Dairy Industry Wants to Put Aspartame in Milk

[The Straight Story]

Dairy Industry Wants to Put Aspartame in Milk

WASHINGTON (CN) - Dairy industry groups have asked the Food and Drug Administration to be able to put artificial sweeteners in milk, and not change the label, claiming that it is so consumers can "more easily identify its overall nutritional value".
Read Courthouse News' Environmental Law Review.

The Food and Drug Administration is asking for data related to those sweeteners.

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) filed a petition in 2009 requesting that the FDA amend its standard of identity for milk.

The petition asked the agency to allow the use of "any safe and suitable" sweetener for milk and asked to amend the standards of identity for 17 other milk and cream products.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/02/21/55075.htm

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Oh FUCK no!

How can they even think such a dumb thing?

[AverageMe]

59. Read the article, it is flavored milk

such as chocolate milk, which now can only be sweetened with sugar.

[AverageMe]

65. Text from the petition asking for this

IDFA and NMPF request their proposed amendments to the milk standard of identity to allow optional characterizing flavoring ingredients used in milk (e.g., chocolate flavoring added to milk) to be sweetened with any safe and suitable sweetener—including non-nutritive sweeteners such as aspartame. IDFA and NMPF state that the proposed amendments would promote more healthful eating practices and reduce childhood obesity by providing for lower-calorie flavored milk products. They state that lower-calorie flavored milk would particularly benefit school children who, according to IDFA and NMPF, are more inclined to drink flavored milk than unflavored milk at school. As further support for the petition, IDFA and NMPF state that the proposed amendments would assist in meeting several initiatives aimed at improving the nutrition and health profile of food served in the nation's schools. Those initiatives include state-level programs designed to limit the quantity of sugar served to children during the school day. Finally, IDFA and NMPF argue that the proposed amendments to the milk standard of identity would promote honesty and fair dealing in the marketplace and are therefore appropriate under section 401 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 341).

[elleng]

126. Fine, IF they FIND ANY SAFE AND SUITABLE SWEETENER

OTHER than pure cane or beet sugar!

[tpsbmam]

101. It's more than that.....it's products (like yogurt) that parents regularly feed children....

including toddlers, etc.

Those products include sweetened condensed milk, whipping cream, yogurt and eggnog, which the groups say should be allowed to have "safe and suitable" sweeteners.

Though the FDA may have approved it for children, I know MANY, MANY parents who will not feed their children food/drinks that contain artificial sweeteners. What a damn shame to remove that healthy food from the food lists of parents who are conscientious about feeding their kids natural foods. I support those parents and don't support allowing artificial ingredients to basic foods eaten across a wide spectrum of age groups, particularly if it's done without labeling.

I think the jury is still iffy when it comes to the safety of artificial sweeteners for toddlers & young children. I appreciate the need to control sugar intake given the incidence of obesity in American children, but I don't think aspartame in BASIC dairy products like yogurt is the way to achieve it. If it was limited to things like eggnog & flavored milk......maybe.....but not basic products like whipping cream & yogurt.

[rhett o rick]

119. So does that mean you agree with them or no? nm

[pnwmom]

120. So what? People should be able to decide whether they will accept aspartame

instead of sugar. (I wouldn't because it gives me migraines.)

I have no objection as long as everything is labeled. But they're trying to slip this in without labeling, and that's unfair to consumers.

[OwnedByCats]

134. Me too ... I avoid aspartame like the plague

I'm a regular sufferer of headaches and migraines and the type of migraine that I get is without the aura. However, if I consume even one diet drink sweetened with aspartame I end up with auras and visual disturbances and worse pain than normal. I've had some pretty bad migraines in my time, but those caused by aspartame is enough to bring me to my knees. It took me a little while to work this out because I had no idea what was causing it. I did not drink diet regularly, only when I was stuck with that or nothing, so these migraines were occasional. I put two and two together, then I read it can cause migraines/headaches - those being the most common side effects. I have not had a diet drink (or anything else with aspartame) in over 15 years. Funny enough, I haven't had one of those migraines since either.

For whatever reason, aspartame doesn't like me and I don't like it. It tastes fricken awful to me anyway. Some say it's poison, others say it's fine. All I know is that I won't be touching it again.

But yeah, as you said, as long as it's labeled so people can make an informed choice. I would hate to get sucker punched with that and not know it. Although the taste is so foul to me I'd probably taste it anyway, but still. Label it if they're going to use it in products.

[Berlum]

135. It's occultism (R)

Big Food, Inc. (R) is deliberately occulting lots of the crap they put in our food, and also occulting many of the crappy weird inhumane and mutant ways they have of producing it on an industrial scale.

[loudsue]

143. It gives me migraines, too, and general extreme joint pain.

That shit is poison. I NEVER buy anything that has aspartame listed in the ingredients. It is my RIGHT not to poison my body, and to be informed enough so that I don't have to.

[Marrah_G]

2. WTF?

I'm glad I switched to organic milk

[Fawke Em]

3. Why?

Milk is sweet enough, already.

In fact, when I am on a no- or low-carb diet, I often drink a 4 oz glass in place of a sweet dessert!

[LiberalFighter]

58. I don't want my milk to taste sweet. I want it the way it is!

[Fawke Em]

70. Exactly my point.

Milk, to me, is sweet enough already. It doesn't need to be any sweeter! I want it the way it is, too!

[uppityperson]

86. It is only for milk that already contains sugar, choc milk, whipped cream, eggnog, etc.

[Xithras]

102. Exactly. They want to start offering low calorie diet dairy foods.

Right now, flavored dairy products are required to use natural sugars, which have higher calorie counts. They want to start offering lower calorie chocolate milk, and can't do so because of the current restrictions.

[uppityperson]

103. FEW READ BEYOND THE HEADLINE SINCE IT IS ONLY FOR ALREADY SUGARED MILK PRODUCTS

sorry for yelling, hoping someone might read this and see what they are talking about. At first I was appalled but reading the article, whatever. I do NOT like aspartame and have had issue with it in yogurt, but I think they should be allowed to use it rather than sugar.

[pnwmom]

122. BUT THEY DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO CHANGE THE LABEL

I have no objection to allowing artificial sweeteners as long as they are clearly identified.

[uppityperson]

127. THEY NEED TO BE ID'D EASILY I AGREE

I bought some yogurt, got a headache so looked and little letters was aspartame. It needs to be easily identified, like in all other foods.

[KittyWampus]

130. There are several low calorie/glycemic alternatives to aspartame which some people are allergic to.

Not arguing with you… just saying

[pnwmom]

121. It still should be labeled, so people who need to avoid aspartame

or sugar can act appropriately.

[montanacowboy]

4. And What would be the reason for this?

whose cockeyed idea is this? Is the Aspartame industry needing $$? This just beats it all, I cannot believe it. Let's start feeding kids Aspartame as young as possible right? fucking goddamn idiots

[kentauros]

14. My guess for their reasoning

is to get people to drink more milk, especially children in school.

I can't link youtube videos from work, but you can look up Jamie Oliver's TED Talk videos about school lunches. One focus of his are the sweetened milks served to the children. His Food Revolution series also show just how far the corporations have their fingers in the schools' lunch programs.

[DireStrike]

47. Jesus christ. I drank milk every day in school because that's all there was!

Take the fucking soda machines out of schools and the problem is solved.

[kentauros]

51. It goes beyond soda machines, though.

If you haven't seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, please do. I think the first one is on hulu.com (maybe youtube, too.) It takes place in a little town in West Virginia, whereas his second series has him taking on the L.A. School District.

In both series, sweetened and flavored milks (usually chocolate, "strawberry" and vanilla) are the "milks" given to the kids. The kids don't choose the unflavored milk even when offered (because they're hooked on the sugar.)

[DireStrike]

109. So aspartame is the solution? wow...

You'd think they would realize they could just stop offering the other milk....

Nobody is gonna take aspartame milk over chocolate milk anyway.

[kentauros]

114. As I understand the issue with this story

is that they want to add the aspartame without telling anyone it's in there. So, the milk could be labeled as "regular" or whatever, and there'd be no mention of it in the ingredients list. And I doubt they would stop with "unsweetened" milk. More than likely, they want to add it to the sweetened milks as well. That way, their "product" is in all choices.

[HappyMe]

5. Why?

The aspartame poison people going broke?

Fuck that, milk is good the way it is.

[OwnedByCats]

137. How awful

Aspartame in milk

[get the red out]

6. Am I supposed to want my milk "sweetened"?

Why?

[patrice]

34. K&R for the power of QUESTIONS!!!

[Sienna86]

7. Here's a link for comments: let the FDA know what you think

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/02/20/2013-03835/flavored-milk-petition-to-amend-the-standard-of-identity-for-milk-and-17-additional-dairy-products

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

69. If people posting here really care, let the FDA know your feelings.

Don't just bitch to one-another, fight back!

[October]

92. I will, and I do. It's just exhausting at times because it's every day 24/7 of this bullshit.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

95. Yeah I know, seems like the will of the corporation always wins,

over the will of the people.

[October]

145. It does.

Is it me, or does it seem like more than ever, lately?

[santamargarita]

8. Always looking for new ways to poison us.

[October]

91. Really. Can't believe people are 'defending' it with "...it's for already sweetened milks..."

So what! I don't want Aspartame in my chocolate milk either.

[santamargarita]

100. I'm retired from the airlines after 42 Years in the

air and the company would not allow Aspartame on the property. Pilots were not allowed to use it. There were warning signs by the coffee machine.

[October]

144. Really?

Married to a pilot and former stew here.

I have never seen such warnings. Good to know! But, why this is even in every gum, mint, etc., is beyond me.

I get an instant headache with this stuff if I accidentally eat it (never planned) -- nothing else has ever done this to me -- just Aspartame. That kinda' freaks me out.

[niyad]

9. "more easily identity its overall nutritional value" by adding a chemical and not telling us?

what in the HELL is the matter with these people?

if that passes, will most definitely have to stay strictly organic for dairy--seriously allergic to aspartame.

[surrealAmerican]

23. Pure doublespeak.

You'd have to be an idiot to believe that.

[grntuscarora]

10. Maybe they need a sweetener

to offset the taste of all the hormones and antibiotics?

[ProfessionalLeftist]

12. that's what I was thinking...

...they want to cover up the taste of some chemical or other substance in it with the sweetener.

[MynameisBlarney]

52. I mean really, when you think about it

milk is pretty disgusting on it's own.

Secretions from the mammary glands of an animal.

Yeah, tastes good ice cold though.
And then there's cheese...and butter....and ice cream.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

11. WTH for?

Milk should not need 'sweetener' unless there's something WRONG with it that it shouldn't be drank anyway!

I don't drink cow's milk myself but even when purchasing almond or soy milk, I buy UNSWEETENED specifically because I don't want damn sweeteners (sugar or artificial) in it.

[kentauros]

16. One of the many reasons I bought a VitaMix blender

was so I could make my own nut milks. I haven't yet made soymilk, but almond milk is pretty simple and easy. And, if you don't want to strain the pulverized meat of the almonds out of the resulting milk, I've discovered I can "thin out" the ratio of almonds to water (one cup almonds to six or eight cups water), and then leave it all in the liquid

[ProfessionalLeftist]

17. Hmmm...wonder if you could make almondmilk

ice cream from that - esp the non-strained stuff? YUM.

[kentauros]

20. You can make "ice cream" with the VitaMix

although I've only ever made "sorbet" and it was yummy!

Basically, you use ice to make the "frozen" treats, as apparent in their recipe for Chocolate Ice Cream.

Here's a vegan recipe for Mango Lychee Soft Serve with the VitaMix

[ProfessionalLeftist]

27. Now I'm hungry!

(and want to buy a vita-mix 'cause I don't have one!)

[kentauros]

29. I bought mine new,

but I could afford it then. They are very expensive (new ones are more then $500!) Find either a refurbished one, a used one (if you can), or look on QVC as they sometimes sell it. There are probably some other places to look for a good price, and I can only think of searching the Cooking & Baking group here.

Alternatively, go to a used restaurant supply store and get a bar blender

[ProfessionalLeftist]

31. Yea just checked the prices (new)

Yikes!

[kentauros]

37. Think of it as a lifetime investment.

I've often told friends there if I were ever burglarized, that they'd be typically stupid to dismiss the "small" appliances and equipment in my kitchen. I've invested more in that part of my home than anywhere else

[ProfessionalLeftist]

68. I know most people who own them swear by them...health benefits, etc.

No doubt worth the investment - even a refurb one. Something to put on my 'wish list'!

[kentauros]

72. They do help for eating better.

I tend to get out of my good habits, yet when I was using my mixer for morning smoothies, my weight was slowly going down. Just need to get back into that, now that where I work has a sink available (no such "perk" at the last job.)

However, if it's too expensive, a good-quality blender can do much of what the VitaMix can, like smoothies and nut milks. The latter might wear it out faster, but at least you can afford it now

[chervilant]

110. My Vitamix

was less than $150 on eBay. It's an older model but it works GREAT! I am thrilled to have it. I have been a Vegan for a year on the 28th, and my Vitamix is essential for my smoothies and for juicing.

[chase48]

42. Almond milk

I have a 400.00 juicer, would that make almond milk , that would take a lot of almonds, wouldn't it?

[kentauros]

43. Yes it would, because you don't "juice" nuts to make milk from them.

As with soy and rice milks, they are blended with water (and sometimes a sweetener, like maple syrup) at a relatively high ratio of water to nuts. Most almond milk recipes I've used were about a cup of raw almonds to four cups of water. My discovery of being able to leave the pulverized almonds in the liquid also meant thinning it out with more water, almost double the initial ratio

[JaneyVee]

13. If you want naturally sweeter milk drink organic milk. Leave aspartame OUT of it!

[ProfessionalLeftist]

18. Drank organic milk before switching to nut and soymilks

It *definitely* tasted better!

[JaneyVee]

19. Yeah, organic milk is ultra-pasteurized to a higher temp (220f) which releases its natural sugars

Which is also why organic milk lasts WAAAY longer than regular milk. I just bought a half-gallon of organic milk that doesn't expire until almost the end of april. The paper packaging helps the preservation as well.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. Do they mean in regular milk or in those flavored ones?

You know, those artificially flavored chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ones they sell so much of now days. Those can't be good for you in the first place and they are artificially sweetened to go along with the artificial flavoring.

[Avalux]

33. If you read the article, would apply to flavored milk, yogurt, cream....

and they're claiming it will help fight childhood obesity, since kids don't like milk unless it's flavored.

Right now, nutritive sweeteners (those with calories) are allowed. Using twisted logic, they're claiming using aspartame will be a benefit. Nevermind the fact that it's an artificial chemical, which although not proven to be harmful as of yet, may be. It gets metabolized by the body (broken down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol) and people with phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot consume it.

I firmly believe our bodies are not meant to metabolize artificial substances of any kind; especially one that, in addition to the gobs of food products it's already in, would now be in milk.

The worst part of this - the industry wants to the FDA to agree they don't have to tell us it's there. Terrifying.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

38. That makes a bit more sense but it's still a bad idea, IMO.

I'm pretty sure aspartame is the one that gives me a headache. If they don't even have to label it, how are consumers such as myself going to figure out what it is that is causing their sudden rash of headaches?

I couldn't get the link to open before, but it seems to be working just fine for me now. I don't know what the deal was.

[HereSince1628]

21. Historically, WI has been pretty uptight about milk quality. This will be interesting to watch

The legislature has never been more pro-business than it is right now, but much of the teahadist base is rural and seemingly sensitive to agriculture interests.

There's a whole section of Wisconsin law (see 97.2x series) that deals with issues of non-misleading labelling of rBGH dairy products.

To me "sweetened" fresh milk sounds a lot like 'sweet fresh milk' and 'sweet cream' and 'sweet creamy butter' which are fairly common advertising phrases for dairy products in this state.

I expect this to generate some sparks around here.

[Kolesar]

22. Aspartame makes me dizzy

Keep away from that stuff

[Avalux]

24. Aspartame is poison. Hell No!

Tricky those fuckers are, claiming that using a non caloric chemical will actually benefit children and reduce obesity. I want to see the research to back up that ridiculous claim. Oh wait....there isn't any.

[davidn3600]

40. According to Snopes.com, there is no study that says aspartame is dangerous to humans

There are a lot of correlational studies, but correlation does not equal causation.

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/aspartame-truth-vs-fiction/

[Avalux]

44. Snopes is correct.

Neither are there clinical trials proving aspartame is completely safe to consume from birth to death. I've read all of the data and I'm very well aware of the food industry and FDA stance on it; aware of the claims that a person would never consume what is considered the upper limit where the substance would then be harmful. But then I also know how pervasive aspartame is in food products on a global scale, and how much money would be lost if it had to be yanked.

For me, methanol is the clincher. I think surveillance data attributing neurological adverse effects to aspartame has been too quickly brushed off as incidental. Although methanol is a by product of some cooked fruits and vegetables, my gut tells me not to eat aspartame. I feel the same way about hfcs, and other artificially manufactured substances. If it doesn't come from the earth naturally, I don't put it in my body.

[JohnyCanuck]

61. Re. the methanol issue.

Dr Woody Monte Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Food Science, University of Arizona, believes the problem with human consumption of methanol from the decomposition of aspertame vs. consumption of methanol as might be found naturally in fruit and vegetables is as follows:

Aspartame is primarily made up of aspartic acid and phenylalanine. The phenylalanine has been synthetically modified to carry a methyl group, which provides the majority of the sweetness.

That phenylalanine methyl bond, called a methyl ester, is very weak, which allows the methyl group on the phenylalanine to easily break off and form methanol. This is in sharp contrast to naturally occurring methanol found in certain fruits and vegetables, where it is firmly bonded to pectin, allowing the methanol to be safely passed through your digestive tract.

snip

Methanol acts as a Trojan horse; it's carried into susceptible tissues in your body, like your brain and bone marrow, where the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzyme converts it into formaldehyde, which wreaks havoc with sensitive proteins and DNA.

All other animals have a protective mechanism that allows methanol to be broken down into harmless formic acid, but according to aspartame expert Dr. Woodrow Monte, there's a major biochemical problem with methanol in humans, because of the difference in how it's metabolized compared to in all other animals. This is why toxicology testing on animals is a flawed model. It doesn't fully apply to humans.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/02/18/aspartame-toxic-effects.aspx?e_cid=20130218_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20130218

[Avalux]

76. Thank you, just as I suspected.

I hadn't read about the specific chemical breakdown, and the methyl ester component. Perfect.

[KittyWampus]

131. Snopes is absolutely NOT correct. Some people are essentially allergic to that crap and others have

reactions to it.

relying on Snopes is like relying on Wiki.

[Avalux]

142. Snopes is correct that no clinical trials have deemed aspartame unsafe.

That is a different matter entirely than people eating the crap and reporting adverse reactions to it. My point is that limited clinical trials claiming aspartame is not harmful, doesn't make it so.

[OwnedByCats]

138. Just because

they say no study has shown it to be dangerous, doesn't make it perfectly safe either. There have been a lot of people who had side effects mysteriously disappear after giving it up completely, myself included.

[veganlush]

25. Milk is for calves, not people

Man is the only mammal that drinks mother's milk into adulthood, and steals it from a enslaved animal to boot! Boycott cruelty people, switch to almond or soy or coconut..

[idwiyo]

41. I tried cow, camel, moose, horse, sheep, and buffalo milk.. One would have to pry that glass of

Buffalo or horse milk out of my cold dead hands and even than I will hunt them from beyond the grave.

BTW only cow milk was from the store but i try to make sure it comes from free range farms only, rest of it was either home produced or came from very small specialised hobby farms.

Sorry animal babies, you are going to share with me. I love milk too BUT am willing to share soy and almond milk with you if you want it.

And I love various sour milk drinks like ayran, shubat, kefir, kumys, yogurt.

[OhioChick]

26. More aspartame side effects revealed - headaches, blurred vision, neurological symptoms and more

Why aspartame is dangerous


75 percent of reported adverse reaction to food additives is attributed to aspartame. Of these reactions, many are serious and include seizures and death. A number of the 90 documented symptoms as reportedly caused by aspartame are headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, rashes, depression, irritability, insomnia, hearing loss, vision problems, loss of taste vertigo and memory loss.

Those who study the adverse effects of aspartame report that the following medical conditions are triggered or worsened by aspartame: brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, mental retardation, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, lymphoma, birth defects, diabetes and fibromyalgia.

And that's not all -- according to Victoria Iness-Brown in her book "My Aspartame Experiment," aspartame is also addictive.

More: http://www.naturalnews.com/035382_aspartame_side_effects_headaches.html

I don't want aspartame in my milk!

[MattBaggins]

71. Natural news is not a legit site

It is pure nonsense and unscientific crap

[OhioChick]

80. Never heard of the site before

Only did a quick search on "aspartame side effects."

Upon searching again, I've found many other sites with similar information related to aspartame.

[OwnedByCats]

140. There are tons of

sources out there that echo your source. Documentaries have been made on it too.

[pnwmom]

123. Aspartame was on a list a neurologist gave me of substances to avoid

because of leg jerking at night. It also can cause migraines in susceptible people.

[KittyWampus]

132. There are a host of issues associated with aspartame. Many subsets of population that must avoid it.

[Ezlivin]

28. And I want anabolic steroids in my Muscle Milk

Plus I want "Mystery Milk" with no label and random chemicals added.

Don't forget "Mutant Milk" that can add limbs!

[ChromeFoundry]

30. Aspartame is a poison that affects protein synthesis by the human body

A 1996 review of 165 studies believed to be relevant to human safety, by Dr. Ralph G. Walton, a professor of Clinical Psychiatry, showed a remarkable discrepancy between study results and their source of funding.

Of the 165 studies, 74 had industry related funding (such as Searle, Nutrasweet®, Ajinomoto, and the International Life Sciences Institute Nutrition Foundation), and 91 were independently funded.

Of those:

• 100 percent of the industry funded studies supported aspartame's safety, while


• 92 percent of the independently funded studies identified at least one potential health concern

However, Dr. Walton also pointed out that of the seven remaining non-industry funded studies, which supported aspartame's safety, six were done by the FDA, and the seventh was a literature review of mostly industry sponsored research.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/31/aspartame-update.aspx

[alp227]

57. Aspartame: Brought to you by the BFEE.

While generally considered safe, the approval process was rather protracted due to concerns about possible cancer risk. Aspartame is known, due to its phenylalanine content, to be unsafe for sufferers of the genetic disease phenylketonuria, but this so far is the only proven risk (other studies on the matter have been widely disputed). However, many people, citing the complicated and sometimes overly chummy approval process (among other things, Searle's CEO was Donald Rumsfeld, the much-reviled Secretary of Defense under both Gerald Ford and Bush II), have blamed aspartame for any number of ills (including allegations that it causes brain tumors), and much has been made about the presence of trace amounts of methanol in the metabolites of the substance. However, two reports by the Government Accountability Office found no violations of procedure in the approval process.[1][2] To go over the FDA's ADA (acceptable daily intake), it would require an adult to consume 21 cans of diet soda per day, or about 7600 cans a year. Aspartame is considered safe by health authorities in over 90 nations, and is one of the most studied and vetted food additives in the world.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Aspartame#Controversy_over_safety

[MattBaggins]

73. Mercola is tin foil woo woo silliness

[diane in sf]

97. No,Linus Paulings' critics said his Vit C research was woowoo, he outlived most of them by 30 years.

[diane in sf]

98. You related to that Baggins over in Environment & Energy who loves nukes???

[BuddhaGirl]

77. wow - interesting!

thanks for posting

[Codeine]

112. Mercola is utter, complete bullshit and should never be cited

by anyone who wishes to be taken seriously.

[ChromeFoundry]

115. And one is supposed to take your word as valid?

Because you make such a "valid" argument with nothing to back it up, why would anyone take you seriously?

Mercola did not fund or perform the studies, they were merely citing other studies findings.
Want other sources, fine:

States nearly the exact finding as Mercola's:
http://www.medicinenet.com/artificial_sweeteners/page8.htm

A 2011 study showed that aspartame exposure increases blood glucose levels and therefore ups the risk of diabetes in humans.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110627183944.htm

Dr. Richard Wurtman (MIT) said because aspartame lacks other important amino acids normally found in foods, the brain absorbs unusually high levels of phenylalanine that could increase the likelihood of epileptic seizures.
(UPI (The Bryan Times))
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZBELAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_lEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6428%2C708705

In 1994, a double-blind study was halted by the Institutional Review Board when eight patients with acute depression exhibited an increased expression of their symptoms after they consumed aspartame. On this basis, the authors of the study recommended that patients with unipolar depression avoid the sweetener.
http://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/0006-3223%2893%2990251-8/abstract

Aspartame has a "relatively potent" effect in decreasing brain dopamine levels when given in very high doses to rats.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028390807002948

Both the U.S. Air Force's magazine "Flying Safety" and the U.S. Navy's magazine, "Navy Physiology" published articles warning about the many dangers of aspartame including the cumlative deliterious effects of methanol and the greater likelihood of birth defects. The articles note that the ingestion of aspartame may make pilots more susceptible to seizures and vertigo (US Air Force - May 1992).


What area of science are your PhDs in that make you the recognized authority on this topic? -yeah, thought so.

[Codeine]

116. I have no dispute with the thesis, merely the source for your info.

Mercola is and always has been Quackadoodle Central. It is simply not to be taken seriously.

[ChromeFoundry]

118. Same goes for J.W. Childs, The Dairy Association, Big Pharma, etc...

Except for the fact that they have a much bigger profit to gain off of their "safe results" from their funded studies.

Agreed, Mercola is a bit far from mainstream central views, I should have chosen better... apologies for my response sounding like a dick.

[diabeticman]

32. FIRST-- Why the freak would you had sweetner to milk? SECOND--More importantly what about people

like my wife who is allergic to sweetners like aspartame?

[kentauros]

39. They don't appear to have thought this one through,

or not further than how much profit they can make getting people hooked on sweetened milk. Not allowing it to be labeled just means that the resulting lawsuits will evaporate their higher profits and then some.

Greed sure does make otherwise (seemingly) intelligent people into ignoramuses.

[uppityperson]

128. Chocolate milk and eggnog. I agree it needs to be clearly id'd for those of us who can not

Partake.

[DeschutesRiver]

147. Light & heavy cream, sour cream, yogurt, nonfat dry milk could also have unlabeled aspartame

So this isn't even limited to "flavored' milks as some suggest - I just read it myself to be certain. Flavored milks, yes, but the list includes far more products that one doesn't even think of as having sugar in them in the first place.

So aspartame potentially would end up in all of my baked goods and sauces even if I chose not to use aspartame or any sugar product, because it will be in the things I listed which don't need sugar added at all to function.

And they say they are adding sugar to things like sour cream, etc, to help LESSEN obesity in school children? Bogus reason. They want people addicted to their damned products, and people who are allergic to sweetners, or who gain weight from them and need to monitor intake or who are diabetic can just start guessing if there is such an additive in their dairy or not.

If this passes, I will need to eliminate dairy in all forms. The only thing I will really miss the most is yogurt, but I am not going down the path of this unlabeled sugar/aspartame road for dairy, because while it is useful and nice, it isn't something that is essential to maintain an adult body.

[patrice]

35. If I were an entreprenur I would go into the almond-milk business. That's all I ever use AND it's

great plain and un-sweetened for just drinking by the (BIG) glass full.

[patrice]

36. HIGH calcium + very very low fat.

[randome]

46. I did not know about that. A couple of questions.

Is it normally available in the average grocery store?
Is it easily substituted for 'regular' milk for breakfast cereals?
Probably more expensive, right?

[kentauros]

64. It is more expensive.

When I buy it at all (I can make it easily) I can get it at my local Kroger. Buy the store brands as they're just as good as the name brands.

Or, blend one cup raw almonds in four cups water in a good-quality blender and strain out the pulp

[patrice]

99. I'm a creature of habit, so I usually only go to the closest grocery store.

My grocery store carries all of the Blue Diamond line of almond milks, plus their own line which isn't quite a big in variety. I have seen almond milk in places like Price Chopper, but it's a smaller line there, away in the corner of a refrigerator case that's not close to where most of the dairy products are.

The Blue Diamond, which I have been buying for so long that I no longer look at the price is something about $2-2.25 a half gallon carton. It also comes in the smaller boxes, like big juice boxes, that are stackable and can be store without refrigeration, though the half gallon cartons cannot. I know the price is a little high, but I believe in committing to eating right and supporting that market and maybe the price would come down if more people knew what a great product this is. The store brand is good too and it's all perfect for anything you use milk for, though I ALWAYS buy the plain unsweetened variety and there are several others with sweetening and such that wouldn't be good for cheese sauces and such. I. LOVE. dairy. milk. And almond milk is just as satisfying on cereal and with cookies or cake or just to drink by itself; it isn't a bit watery like skim or 1% dairy milk and may even be better than 2%.

[woo me with science]

45. No.

Just no.

[Silver Swan]

48. I used to be able to buy yogurt sweetened with aspartame.

Lately, it seems it contains high fructose corn syrup. (Admittedly, I haven't looked very hard for yogurt with aspartame because at my age I no longer obsess about calories.)

I'd actually prefer aspartame over HFCS.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

84. Pick your poison...

...HFCS is bad for your internal organs.

[LWolf]

107. I buy my yogurt plain

and sweeten it with stevia, or not at all.

[Hayabusa]

49. Other than chocolate milk

why the hell do we even need sweetened milk? I'd be perfectly fine (and healthier, really) without it.

[chase48]

50. Stevia

Of all the sweetners, use stevia, I know O affects, next best is pure sugar
Sweet KILLER.

FYI-This is a re-post from a friend of mine. This is NOT Julia Shalom Jordan's personal story.

In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Wa...lking was a major chore. It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain.

By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies and was on 24 various prescription medications. The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her. She was in so much pain, and so sick she just knew she was dying.

She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest daughter's name, and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of.

She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to Florida (basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd.

On March 19, I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said they didn't find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS.

I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I asked my sister if she drank diet soda? She told me that she did. As a matter of fact, she was getting ready to crack one open that moment.

I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda! I e-mailed her an article my friend, a lawyer, had sent. My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk! The muscle spasms went away. She said she didn't feel 100% but, she sure felt a lot better.

She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would call me when she got home.

Well, she called me, and said her doctor was amazed! He is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if they consumed artificial sweeteners of any kind. In a nutshell, she was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet soda.. and literally dying a slow and miserable death

When she got to Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill, and that was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her way to a complete recovery. And she is walking! No wheelchair! This article saved her life.If it says 'SUGAR FREE' on the label; DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on 'ASPARTAME,' marketed as'Nutra Sweet,' 'Equal,' and 'Spoonful.'In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus. It was difficult to determine exactly what toxin was causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject.

I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous: When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants. The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus.

Many people were being diagnosed in error. Although multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, Methanol toxicity is!

Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers.The victim usually does not know that the Aspartame is the culprit. He or she continues its use; irritating the lupus to such a degree that it may become a life-threatening condition. We have seen patients with systemic lupus become asymptotic, once taken off diet sodas.

In cases of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the symptoms disappear. We've seen many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss improved markedly.

This also applies to cases of tinnitus and fibromyalgia. During a lecture, I said, 'If you are using ASPARTAME (Nutra Sweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting, pains, numbness in your legs,
Cramps,
Vertigo,
Dizziness,
Headaches,
Tinnitus,
Joint pain,
Unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss you probably have ASPARTAME poisoning!' People were jumping up during the lecture saying,'I have some of these symptoms. Is it reversible?'

Yes!
Yes!
Yes!
STOP drinking diet sodas and be alert for Aspartame on food labels! Many products are fortified with it! This is a serious problem. Dr. Espart (one of my speakers) remarked that so many people seem to be symptomatic for MS and during his recent visit to a hospice; a nurse stated that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence!

Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple SODIUM (salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates.

It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight!

These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs. Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and is used primarily to preserve 'tissue specimens.'

Many products we use every day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT store it IN our body!

Dr. H. J. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the 'diet products' and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics. We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient with retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame. The Aspartame drives the blood sugar out of control. Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the other amino acids necessary for a good balance.

Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE.. Especially with diabetics, the Aspartame passes the blood/brain barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain; causing various levels of brain damage, Seizures, Depression, Manic depression, Panic attacks, Uncontrollable anger and rage.Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as well. Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their behavior when these chemicals have been removed from their diet.

So called 'behavior modification prescription drugs' (Ritalin and others) are no longer needed.Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in the first place!Most of these children were being 'poisoned' on a daily basis with the very foods that were 'better for them than sugar.'It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of diet Coke and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the Gulf War, may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War Syndrome.

Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e. mental retardation, if taken at the time of conception and during early pregnancy. Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should NEVER be given artificial sweeteners.

There are many different case histories to relate of children suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological disturbances talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused by the use of this deadly poison.'

Herein lies the problem: There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included in 100 different products and strong objection was made concerning its use. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, and still nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets.

Sadly, MONSANTO'S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED! There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this deadly chemical and there will be thousands more introduced. Everybody wants a 'piece of the Aspartame pie.'I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame, knows how deadly it is.

And isn't it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians?

This has been recently exposed in the New York Times. These [organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their link to MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and are required to endorse their products.Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially regarding pregnant women, children and infants.

The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers and the problems existing in the general population regarding seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and behavioural symptoms.
The bill was killed.It is known that the powerful drug and chemical lobbies are responsible for this, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting and uninformed public. Well, you're informed now!See More
.

[chase48]

56. If you drink diet sodas as I did, really read my above post

I did drink diet sodas but used Stevia for every thing else, is that an oxymoron? I drank them moderately but had a serious problem with leg cramps, excruciating leg cramps, then my daughter sent the above article and I had a panic attack, I quit them about 1 month ago and the cramps are going away, when I go down the list of side effects of the above I can see I have other damage to this health nut, they have about the same damage as ci garrets to our health, if any one knows of any class action civil suits, I'd like to know, please post on n here for all of us

[shanti]

129. i'm a convert to stevia too

did you know that there's a soda with stevia called "zevia"? it tastes a bit too sweet for me, but it might work for you.

[Xithras]

104. FWIW, it's also illegal to put stevia in milk.

Current regs require sweeteners to have some nutritional value. Stevia is natural and tastes sweet, but it has no nutritional value and is illegal to add to milk. Sugar contains both calories and carbs, and is therefore considered to have "nutritional value" and is legal. Stevia, which has no calories, no carbs, and therefore no "nutritional value" is not legal.

[LWolf]

108. Backwards logic, to be sure.

That's exactly why I'd like to see stevia the go-to sweetener for anything that needs sweetening.

Which milk does not.

[geardaddy]

53. Why?

I get my dairy from local, organic sources. Hopefully they won't touch that.

[Blue_In_AK]

54. Yet another reason to use almond milk.

I'm sure they'll find a way to f*** that up, too, if they haven't already.

[Silent3]

62. Because you think this means aspartame milk would be the only kind of of cow's milk available?

Really? That's what you think the OP article is saying, or even remotely suggesting?

[Blue_In_AK]

111. Of course not,

but why should they be allowed to add artificial sweeteners to chocolate milk, for instance, without labeling? Are you an aspartame distributor or something? You seem to be taking this personally.

[valerief]

55. Why on earth? Because milk isn't toxic enough? Why not stevia, if they have to put something in? nt

[Silent3]

60. Why are people acting like the plan here is to secretly add aspartame to all milk?

Whether you fear aspartame or not, there's not a single thing in the OP articule that says the milk industry is asking to SECRETLY add aspartame to ALL milk.

There's nothing in the linked article that comes close to implying that milk sweetened with aspartame would become the only kind of milk available, nor that it wouldn't be labeled just as clearly as being artificially sweetened as diet sodas are labeled.

If you object to aspartame even being an option, that's one thing, but Christ on a crutch, does the conspiratorial paranoia about this issue need to be cranked up to 11?

[grntuscarora]

67. Maybe it's the "not change the label"

part that's tripping me up (first paragraph). Sounds like they want to secretly add it to some milk products. We'll be expected to guess which?

[Silent3]

75. Fair enough. My bad. I'd read a different article yesterday and assumed this one to be the same.

I still think the milk would have to be labeled "sweetened" (even if you didn't know sweetened with what), and it would only be the kinds of products that are currently sweetened and labeled as such.

As much as our government is too often in bed with industry, I'd guess the odds are low on this particularly blatant account the dairy industry will get its way.

[Avalux]

83. Actually, it's "Jesus Christ on a trailer hitch"

and I see someone else pointed out to you that the industry doesn't want to change the label, therefore, not disclosing what they use to sweeten. That's what has me a bit worked up over this.

[AlbertCat]

96. Why are people acting like the plan here is to secretly add aspartame to all milk?

And also...

Just how much damn chocolate or strawberry flavored milk does one drink??? I mean anything would be dangerous.... even sugar.... if one is having/giving to their kids 10 glasses of strawberry milk a day.

Can't kids these days be forced to eat and drink the things they "should" instead of always what they "want"? I sure had to eat what was fixed when I was a kid. Which is why I eat a huge variety of stuff today. I rarely fix dinner for my friends because this one won't eat beans...that one won't eat greens, and the other one hates tomatoes or can't stand cheese! Nope...he won't eat lamb. And she won't eat curry. Never mind there are 3 million different kinds of cheese or curry! Fer Christ sake, what's wrong with these people?....just fix your own narrow menu and I'll continue to eat a huge variety.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

63. So this is for Diet Chocolate?

What's next? Diet lard?

[kentauros]

66. Diet Lard?

Would that be LARD without Jello Biafra?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

74. Or a touch of Anthrax?

[kentauros]

78. You might have to issue a Black Flag for that...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

81. That sounds like a bug report.

[kentauros]

82. And that bug is vicious,

Sid.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

89. Not the other one...

[kentauros]

90. Okay, I can't go any further than that!

[Berlum]

136. Gourmet Diet Lard

[kentauros]

139. British lard, no less.

Seems like there should be a silent 'u' or a 'gh' in there somewhere, too (laurd, larghd)...

[Warren DeMontague]

79. I love how every time they want to fuck with food & not tell people on the label, it's because

they want to "make it easier" or "not confuse people".

[RedCappedBandit]

125. It's such nonsense

..in the most literal sense of the word. Labels should be much clearer than they are. Lying about ingredients doesn't make any sense from any standpoint except corporate greed.

[Taverner]

85. Why haven't all soft drinks switched to Splenda?

Seriously - Splenda + Stevia tastes like sugar

Yes, there are health concerns with Splenda, but NOTHING like Aspartame

Splenda does not cause liver damage, nor does it cause migranes

[SCVDem]

87. Rhineheitsgebot

The Germans have had that since 1516 for beer.

WTF that we can't apply those same purity standards to our food and drink.

Big business strikes again!

[Berlum]

88. Big Dairy is as twisted as all of Big Ag, Big Chem & Big Genetically Mutant

The CORPS (R) are totally screwing with our food.

[PDJane]

93. Aspartame, unlabeled, in chocolate milk, would mean havoc for those who are sensitive to the stuff.

It's a neuroexcitotoxin, and I'm one of those people who gets headaches from the stuff.

[ManiacJoe]

94. That headline is very misleading.

[grasswire]

105. BOOOOOOO!

This is disgusting.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

106. What a stupid idea!!!

[Codeine]

113. Liquid pumped out of animal tits on an industrial scale

is inherently revolting, regardless of whether or not there's a bit of Nutrasweet mixed in with the pus.

[Canuckistanian]

117. Since aspartame has ZERO nutritional value

I guess the FDA has ZERO concerns with it.

That's fucked up.

[RedCappedBandit]

124. Fine, but why can't they properly label it?

I don't even have a problem with sweeteners, but you're damn right I want it on the ingredients list if it's a freakin' ingredient.

[Heywood J]

133. What about horsemeat?

I'm sure that will someday fall into the category of non-nutritive sweetener. Unlabeled, of course.

[OwnedByCats]

141. I lived in the UK for ten years

and they use aspartame more than we do. They put it in things you might not think - like tomato sauce. It almost took an act of God to find flavored water that didn't have it. What I thought was really messed up was on occasion I would find aspartame in a drink that also contained .... sugar! That is insane! It was usually the flavored water and why on earth you need to add sugar and aspartame to a completely manufactured drink I have no idea. Coke and Pepsi products manage to use only aspartame, why is sugar added on top of the aspartame? If they are using fruit juices to flavor the water, well I guess they could be talking about the natural sugars that exist, but these drinks were not made from anything natural.

[Nevernose]

146. Aspartame is totally safe and I have no problem w/ dairies adding it to milk

But the additives should be clearly on the label so that I can make that choice for myself. I honestly don't mind GMO food, either, but it should by god be clearly labelled so that consumers can make that decision for themselves.