A cautionary tale.

[Ken S.]

First I would like to convey I am not looking for sympathy, I am just pointing out facts.

Yesterday I was contacted by my brother/nephew (Born to my sister but adopted by my parents due to the fact my sister was/is an unfit mother) after over three years of no contact from them.

I just found out that my father is dying of cirrhosis of the liver. He has never been a drinker of alcohol but has drank diet pepsi daily (Roughly two liters a day) since it first came out in 1981. I am not prone to conspiracy theories but have to take what I researched in the past few hours as truth.

The following link although lengthy explains it better than I ever could. Aspartame - Rumsfeld's Bioweapon Legacy I post this in the hopes that others will gain knowledge from it and avoid the mistakes my father made.

I am very happy that my biological family has come back into my life but saddened by the circumstances in which it happened.

My love and best wishes sincerely go out to this community in hopes it helped anyone.

 

[sidd851]

First I would like to convey I am not looking for symphony, I am just pointing out facts.
Yesterday I was contacted by my brother/nephew (Born to my sister but adopted by my parents due to the fact my sister was/is an unfit mother) after over three years of no contact from them. I just found out that my father is dying of cirrhosis of the liver. He has never been a drinker of alcohol but has drank diet pepsi daily (Roughly two liters a day) since it first came out in 1981. I am not prone to conspiracy theories but have to take what I researched in the past few hours as truth. The following link although lengthy explains it better than I ever could. Aspartame - Rumsfeld's Bioweapon Legacy I post this in the hopes that others will gain knowledge from it and avoid the mistakes my father made. I am very happy that my biological family has come back into my life but saddened by the circumstances in which it happened.
My love and best wishes sincerely go out to this community in hopes it helped anyone.

When diet pepsi came out in '81, my aunt and uncle resolved to never again drink sugar in an effort to manage their weight.
In '82-83, my aunt went to the dr for treatment of migraine headaches, which finally became 24/7 migraine.

Despite treatment, scans, bloodwork, and every diagnostic, the cause could not be determined.

She lived in agony for 20+ years.

Flash forward to 2002-2003-ish.

While surfing the net, she happened on an article about phenylketonurics, aspartame, and it's toxicity and the accompanying migraines.
She stopped using anything diet, and, in two days was migraine-free.

For the first time in 20+ years.

Aspartame is toxic.

I am sorry for your family's suffering.

May you be well.

sidd

 

[tree]

I used aspartame for a couple years, but gave it up because I didn't like
the weird feeling it made in the back of my throat, and I made sounds
like a cat puking up a furball to get rid of the feeling....

 

[Stardust Parade]

I'm sorry to hear that Ken
I've give up diet soda for plain sparkling water. Once in a great while I'll have a diet Pepsi though.

 

[Major Tom]

My dad is also dying of cancer and cirrhosis. They just found another tumor in his liver. Before last year, I didn't speak to him in 10 years, I feel a little guilty about it. My dad is a heavy drinker, so can't blame diet sodas.
I wish you the best and hope that you are ok.

 

[Pats]

Very sorry for what you are having to go through with your dad.

 

[Fino]

My boss got a hole in something from drinking a can of that everyday. I forgot where.. stomach? Doesn't matter.

My mom was big on diet coke for a while when I was a kid, then all this stuff came up in the media about it being even worse than regular soda and making people fat and causing cancer and such. She stopped drinking it then.

It also tastes like it does those things, but I'm also just sensitive to taste.

I didn't know it was aspartame that was the problem, though. I don't know what I thought. Probably nothing!

 

[Graphin]

I get diarrea and feel bad with aspartame, may be caused by it also being a laxative

 

[Progster]

I avoid diet drinks or any kind of pop/soda/fizzy drink like the plague. If I want to sweeten my tea, I put half a spoonful of honey in it.

 

[Mary Terry]

I'm sorry to hear about your father. I hope he gets good medical treatment and fully recovers.

I haven't drunk a Coke or any kind of soft drink since about 1972 when I got addicted to Tabb which was the first sugar-free cola. There was so much caffeine in Tabb that I got headaches if I didn't drink several every day. After I quit, I felt infinitely better. These days, if I'm sick, I'll sip on some ginger ale, less than 6 ounces is plenty.

As poorly regulated as the food industry is in the US, the cosmetic industry is even worse. We have no real way of knowing what chemicals are in shampoo, toothpaste, moisturizers, makeup, deoderant, sunscreens, etc. Johnson & Johnson has major liability exposure for their talcum powder which allegedly contained asbestos and caused ovarian cancer. Caveat emptor!

 

[Mary Terry]

I avoid diet drinks or any kind of pop/soda/fizzy drink like the plague. If I want to sweeten my tea, I put half a spoonful of honey in it.

I use honey or agave syrup to sweeten teas, too.

 

[Ken S.]

I was reading if you are going to use an artificial sweetener Stevia is the safest. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen.

 

[oregano]

Aspartame is just the tip of the iceberg. Soda drinks in the US are based on something called High Fructose Corn Syrup. A Coca Cola bottle has almost 95% or so HFCS. HFCS is LITERALLY a poison, they have to add additives to it during manufacturing so it won't kill people outright. I remember reading on a forum about a woman who worked in a bottling plant and how the HFCS barrels were marked with a skull and crossbones symbol which stands for a deadly poison in the US, and the contents had to be handled by specially trained workers in protective gear. Also, HFCS is considered non-Kosher, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, the organization that rules on Kosher food standards in the US, has ruled that HFCS is not food and thus can never be Kosher. My own grandmother ruined her stomach in the 70s by drinking too much "one calorie diet soda", and while she lived until 2006 she had a very limited diet due to damage to her digestive tract's ability to process food. I personally drink lemonade in restaurants, but even then I am careful since some "lemonade" is disguised HFCS. At home I drink water and some apple juice.

 

[Ken S.]

@oregano I stopped drinking any type of carbonated beverage over 20 years ago.I drink mostly iced tea. I make it by the gallon & only use 1/3 cup sugar. I don't eat in restaurants order to go. That is only once to twice a month.