Aspartame Makes You Hungry!

Do you love diet soda or diet iced tea? What about fat-free, low-carb yogurt or sugar-free gelatin? How about sugar-free ice cream and cookies? These products might taste good to you – AND you may feel that you are saving your hips from some unwanted additional pounds, but studies show that these products are just bad for you.

While those products might taste good and be less filling (or was that a beer?), M.D. Anderson Cancer Center neurologist in the news is warning that some of them may not be good for you.

This is a very heated topic that the food industry does not like to discuss. Most likely we will receive emails from people who do not agree with our opinion when this article runs. However, we have seen many instances where patients come to us with horrible medical problems, and come to find out when digging deeper into their medical and dietary histories, they were consuming large quantities of these foods that were actually contributing to their medical problems.

Many of these sugar-free products contain loads of chemicals. Have you ever looked at the labels? It’s amazing. Seriously, it’s hard to discern what the food actually is. One of the times Nicole and I were meeting with our food photographer, Chef Steve, who was helping us with some of the photos for our book, The Hauser Diet: A Fresh Look at Healthy Living, he made the statement that sugar-free, fat-free foods are mislabeled. They are not really food. They are chemicals. These things were not meant to be processed by the body. We went on to discuss how it is better for the body to consume one scoop of a natural ice cream made from real ingredients, than a whole carton of fat-free, sugar-free ice cream. Those chemical toxins are far worse for your body than natural cream!

One of the many ingredients contained in these types of products is aspartame – "the blue packet of sweetener on your restaurant table." Dr. Arthur Forman was quoted by News 2 Houston as saying, "I think there's enough evidence to suggest this is not a good thing for folks." That’s putting in mildly! Dr. Forman believes that aspartame may cause several serious problems, such as headaches to seizures and irritability to birth defects, according to the article. He went on to say that some studies, including one by Dr. John Olney from Washington University, shows that aspartame may be linked to brain tumors.

If that is not bad enough, one of the least known side effects, ironic as it is, is that aspartame, which is found in many diet foods, may actually increase your appetite.

We see many patients at Caring Medical who find that diet soda stimulates their appetites. In fact, they report that sometimes they try to just drink diet soda all day when dieting, but that they find themselves reaching for the potato chips or making a mad dash to the vending machines when they do this! Aspartame contains an amino acid called phenylalanine, which causes insulin to be released, triggering hunger.

Some people are allergic to phenylalanine and can suffer brain damage and other complications if they take it. Nicole had a patient recently tell her that she knows all about the dangers of artificial sweeteners. She found out the hard way – she suffered from a seizure!

Aspartame also contains aspartic acid and methanol, which breaks down to formaldehyde in the body. There are some serious potential side effects out there. It’s not worth the risk for anyone! Get ready, we are about to get on our soap box. Artificial sweeteners are marketed with the promise of weight control, and the vast majority of people who consume them do so to either lose or avoid gaining weight. This is NOT the way to do it. As we stated earlier, our bodies were not meant to process all of those excess chemicals. Why ingest something that is potentially harmful!? We are just like you. We like the taste of Diet Coke just as much as anyone else. Who wants to eat pizza with a glass of water? Well, chances are, most of you shouldn’t be eating that much pizza anyway!

From 1960 to l976, there was virtually no change in the number of Americans who were overweight: (about 24% of Americans). However, from the mid 80’s to present, this number has more than doubled to 54 percent! This coincides with the massive infusion of non-caloric chemical sweeteners and sugar-free "diet" foods that are eaten by close to three-quarters of the adult population. We are convinced that continued acceptance of the most popular of these artificial sweeteners, aspartame, plays a significant role in our current weight problems. We have seen that aspartame accomplishes far from helping us lose weight. We see patients who actually gain weight! Aspartame has been shown to increase appetite, especially cravings for sweets. Seriously! Think about that! You are consuming "diet" products that actually help you gain inches to your hips and waistline! Let alone the fact that aspartame has serious health risks.

Bottom line: We recommend that you avoid foods containing significant amounts of chemicals, particularly aspartame. If you want to avoid aspartame, read your labels. You would be surprised where you will find it (along with other chemical sweeteners). Many products contain it, including toothpaste, breath mints, chewing gum, laxatives, children's vitamins, along with the diet food and beverages.

If you are consuming "diet" products in order to lose weight or maintain weight, we can help you find a diet and exercise plan that is right for you. We can give you suggestions for better food choices without having to consume foods containing artificial sweeteners. You’ll be pleasantly surprised! Give us a call!