I'm not sure if this link has already been posted, so my apologies if it has.

http://www.myaspartameexperiment.com/

There has been a lot of dispute in these forums about artificial sweeteners, and that link does a pretty startling study, which I thought would interest some people on these forums. As a disclaimer, there are some sad pictures of the rats, so look at your own risk.

Thanks for posting that.  Like I've said before, why would anyone trust a food additive that Donald Rumsfield pushed through the FDA?

It tastes nasty anyway.  Yuck.

Don't you think that if Aspartame had the same sort of effects on humans that we would hear more about giant tumors in a large percentage of the population?  After all, aspartame is one of the most common artificial sweeteners.

Don't you think a food that causes tumors to any sort of animal has the possibility of being harmful to your own health?  I never said that Aspartame would cause us humans to grow tumors, I just presented you with a website that has some interesting information.

Just my two cents; I honestly believe that the people who actually say "artificial sweetners are safe! No problem! They're great!" are only saying that because they wish it were true. This is like cigarettes years ago. Doctors and everyone declaring that they were harmless and even good for you. Yeah, okay. That turned out well. And now, cell phones are starting to show that they are related to a drop in IQ points.

Bear in mind that when testing these substances on rats, they are given large quantities, and considering the body mass of a rat vs. a human, they are receiving HUGE amounts that a person would never consume.

A small amount of artificial sweetener not very often isn't going to hurt you, but if you're drinking 12 diet sodas a day, plus adding sweetener to coffee/cereal/etc throughout the day, then yes, you're probably at risk.

Just like everything else we eat, moderation is key.  I don't like the idea of artificial sweeteners either, and try to stay away from them, but maybe once or twice a week I'll have a diet soda and I highly doubt that's enough to harm me.  I'd actually suck it up and have a reg soda and just count extra calories that day, but I find reg soda is TOO sweet and diet doesn't give me a sugar headache.

I don't know what it is about aspartame, but I LOVEEEEEE it. Especially in diet coke.

A lot of people do drink 12 diet sodas everyday.  So those people are probably at risk of some health problems like was said.  I think foods/beverages with aspartame should have some kind of warning label like cigarettes and alcohol do.

I agree.  I actually used to drink a lot more diet soda then I do now, and I stopped just cuz of the bloaty feeling it gave me.  So, now I might have 1 or 2 a week, but if I do want a sweet drink, I try to drink Nestea Zero, which uses Splenda instead.

I am an oncology nurse practitioner.  I have to say that as of yet I've not started targetting artifical sweetners as a primary risk factor. However, we do a lot of things to our bodies that place us at risk and do damage.  I don't think this is any different.  The only thing as of yet that diet coke is linked to is increased risk for osteoporosis. 

In my practice I'm not seeing an onslaught of people in increasing numbers with huge tumors.  Yes I see huge tumors and not all are explained but not to the level that you would if this were translatable to humans.