POTUS is a big fan of Aspartame-sweetened Diet Coke. I've always worried about that, although his health and cognition remain awesome.
. . . Aspartame – found Diet Coke, Pepsi Max and Sprite, as well as products like Extra chewing gum – has long been linked to health concerns including cancer, high blood pressure and stroke.
Now, Spanish researchers say consuming high levels of the additive may also age the brain and stiffen the heart.
In a study on mice, higher aspartame intake – roughly equivalent to three servings every fortnight – was linked to around a 20 per cent increased risk of mild cardiac hypertrophy, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes thickened, as well as accelerated cognitive decline.
The researchers also found that body fat dropped by around a fifth in the animals.
Writing in the journal Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, the researchers at the Centre for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials in San Sebastián, urged officials to review current aspartame consumption guidelines.
They said: 'Aspartame does indeed reduce fat deposits by 20 per cent in mice, but it does so at the cost of mild cardiac hypertrophy and decreased cognitive performance.
'Although this sweetener may help achieve weight loss in mice, it is accompanied by pathophysiological changes in the heart and, possibly, in the brain.
In the study, mice were given a dose of 7mg of aspartame per kilogram of body weight. This was administered over three consecutive days every two weeks.
By comparison, the World Health Organization, the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration advise that people should consume no more than 50mg per kilogram of body weight per day. [Yes, that's more than SEVEN times the amount-per-body-weight used in the study -- and millions of people use or exceed that amount daily for DECADES]
Over a year-long follow-up, mice exposed to aspartame showed a reduction in heart output in both ventricles – falling by 26 per cent in the left ventricle and 20 per cent in the right.
The researchers also found septal curvature – the thick muscular wall separating the heart's right and left ventricles – was reduced by 25 per cent.
The mice showed 'signs of altered neurobehavior' and 'possible pathophysiological changes in the brain', the study said.
(more)
Aspartame was invented as an insecticide. The lab technician was told to test it. He thought he was told to taste it. He found out it was very sweet. The rest is history. What people don't know is that the inventor of it, begged the company not to sell it as a sweetener. They did anyway. The inventor then told his family, it was banned in his household and he did not want anyone in his family to eat anything containing aspartame.
Did not know that. Thanks.
Donald Rumsfeld was responsible for forcing the fda to use it, and classified as safe for consumption
That asshole! That figures. I didn't know that. He did, however, get our government to purchase 2 billion dollars worth of his TamiFlu years ago when they were pushing the bird flu scam. That's when a diligent lab tech tested the vaccine on some ferrets and they died. That stopped their huge vaccination scam. Mysteriously the bird flu pandemic never happened.
Yeah we're learning now of all the nefarious ways they were "culling the herd". Hell even sugar is bad for you, I suppose everything in moderation. Stay away from sucralose! It is a DNA disruptor!!
I know. I use Stevia, but I always have to double check because many companies put the chemical crap in with the Stevia. We have to read everything these days.
I was one of the [lucky] ones who suffered severe headaches after a couple weeks on Diet Coke after the aspartame switch in the 80’s and vowed to never put that crap in my body ever again. Thats when I woke up to not believing everything approved was harmless to our bodies. Unfortunately I could never convince my mother to stop drinking Diet Coke and she died from Parkinson’s complications a couple years ago. I will always believe that aspartame played a heavy role in her illness.
Not just lucky, but smart. Many people just refuse to believe what is right before their eyes. I'm glad you caught on to it. I'm sorry to hear about your mother.