Aspartame Name Change - February, 2010

Just got this via e-mail- sans link

"For everyone who wants to keep up on how they slip aspartame into our foods, drugs, vaccines (yes, vaccines), OTC medications (especially child products), aspartame has a new name of AminoSweet.

"Since aspartame has gotten such a bad name (as it should), Ajinomoto (the key manufacturer in Japan) has renamed this toxic chemical sweetener.

"Start double-checking your labels on everything you consume."

I salute you.

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Nothing else to say. Just WRONG

There are OTHER sweeteners out there, you know. Most of them are healthier.

Just pointing out a simple error of fact. I do not like artificial sweeteners because they taste like boiled rat piss.

Aspartame is a name for a chemical that gets sold under a number of brand names. Aspartame wasn't "renamed" when it was began to be sold under the NutraSweet brand label, or as SpecialSweet, was it?

It'll still say aspartame right on the box.

http://www.google.com/search?q=AminoSweet

http://www.aspartame.info/aminosweet_news_release.htm
(the site above is as sickly sweet as aspartame)

for that info, I wouldn't have known otherwise.

are introducing a new product name "amino sweet", just like "nutrasweet" and splenda. the ingredient is still, and still will be called, aspartame.

in the list of ingredients. AminoSweet is nothing more than a brand name like Equal and NutraSweet. The chemical name aspartame is not being changed and will still be listed as aspartame in the ingredients as it has to be just as the brand names of Equal and NutraSweet are listed in the ingredients as aspartame.

This is nothing more than a BRAND name change.

it's unusual this chain e-mail is getting it wrong. They're usually so reliable.

Thanks for the good information.

Sid

It's just the brand name.

especially considering those thanking the OP for this brilliant piece of information

Chinese motrin?

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guess it's cheaper than sugar

and it's addicting as well.

I used to drink Fresca all the time, but I also got these pounding headaches frequently, that could not be explained. One time I read an article about aspartame and immediately stopped drinking diet sodas. Right after that my headaches stopped and haven't returned. So I attribute the headaches to aspartame.

I drank a lot of diet sodas, I want to quit and recently Pepsi started doing this Throwback thing where they make Pepsi with real sugar. I decided to quit Diet coke and drink the real sugar Pepsis. For a bout week while I switched, I had the worst headaches. I'll never drink another diet soda again. Plan to quit all sodas soon, but the real sugar I though would be good to ween myself off the diet soda crap.

Diet Rite cola (though I'm not too crazy about the flavor of it) and the Hansen's diet sodas are sweetened with Splenda and don't give me headaches no matter how much of them I drink. I love their diet root beer. http://www.hansens.com/products/products.php?subcat=2&color=sod

My ex was hooked on diet sodas and that explains the headaches she got!

There could have been some other cause. All I know is that the headaches stopped as soon as I stopped drinking Fresca.

As in, I was distracted and an accident occurred. One's distraction may or may not have been the cause of the accident. Aspartame may or may not have been the cause of the headaches.

Aspartame consumption strongly associated with migraines and seizures
http://www.naturalnews.com/008797_aspartame_migraine_headaches.html


and yes, I have gotten headaches from it as well.

The again here's a statement from aspartame .org:
http://www.aspartame.org/aspartame_faq8.html

...who would you believe?

I was getting these headaches in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and I didn't know why, and taking aspirin or Advil didn't help. Just laying down for a while and taking a nap helped them go away. About 1994 or so I started with America Online and started reading things on the new web including by chance an article about aspartame. I stopped drinking Fresca and right after that those headaches stopped, and I've never had one like that since. I have no proof that aspartame caused them, but I'm not willing to do any experimentation to see if they come back if I start drinking it again. I'm just glad to be rid of them. Splenda and Sweet-'n-Low seem to cause me no trouble.

not sure if the migraine was due to the aspartame or not, but I do remember getting massive headaches from drinking diet coke or pepsi. How do I know it was the diet coke or pepsi? Well, when I drank the diet soda, the headache would go away almost immediately.

Also, gum has aspartame, which I chewed often. After a long period of not drinking diet soda or chewing gum, my headaches eventually went away.

I then read up on Aspartame and found many other people experienced the same thing I did. I think it's pretty conclusive Aspartame is the cause, after all it IS a neurotoxin.

The reason I replied to you, is because I see Aspartame funding mis info on the web and think the companies making the crap should be held accountable for placing a neurotoxin on the market, that sells this junk to our kids who do not know any better. The least we can do is make each other aware the stuff is bad for us. We may not hold them accountable, but we can at least protect ourselves and our children from its use.

it's rather eye opening on the subject.

you are confusing correlation with causality and that there are not studies (that they have been paid to read) that prove what you are saying and therefore, ipso facto, QED, PDQ, and RSVP, it didn't happen.

Just saying. I've actually read the studies that prove aspartame, which was fast tracked past FDA regulation at Warp 9, is connected to migraines and worse.

That crap is just as bad for you.

Aspartame is the name for the basic product. AminoSweet will be a brand name for commercial sales of one manufacturer's sales of the product, just like when it gets sold as NutraSweet.

Clearly some people are concerned enough to want to follow this closely. Although some people are concerned enough about lots of things. :shrug:

Surely you can find some overblown conspiracy theory somewhere to broadcast. Join the fun! Everyone's doing it! :rofl:

I'm not 100% sure it's not safe - but I'm definitely sure it's NOT 100% safe - and that fucker Donald Rumsfeld's involvement with making aspartame legal to put in our food just creeps me out. Just say no - to aspartame/AminoSweet whatever the fuckers decide to call it next. :scared:

months and maybe 40 people.. doesnt matter if half quit..

The moment I ate something with it. I always have to find the nearest bathroom after eating artificial sweeteners.

My husband is a diabetic and was suffering from aspartame poisoning. It attacks the central nervous system and the symptoms he experienced over a period of time - debilitating migraines, loss of balance, parkinsons-type shaking all disappeared within days of him giving up aspartame-laced Diet Coke. Aspartame also interfered with his insulin regimen and caused food cravings. We have pitched every Nutrasweet/Equal containing product in the house. I asked him if we should donate it to a food bank and he said no - why would we want to poison other people.

For all you naysayers, it took me a long time to convince my husband stop consuming this poison. It wasn't until becoming aware of Rumsfeld's involvement that he believed me. He is now an avid label reader in grocery stores to avoid ingesting any more poison. This is a lethal poison, people - aspartame invokes a consistent set of symptoms in people. Huge sums are paid to medical organizations like The American Diabetes Assn. to recommend this crap. The FDA would NOT approve it and that is why the FDA chief was fired and replaced with a Rummy-friendly joker the day after Reagan took office. Aspartame was then approved immediately. If that doesn't convince you, keep drinking this chemical that kills and enjoy your headaches, the shakes and not being able to walk without tipping over. With any luck you won't get brain cancer from aspartame, but don't bet your life on it.

I don't trust the FDA. I do trust what I saw with my own eyes. My husband is himself again and looks and feels at least 10 years younger. Aspartame is just one more reason Donald Rumsfeld should be in a jail cell.

I wish Stevia would be used to make a diet soda pop. I imagine Coke has something in the works.

And we all know how Aspartame got thru the FDA, don't we? Rumsfeld was CEO of Searle at the time and pushed it through.

Does anyone know of a carbonated drink that is not loaded with sugar or aspartame????? I love having a soda at night before bed...aspartame is probably additive as well.

http://www.zevia.com/

Also there were stories over a year ago that both Coca Cola and Pepsi were supposedly making Stevia based beverages. Not sure what the delay is, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's lots of money from MonSatan involved.(That's who owns Nutra Sweet, after buying the original mfg Searle Pharmaceuticals)

however, since I live in Ohio (the most backward state of the Union and where all the ugly clothes, dishes, knic-knacs, furniture, pictures, etc. end up), I can't get it.

I will contact my Health Food Store....Tree of Life does distribute it. This will take a good year or two since I am surrounded by stupid people.

Sorry fellow Ohioans....but you gotta know what I'm talking about.

A case for $24.00 is a bit steep for me....Maybe I can make my own soda somehow.

Never heard of MonSatan....love it! :thumbsup: :yourock:

""Maybe I can make my own soda somehow.""

You can. Squeeze a 1/4 lime, lemon, or orange in a large glass, add a little water, add a 1/4 teaspoon Stevia (it doesn't take much). Stir till the Stevia dissolves. Slowly fill the glass with some natural sparkling water, like Crystal Geyser or Perrier (about 12 ozs). You mix the Stevia in the small amount of water first because it takes a lot of stirring to get it to dissolve. If you stirred it after the sparkling water was added all the fizz would be lost. This makes a really tasty and healthy carbonated beverage. A lime/lemon mix is my favorite and it's really good for the kidneys.

don't know if this is more affordable, but it's the best soda you can drink, most of the natural sodas have too much sugar, even healthy sugar is not that good in large quantities.

I have liquid Stevia so I wouldn't have to worry about it dissolving, right?

As a kid, I always loved Chocolate Cokes at the local soda fountain. I wonder if I could work with a dark chocolate syrup of some kind. Everyone else liked Cherry Cokes...uck!

look it up - not any better than the other substitutes.

and just because something is banned doesn't mean it's toxic. Stevia is a natural herb. It's been used for centuries in South America and for decades in Japan. It was recently approved in the USA after Coke/Pepsi decided they wanted to use it in their drinks. The only reason it's still banned in some EU countries is because the corps are dragging their feet because it would compete with their junk sweeteners. There's no credible studies that show it's harmful.

with a healthy squeeze of fresh lemon juice or some concentrated unsweetened cranberry juice is always a refreshing fizzy treat.

I'm on a budget.

Maybe look up making Italian sodas. Torani's sugar free syrup is made with Splenda.

once you get used to the tartness, its wayyy healthier and cheaper than fake sugar concoctions.

But yes, there are cheaper alternatives to perrier, it was just a suggestion. There are also carbonated no name brands of spring water too.

I only have maybe one soda a week (never diet) and I don't do artificial sugars. I only really drink water or unsweetened iced tea. Oh and my two or three cups of coffee in the morning (with a little regular sugar, never artificial).


I do stay away from white sugar and go with sucanat as much as possible. I'm trying to incorporate more sucanat into my baking, but I'm worried that the people I bake for will notice a taste different from the white sugar. I don't eat much sweets, I just enjoy making them for others.

the stuff that gets mixed with your gin to make a G&T. And whichever
it is. it may be pronounced "tawnik". ;)

Tesha

with a squeeze. But it has been a while since I've had one.

(Perrier had a bit of an issue with the contents of their bottles a while back)

http://www.aminosweet.info/


A sideways mention that Aminosweet is aspartame in the FAQ section regarding the E-number for the EU.

Is this statement true?

"AminoSweet is digested by the body in exactly the same way as these other protein foods and so does not bring anything new to the diet."

So I can imagine that it's metabolized along the same metabolic pathways as similar molecules in the body.

But benzene is also metabolized along established metabolic pathways, and its breakdown products travel to the bone marrow and cause cancer.

So, the answer could be correct, and yet still not address the problem.

My wife and I stopped using aspartame when it was still popular because we noticed it gave us both headaches. We don't get headaches when we're metabolizing protein foods from natural sources.

and that point is made repeatedly. Amino acids are nothing more than building blocks. Even the shape of a protein can determine its effects in the body, and these shapes can be (and are) changed by metabolic processes.

I did a quick check, and aspartame is compose of two amino acids and a methanol molecule. Methanol is toxic, and so are its metabolic successors. The amount necessary to be toxic is debatable, and the dose a person receives will be a function of body weight and intake, but those are unknowns to be concerned about.

We benefit greatly from chemicals. Early in my career I learned that, while the link between some certain chemicals and certain effects is undeniable, we benefit when good chemicals are used in responsible ways. In one sense, cancer is a post-reproductive age disease (not selected against during evolution), and we have the luxury of living long enough to die from it because we live in the chemical age. There has always been cancer and heart disease, but we live long enough now to die from them in large part because of chemicals (medicines (esp antibiotics), fertilizers, pesticides, sanitizers).

The real battle is with irresponsible and profit-driven misuse of chemicals, which includes ineffective regulation.

So many medications work, but we don't know why. Many of the common antidepressants are selective serotonin inhibitors that are "believed to work" by increasing serotonin levels.

Statins reduce cholesterol levels by interfering with a major metabolic pathway, without any concern for the fact that cholesterol is correlated with but not proven to cause atherosclerosis, or what other important bodily functions will be affected by interrupting that metabolic pathway.

We are guinea pigs.

Hehe

We'd literally be nothing without them :D

I am afraid I don't agree with your statement about pesticides and fertilizers being the reason we live long enough to die of cancer and heart disease. However, everything else you said here I fully agree with - and so does this guy: http://www.ted.com/talks/david_agus_a_new_strategy_in_the_war_on_cancer.html.

upon agriculture that uses pesticides and fertilizers. The human population is now too large to be supported by pre-industrial agriculture. The impact of our population on other species, by habitat loss, would be even greater if we abandoned genetically modified corn, "Roundup Ready corn and soybeans," and the chemicals required to grow them.

If I wrote specifically that pesticides and fertilizers were the reason we live long enough to die of cancer, then I was incorrect. They are part of a "chemical age" that has increased longevity.

There is another fundamental truth, and that is that we really have no idea what the individual, additive, and synergistic effects of all of these chemicals are. We simply don't have the money or technology to find out, except by trial and error. We didn't even know that chlorinated (halogenated) organic chemicals were building up in the environment until James Lovelock invented a device called an "electron capture detector" that allowed us to discover that the stuff was accumulating in the biomass and in the sediments at the bottom of the oceans.

My education is in biology and environmental engineering. For a number of years, my primary responsibilities have included consulting with executive leadership regarding the environmental implications of potential investments. I also am responsible for chemical safety for all of our employees. This is an important field of study for me. I'm not a scientist with a PhD, but I am probably better informed about this subject than most people have the time to be.

My family minimizes the use of chemicals. I've chosen to refuse prescription medications that have unknown mechanisms of action, or that I believe have side effects worse than the symptoms they treat, or that alter metabolic pathways that sound kind of important to me. We don't cook in plastic. We don't use pesticides. We don't buy any toys, cooking utensils, or foods made in China (in spite of claims to the contrary, their consumer protection system sucks. It's like our Homeland Security system--it finds out about everything bad as it happens; it prevents nothing.)

we cannot support current population without genetically modified crops and pesticides then the problem is too many people, not not enough chemicals. Because these chemical methods are not good for the long term. They are killing our topsoils and aquifers among other problems.

I for one believe current production could be maintained with organic farming, with all the recent technological advances in that area, things like crop rotation and using natural methods to control pests.

Pharmaceuticals are a giant scam, they kill more people than illegal drugs and there are many natural substances that do a better job. I have a feeling there are parallels in the chemical pesticide fertilizer industry, there are viable alternatives, the big corps just don't make as much money on them.

the acreage required. It's been years since I did the math, but I think Bjorm Lomberg had a good discussion in "The Skeptical Environmentalist." He also argued that population wasn't a problem, it's a value judgement, and we just had to decide what we value. Do we want large amounts of undisturbed land, like where I live in Alaska, or do we want everything under cultivation, like where I lived in Nebraska for a year?

And the funny thing is, crop rotation isn't new. Cycling between nitrogen fixing and nitrogen scavenging crops has been around a long time. People just stopped doing it because fertilizers made it unnecessary.

One huge thing that would help reduce the acres required to support the human population is eating lower in the food web. Eating herbivores has advantages, but meat eaters require more acreage to support them.

""People just stopped doing it because fertilizers made it unnecessary.""

but that ignores the total cost, especially downstream costs

""but meat eaters require more acreage to support them.""

ding ding ding ding, we have a winner

The methanol by product of the quantity of aspartame in food is less than the natural levels of methanol in many natural foods.

While it is a natural amino acid -- our bodies produce it -- aspartate is probably responsible for most side effects. It is a neurotransmitter similar to glutamate (what gives people headaches with MSG), though weaker. I would imagine that it primarily affects those people that are very sensitive to MSG in terms of side effects.

Like the ones you eat in your food. Even if you're a vegetarian.

There are four major classes of biological molecules: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids
That proteins and polymers of amino acids linked end-to-end, carboxyl group to amino group
And as a former instructor of biotechnology I understand metabolic pathways fairly well

And I understand that aspartame doesn't exist in nature.

then you'll understand that aspartame is rapidly metabolized to molecules that do exist in nature and are present in the human body at significant concentrations.

is just like fluoride, it's a neurotoxin

aspartame is especially bad when heated. Like above 108F, like when they store cans of coke or if you use it to sweeten a hot coffee or tea. When heated it turns to 3 kinds of acid.

It's possibly true if the aspartame is not heated. When it is heated, as in the back of a tractor trailer on a hot summer day, the aspartame degrades into wood alcohol which is metabolized differently. Wood alcohol turns into formaldehyde when ingested. I believe this is the reason aspartame was only allowed in powdered form when it first came out. Later, the FDA decided a little wood alcohol poisoning never hurt anyone, so they ok'd it for use in liquids. So every soda sweetened with aspartame turns into a do it yourself embalming kit if it's been heated.

how warm does aspartame need to be to be dangerous? :shrug:

but that's way low if you're using it in tea or coffee which is usually around 130f to 150f when you add sweetener.

damn, that's hot.

Good point on the boiling water used to make coffee or tea... and then there's all the people who make or reheat theirs in the microwave.

Also switched from Diet Coke (lots of it) to ice tea that I brew myself and sweeten with stevia.

Besides the health benefits, I believe my new approach is much greener. Rather than having all that liquid transported to me in aluminum cans, I use water from the tap plus tea bags -- a much more efficient and less wasteful solution.

this is the problem with relying on a market motivated by greed. Human being are considered consumers(not humans), therefore changing the name of a poisonous product is justified in the name of a free market. The perfect excuse for sociopaths.

"Let the markets decide, the government interferes too much!"... yah, with your sociopathic business practices that make people sick!

According to some dick heads who post at Wikipedia, if you think Apspartame is bad for you, in the amounts found in products being sold to children and adults, you must be a conspiracy theorist.

http://www.aminosweet.info/

AminoSweet is a low calorie sweetener that tastes exactly like sugar. It is made from two building blocks of protein just like those found naturally in many everyday foods such as meat, fish, cheese, eggs and milk. AminoSweet is digested by the body in exactly the same way as these other protein foods and so does not bring anything new to the diet.

............

Don't believe it! This is something that has not been studied enough! I was told way back in the 1980's by a nurse that worked for one of the main Dr's doing research on Aspartame that it is carcinogen and they were not telling the truth! After all you just have to see that Rummy was involved in it to beware!

Check this out!

http://www.soundandfury.tv/pages/rumsfeld.html

..............

:argh:

It'll say aspartame right on the ingredients label, just as it does on the cheery blue NutraSweet boxes already on your supermarket shelves and in the convenient blue packets by the coffee machine at your convenience store or coffee shop.

This is a friggin' brand name, people.

don't understand?

A rather large range of amino acids are neuro-active and neurotoxic in some way.

As long as the dose is kept at reasonable levels our body is designed to easily handle it since it is a basic part of our diet.

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I don't even use the shit -- it takes horrible! I like regular old everyday sugar.

What does any of this have to do with the name issue? That's the topic of discussion here. The OP made an inaccurate claim and some of us attempted to correct him. You've gone off on some unrelated tangent.

I will be checking for AminoSweet.

A rotten apple by any other name is
still a rotten apple.

K&R

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Fucking sneaky bastards. A turds a turd no matter if you call it a rose or not.

other names for MSG. Anyone know what those name are?

That's the Japanese word for it. There have been several brand names of this ubiquitous chemical over the years.

Accent Seasoning is a popular brand name for MSG.

Kind of like renaming Blackwater to Xe or rebranding the Republican Party to the Tea Party…
That which destroys will simply be marketed as something else for a fresh start with PR. It is the business model for an under-regulated or unregulated free market.

Several others have mentioned this, but it's obvious from the ignorance on this thread that it needs to be mentioned again: aspartame is the underlying substance while Aminosweet is a brand name used to market the product. On a list of ingredients, aspartame will still be used.

Jesus, if I had a nickel for every one of these hysteria-inducing chain emails that get passed on to me, I'd make a couple extra bucks a day.

Amazing how popular stupidity like this is.

Sid

The way things are going, I'm going to die from acute hyperbole poisoning.

Stevia has been in use in South America for centuries and in Japan for decades without ill effect, it's a natural herb.

I assure you, as soon as a company with revenues > $100M is the one selling it, there will be all sorts of stories about vague 'toxins' and terrible side effects.

Just like with every other food additive that has ever been mass-produced. The ones about food coloring from the 50s are highly entertaining.

If I want to sweeten something, I use sugar. Plain old granulated sugar, at 15 calories per level teaspoonful.

I've had the same five-pound bag of granulated sugar for over five years. Looks like it'll last another five.

I don't drink sweet beverages. If I did, though, I'd choose ones sweetened with sugar.

It is a natural herb.

And white sugar could be considered artificial, once it has been bleached all the "natural" has been killed out of it.

my granddaughter. my great granddaughter wanted some fruit salad. she asked her mom if she could use what daddy puts in his coffee. my granddaughter said "no -- i'd rather you put a little sugar on it". i asked what he used in his coffee. she said "equal".

aspartame is worse when it's heated

thanks for the heads up!

:puke:

(Stupid new brand name, BTW.)

and I am glad to keep one step ahead of the manufacturers of these chemically produced food items.

And yep, for those of you saying this is only a branding name, just watch, the products that use aspartame will be touting on their labels soon "NOW, WITH AMINO SWEET" , as a pathetic ploy to get some folks to go, "Hey, no aspartame!!"

Gee, the "MMR vaccine causes autism" BS gets smacked down then suddenly this BS pops up again. Christ, it's like Whack-the-Mole.

I hate Aspartame (It tastes nasty and makes me crave sugar, I prefer Splenda), but it's not poison.

Leave off the MMR crap; that's not the issue. The issue is that aspartame is a gross chemical that DOES cause adverse reactions in plenty of people. How is that hysteria-mongering?

Like MMR vaccines and fluoride.

Plus the whole story of the OP is wrong.

So you're calling a number of individuals who suffer from an adverse reaction to aspartame liars? Nice.

If they don't like it, they should stop making things up.

:P

A nice catch-all when you don't have any better input to provide. And classy to boot.

Had them for years as a heavy aspartame user.
Doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong, but said to carry my EKG results in my wallet "just in case".
Stopped using Aspartame. Palpitations stopped within a few days.
EKG now normal.

Call that "woo woo" if you want. I couldn't care less.

Will do.

A rose by any other name ...

Ask it again it'll tell you the same.

even though Kimblerly-Clark calls it Kleenex, and Kruger calls it Scotties, a Proctor & Gamble calls it Puffs.

As many others in this thread have pointed out, AminoSweet is a brand name of aspartame.

Sid