Aspartame

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I know there's plenty of horror stories about the artificial sweetener Aspartame online but I have a theory that as it is said to affect excitatory neurotransmitters, this can be of benefit to the autistic brain as I'd say (in my own case anyway), the neurotransmitters are under-excited in the first place so over-excitement would bring them up to the normal baseline

I am experimenting with it, currently in the form of 'Half Sugar' which is half sugar, half Aspartame and Ascefulcame K,
as this tastes better in coffee/cocoa than an Aspartame-only sweetener like Canderel

I've noticed my brain can become more focused on an interest after taking it and I can also hear a fuzzy brain noise in my head as well at night as well - as if more activity is taking place generally

I can often get this when taking vitamin type supplements as well

Now I've just come across some other research that says Aspartame isn't an excitotoxin

http://www.aspartame.org/aspartame_myths_common.html

I wish they'd make their minds up about it!

How are you meant to know what to believe?

Has anyone else had any notable effects, good or bad, from Aspartame?

I know an individual who was becoming more and more ill when using aspartame after being diagnosed with diabetes. The doctors could not identify any reason for the great decline in health. About that time, he got his first Internet account and did some reading on the subject and learned about the concerns about aspartame. When he cut aspartame out of his diet, his health started to improve in a fairly dramatic manner.

It is true that the research into aspartame indicates that it is safe. However, according to some of what I have read Monsanto provides clinically pure aspartame to the researchers and not taking any chances on it being degraded. Supposedly, it is when it degrades that it causes problems.

So if you are acquiring clinically pure aspartame from Monsanto, you might not be in any danger. If you are buying aspartame containing products at the store, it is entirely at your own discretion and risk.

All things considered, I really don't know whether or not there is a true danger from aspartame. I just play it safe and avoid it entirely.

That's interesting

I hadn't considered the purity of the Aspartame being investigated

I just like the idea of low level experiments to see which foodstuffs can assist my brain as it needs all the help it can get!

I struggle to think of the correct word a lot these days and even substitute a completely wrong word a lot in sentences
- this is aphasia I think

it's like my brain often goes to retrieve a word and instead of the correct one pulls out a word starting with the same letter or which sounds similar - it's very alarming!

It gives me a mild headache and makes my eyes feel as if they have slight pressure iunside.

As for Monsanto, probably one of the most unscrupulous companies in the world, just look at all the Indian farmers who have been driven to suicide by their schemes, the GM foods they are trying to replace God given foods with, so they can patent them and claim its their own.

As for the "testing" that showed Aspartame isn't harmful for you, according to some scientists, all those scientists that did the "testing", had some relationship with Monsanto anyway.





Cancer and premature birth fears linked to fizzy drink sweetener

By Sean Poulter

PUBLISHED: 01:44, 9 March 2013 | UPDATED: 13:22, 9 March 2013

Comments (276)
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Controversial: The authority¿s view will be welcomed by manufacturers who use aspartame and similar sweeteners in fizzy drinks such as Diet Coke

Controversial: The authority's view will be welcomed by manufacturers who use aspartame and similar sweeteners in fizzy drinks such as Diet Coke

A leading British expert has called for an investigation into serious health concerns over the artificial sweetener aspartame – after the EU food watchdog insisted it was safe.

The European Food Safety Authority has published a draft scientific opinion effectively rubbishing more than 20 studies which have identified potential problems with the sweetener, ranging from premature births to cancer.

The authority’s view will be welcomed by manufacturers who use aspartame and similar sweeteners in fizzy drinks such as Diet Coke, and diet foods consumed by millions of people every day.

But Erik Millstone, professor of science policy at the University of Sussex, has challenged the ‘biased’ and ‘deeply flawed’ EFSA opinion.

Professor Millstone has been a leading expert on food policy in the UK for many years and his lobbying was instrumental in the setting up of Britain’s Food Standards Agency.

The way the EFSA assessed the evidence on aspartame was ‘perverse and biased’, he claimed.

He added: ‘The panel could only have reached its conclusion that aspartame is safe by implicitly assuming that almost all studies indicating no adverse effects are entirely reliable – even though they have numerous weaknesses and were almost all commercially funded, while all the studies indicating that aspartame may be unsafe are deemed unreliable – even though they sometimes have particular methodological strengths and even though they have all been funded independently of vested commercial interests.’




He also suggested that the EFSA panel that carried out the assessment was dominated by experts linked to manufacturers or regulators that have previously supported aspartame.

Professor Millstone said: ‘Of the 17 members of the EFSA panel, seven have direct commercial conflicts of interest, and another five have institutional conflicts of interest, for example, because their employers have already announced that aspartame is safe.’

He pointed to several convincing studies that raise real questions about the safety of aspartame and justify the need for further research.

An EU-funded project published in 2010 found that pregnant women who drank fizzy drinks containing artificial sweeteners appear to be at greater risk of having a premature baby.

He also highlighted work by the independent Ramazzini Foundation in Italy.

Its scientists have published research suggesting aspartame caused several types of cancer in rats at doses very close to the current acceptable daily intake for humans.

Professor Millstone said the EFSA should discount the draft report and convene a new panel composed only of experts who are free of any conflicts of interest.
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It gives me migraines.

I seem to better on it

I'm using 'Half Sugar' in my coffee with milk lately (usually just have it black) and I was definitely better around town this morning.
I felt more secure in myself and focused on the task in hand.

NT types who acted disrespectfully seemed like immature idiots instead of people I'd failed to impress ie I felt they were at fault, not me.

I felt more in control of my own reactions and my friend said I was definitely more relaxed

Last edited by nessa238 on 19 Mar 2013, 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

Aspartame contains,if the labels on the Diet drinks are correct,an Unknown word to me,it begins with "Phyl"..That's all I can remember,since after seeing it,made me never want to drink them again!

Not everybody reacts the same way to things.

It may be worth a look into in a controlled manner, as an alternative to putting kids on meds/medical marihuana/whatever

Yes, this is my thinking

Some foodstuffs make my autistic presentation worse and others improve it

it's like I can see either a mental sluggishness or a mental sharpness in my face ie the neurological effect is visible

Sometimes I will feel interaction is very hard work but other times it goes much better and it's not anything I'm saying; it's
my neurological presentation and how adept I am at dealing with feeback off others - it's a mental agility and neurological presentation thing

Have you taken into account that it might be a placebo effect?

Ie: you want this to work so badly that your mind is making you feel that its working/making the changes itself temporarely

Yes I had

This wasn't like a magic bullet that stopped bad situations occurring or me not coming across as different to people. It just seemed to give me better coping skills and a better way of referencing events so that I thought about them less negatively

I'm always wanting to know what exactly has affected my brain chemistry at any one time if it seems to be working better

Perhaps I just need more sugar and it's in a more readily accessible form in coffee than chocolate?

or perhaps it's having the milk in my coffee as I don't usually have milk

but then the other day I had cereal with milk and things didn't go very well so that will make me think milk and anything with sugar in is bad for me

I usually tried to avoid sugar or sugary foods full stop if going out as they can set off my temper

this doesn't seem to be happening with this half sugar though - I'm more calm and subdued; I was taking things more in my stride

I wish we had a brain printout each day telling us what food/chemicals we'd input that day and what the specific effects on behaviour were

I analyse how I cope and behave in social situations and then look at what I ate that day to try and correlate the two

I prefer regular sugar, especially black cane sugar derived.
No artificial sweeteners for me, thanks.

Too many articles about aspartame being a carcinogenic poison for me to want to use it.

I'm curious what other foods/food chemicals you've tested on yourself and what the results were as I've done a fair bit of this myself.

Well my biggest success story so far has been with the hormone progesterone (not a food)

I went on the progesterone-only Mini-pill late last year and it's improved my mood a hell of a lot

I had too much oestrogen in my system and this seems to have balanced it out

I think chocolate, while boosting my mood while eating it very quickly lowers my mood afterwards

White bread,, cakes, biscuits, pizza, pastry do not do my brain much good at all

Crisps can be the same

it's anything with too much fat/sugar/white flour and food additives has a bad effect

I'm undecided on milk but don't think it does much good

I haven't ever looked into any kind of hormonal imbalance, and there isn't really anything (that I'm aware of) that would indicate that I should.

I have looked into several different food chemicals and eliminated a few things with success - including as much gluten as possible (all the breads pastries and biscuits etc you've listed are likely made with flours containing gluten.) as well as casein (from dairy.) & more.

http://autismdigest.com/hidden-medical- ... -problems/

"Dr. Bauman described other useful observations from her clinical practice with hundreds of children with autism. She has observed that girls’ behaviors are often more likely to get worse at puberty than boys’. I can really relate to this. When puberty started, my anxiety and panic attacks exploded. Dr. Bauman has found that some girls with autism have an imbalance between the hormones of estrogen and progesterone. Treating the hormone imbalance improved behavior. This problem can be diagnosed and treated by either a very good gynecologist or an endocrinologist."

I took the progesterone predominantly to deal with heavy periods but it has had the additional effect of making my mood a lot better

I did the gluten and casein free diet for a while and had a certain amount of success but it was too hard to keep it up. I don't have milk very often but I found giving up bread too hard long term. And I found gluten free bread horrible!
I also once cooked some gluten-free pasta and it just dissolved into mush!

I find wholemeal bread is ok; it's white bread, especially crusty white bread that's the worst

I don't think any one chemical can deal with all the problems

I am on a low dose of an anti-depressant - Effexor plus the Mini-pill Cerazette - the combination of these two chemicals works far better than they would individually