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Afaik it has been linked to cancer for about that long too. Used to tell my mom that aspartame (in her diet cokes) causes cancer all the time in ~2000-2001, don't know where I heard it back then but obviously someone knew because child me was not a biochemist with a lab enough to come to that conclusion by myself.

[-] darthfabulous42069@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Soda companies could literally just switch to stevia or monk fruit tomorrow and it wouldn't be a problem. The only issue is their refusal to change.

[-] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I'm a card carrying hippie and I fucking hate stevia. It ruins all it touches.

[-] Falmarri@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Aspartame doesn't taste great, but stevia is just awful

[-] darthfabulous42069@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I'm more of a monk fruit person myself too honestly.

[-] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I got some monk fruit at the discount grocery store where they have random discontinued things and it was a huge bag of little mini pixie stick sized, single serve packets of monk fruit powder and I ate the whole bag like they were pixie sticks and I was a six year old on Halloween.

[-] zeppo@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

A lot of people complain about it, but I don't have any problem with it. I enjoy stevia-based sodas like Zevia or even hard seltzers with it (Truly has a few) with no problem. I wonder if it's one of those things where it tastes different to various people like cilantro.

[-] Maven@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 year ago

It is. They've done research and found that basically all artificial sweeteners have a genetic component. For me personally, stevia tastes like soapy bitter lawn clippings, while aspartame and sucralose taste basically normal. A few of my old standby drink mixes swapped to stevia a couple years ago, and I instantly noticed and couldn't finish them.

[-] baggyspandex@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Yeah buuuuuuuuut bottom line et al

[-] darthfabulous42069@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Which I don't understand. It literally would be cheaper for them to use stevia or monk fruit and call it a day than to quibble over something so trivial.

[-] CamelCityCalamity@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

If you don't mind me being pedantic, "et al." is short for "et alia" which means "and other people". "Etc", short for "et cetera", means "and other things". You only use "et al." when talking about people not named in a list.

The More You Know 🌠

[-] dmtalon@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I quit artificial sweeteners last year. Just use real sugar in moderation. Seems to be working for me. Biggest change is switching to water to drink. Once you conquer that the rest is cake.

[-] Meloku@feddit.cl 0 points 1 year ago

Sugar is still a highly processed sweetener. Even brown sugar sold on a supermarket has gone through several processing steps. At this point, the healthiest way to sweeten your food is not sweetening it at all.

[-] myersguy@lemmy.simpl.website 1 points 1 year ago

Abstinence is the safest way to have sex.

[-] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

But sex can be quite enjoyable..

[-] myersguy@lemmy.simpl.website 3 points 1 year ago

Yes, sex is a lot like sweeteners in that respect.

[-] Someguy89@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I think a good rule of thumb is "everything in moderation." Excessive use of anything isn't healthy.

[-] PlaidBaron@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I mean drinking too much soda in general isnt exactly gonna be good for you regardless of how its sweetened.

[-] teacs@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

However, if you are drinking a lot of soda, better you drink diet versions and get exposed to this spurious "possible" cancer risk than get exposed to ridiculous amounts of sugar that will all but guarantee weight gain and the build up of insulin resistance

[-] King_of_Konga@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Generally I agree with your point, but there is evidence that diet drinks increase cravings leading to greater overall calorie consumption. So it may not really be that much better.

[-] kale@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 year ago

I'm really far behind on clinical literature on the subject (I'm in a different field), but I remember a recent discovery that there were "sweetness" sensors in the gut. I'm not sure if it was speculation or already shown, but the theory is that detection of sweet things in the gut stimulated release of insulin. Since blood glucose doesn't increase with zero calorie drinks, it can drop blood glucose, increasing hunger.

It's known that some zero calorie sweeteners we can't digest, but our gut bacteria can, and it changes them in a negative way.

[-] SoLongSealion@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People have been freaking out about it since it was first introduced. Can't count how many times someone has told me to put down my diet soda because it causes cancer/diabetes.

[-] ronaldtemp1@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Same as microwave oven, cell phones and laptops. Human beings freak out about stuff that they don’t understand, it was then thunder that human freak out about, it is now technology that human freak out about.

this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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