Ask A Genius 810: Is Aspartame Healthy?
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Rick Rosner
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2022/11/14
[Recording Start]
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Okay, quick question. Do you think Aspartame is unhealthy or healthy?
Rick Rosner: It’s probably healthier than sugar. Years ago, when I started drinking lots of coffee with lots of fake sugar, I Googled this to see and as far as I could tell the jury’s out, it can’t be that bad because there would be studies that say it’s that bad. But I remember there were some equivocal studies that said that maybe, so that’s question one. Is it really bad for you? I don’t think so. It’s certainly bad when they give rats, their own body weight in it every day but we don’t consume it like that. Question two is, and I haven’t looked this up, but it does it have calories? I guess. But does it fool your body into doing weird shit with your blood sugar because it’s very sugar like? I doubt it but I haven’t looked it up but overall, I’d say among the things you could do to yourself health wise, it’s not up there in terms of being super terrible is my guess, my semi informed guess.
Jacobsen: Unlike a lot of the current kind of social landscape, trust institutions for the most part, those sorts of chemicals in foods especially in Canada are healthy, I would assume. And I would take Aspartame in diet pops as one of those. The only thing I would think that would actually be unhealthy would be excess intake of the diet pop in lots and lots of caffeine. Caffeine after a certain point can be bad for those with preexisting sort of cardiovascular issues.
Rosner: Yeah, but caffeine has all sorts of health benefits in normal doses. Like, a few cups of coffee a day is supposed to be pretty good for you.
Jacobsen: Yeah. Harvard Health in one web resource points up to ten cups is okay. That’s a lot.
Rosner: When I went from no coffee for my entire life to four cups in the afternoon to stay awake, a couple of times my heart got a little gallop-y. But again, that kind of stuff is not super dangerous. Anyway, I had free coffee at work. So when I had work and needed to stay awake, then I would drink coffee to the point where my heart got a little bit of A-fib-y, but that’s all right. Should we talk about this other thing?
Jacobsen: Quick research on Canada Health. Allegation: Aspartame is especially dangerous for persons with diabetes. Not supported by the evidence. This is according to a governmental Health Canada website. Allegation: Aspartame causes cancer and brain tumors; not supported. Causes seizures; not supported. Causes allergic reactions; not supported. The Methanol and Aspartame is toxic and lead to numerous health problems including lupus and blindness and also mimics multiple sclerosis; not supported. And it has calories, just very little calories.
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Rosner: It feels like it should be bad for you because it feels like you’re getting away with something with it, that you’re putting this chemical in you that trick your mouth into thinking shit is sweet, but it isn’t real. And so, I understand how it tempts lunatics into all sorts of dumb health beliefs that turn out not to be supported by research. And that’s a little bit the era we’re in.
Jacobsen: I agree.
Rosner: To expand on that right now, I assume since we’re part of the same continent, you got the same shit going on that we do. We have three respiratory diseases going on right now. COVID hasn’t gone away and it’s gradually heading up for its winter spike though more gradually than the previous two winters we’ve had it. We’ve got bad flu because everybody, not everybody, but enough people practiced reasonable health measures in the previous two winters that maybe we’ve got less immunity or maybe the flu is a tougher version, but flu is bad this year. And then we’ve got this other thing that’s infecting and killing kids, that’s also respiratory. Yet only 12% of the people in LA County have gotten boosted and LA County is not a big science denying lunatic place but we have all this shit and then we have all these fucking idiots who are practicing COVID denial and mask denial. So with that going on, it’s consistent with that kind of lunacy that people would freak out about fake sugar.
[Recording End]
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