Aspartame: Harmful or Urban Legend?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the safety of Aspartame, a widely used artificial sweetener. Participants express conflicting views, with some citing concerns over potential neuro-degenerative diseases, nausea, and blindness, while others dismiss these claims as urban legends. Two websites are referenced: one supporting Aspartame (http://www.aspartame.org) and another presenting a critical perspective (http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is mentioned as a source of information, though skepticism about its reliability is noted.

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Nebula
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I've heard mixed opinions on this. I've heard it causes all sorts of nuero-degenerative diseases and nausea and blindness among others. And I’ve also heard its all just a big urban legend. Could someone please clarify this for me? Thanks.
 
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Originally posted by Nebula
I've heard mixed opinions on this. I've heard it causes all sorts of nuero-degenerative diseases and nausea and blindness among others. And I’ve also heard its all just a big urban legend. Could someone please clarify this for me? Thanks.

I found a couple of sites with info about Aspartame.
This one came from About is seems mostly pro-Aspartame:
http://www.aspartame.org/?source=Overture

This one offers an holistic view - more of a con-Aspartame site:
[PLAIN]http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/[/URL]

It seems pretty controversial. The Food & Drug Admin. site has search capabilities and there are a lot of links on that page regarding it. I would be leery of their info, tho. It IS the gov't and they have to cover their butts. (fda.COM is NOT their website! It is fda.gov.) It looks pretty much like you'll just have to decide on your own whether or not you think it is safe. I tend to stay away from artificial ANYTHING.
 
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