Can Diet Coke Kill You?
According to a UK documentary, “Sweet Misery,” the National Cancer Institute identified a significant and impressive increase in brain cancer starting in about 1984. Why did brain cancer shoot up? It looks like it is because of articial sweeteners such as those found in diet drinks and food!
- » See also: Organic, Shaken and Stirred: New Book from Paul Abercrombie Offers Eco Cocktail Recipes
- » Get Eat. Drink. Better. by RSS or sign up by email.
Some scientists identified that in 1983 humans began consuming something never before consumed by humans — aspartame, a chemically created substance acting as a sugar alternative — and this is the cause of the big increase in brain cancer. This is an artificial sweetener used in diet drinks, food, and even on the table in most restaurants (i.e. NutraSweet, Crystallite, Equal).
Increase in Aspartame, Increase in Brain Cancer
According to the documentary, in 1984, one year after its introduction, 6.9 million pounds of aspartame were consumed by Americans. In the next year, that even doubled. It continued increasing into the ’90s. This is all at the same time that brain cancer was increasing the most.
From 1984-1987, other cancers outside the brain basically remained the same or declined. However, brain cancer rates shot up.
The parallels are undeniable and chilling, if you look at the brain cancer issue alone.
Beyond the scientific research, by 1988, over 80% of food and additive complaints volunteered to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were concerning aspartame products. The complaints were not as serious as “I have brain cancer,” perhaps, but it was another sign that something was wrong.
The effects of aspartame can be varied, but the majority of the issues are neurological and relating to the brain.
Why does aspartame have this effect?
Scientists think that it is because 10% of the chemical substance, after congestion, becomes free methyl alcohol (wood alcohol), a poison. As one scientist in the film states, it is a “real poison.” Another says, “the poisonous effect of methyl alcohol and its methyl esters are well-known.” Even small amounts of this poison can lead to blindness and death. The “miniscule” amounts in our common foods and drinks seem to lead to cancer.
Bottom line — maybe it’s time to cut artificial sweeteners out of your diet!
Scientists confirmed that the increase in brain cancers is not due to technological advancements that made diagnosing brain cancer easier and it is not a result of changes in disease classifications.
Image Credit: niallkennedy via flickr under a Creative Commons license
This is interesting and certainly compelling. However, you can’t really say that cancer “seems” to be “clearly” due to artificial sweeteners - it either “seems” that way (which it does), meaning that we can’t say for sure, or it “clearly” is, meaning that scientific consensus says it is (right now it doesn’t).
Having said that, I think I’m going to start cutting back on my gum chewing!
Um, I’m a little confused…. I looked up the National cancer Institute website factsheet:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/risk/aspartame
and what you and they say is contradictory… I mean, maybe I have brain cancer and am reading it wrong but… I don’t eat artificial sweetners
Don’t throw all artificial sweeteners under the bus because aspartame is bad.
Sacharine is a real boon to diabetics and others who need to lower their sugar consumption and over the last 90+ years of use it has been shown to be relatively benign.
A lot of people use it as a spice.
Remember, aspartame is only one of a number of artificial sweetener choices.
I always worry when writers make such a large ill-considered leap.
So the basis of this, er, “argument”, is a supposed correlation between the introduction of Aspartame and an increase in the incidence of brain cancer?
Those who are scientifically literate understand of course that correlation does not equal causation.
Anyway, the National Cancer Institute rejects the claimed correlation, noting that the increase began 8 years before the introduction of Aspartame and “occurred primarily in people age 70 and older, a group that was not exposed to the highest doses of aspartame since its introduction.” http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/artificial-sweeteners
Here is the most recent National Cancer Institute report on aspartame and cancer. The author didn’t include this report that shows no link to cancer. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/risk/aspartame
“Scientists think that it is because 10% of the chemical substance, after congestion, becomes free methyl alcohol (wood alcohol), a poison.”
congestion? or digestion?
The National Cancer Institute site (www.cancer.gov) has no news articles reflecting any issues with artificial sweeteners in the past 10 years. Why draw a correlation in your headline between the NCI and an independent documentary done by someone in the UK about the FDA’s approval process of Aspartame? You usually are more accurate than this.
It is so important that information like this is brought up to the public for consideration and further research. The incidence of cancer continues to grow, the toxicity involved in curing cancer as well as the cost of trying to cure cancer is also very troublesome. I thank you for writing this article and allowing others to consider better choices for better health.
Thank you for the comments.
@the people referencing the NCI webpages: thank you for including this info. i don’t know which research is more accurate, but this certainly brings more into the whole debate.
@cokeaddict: “after being swallowed”
@Jen B: thank you. to be honest, i was just citing the video here and didn’t go further into their sources. i trusted they were correct. i’m not sure where the info came from, but imagine they got it from somewhere (maybe in past NCI documents). thank you and good points. i adjusted the headline to make it more clear
@Yolanda: thank you
i agree. thank you
@ people referencing the NCI pages: check out the comment by Mark on the Yahoo!Buzz page — http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/1:green_options321:3e44a56610fa6902a0696cef39bcb060/Diet-Coke-Can-Kill-You;_ylt=AtKVrf8WwltYSYyaBwj1rsuDfNdF — and research the political history of aspartame…