Diet Pepsi dropping aspartame on customer concerns

[jakeXT]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- PepsiCo says it's dropping aspartame from Diet Pepsi in response to customer feedback and replacing it with sucralose, another artificial sweetener commonly known as Splenda.

The decision to swap sweeteners comes as Americans keep turning away from popular diet sodas. Competitor Coca-Cola said this week that sales volume for Diet Coke, which also uses aspartame, fell 5 percent in North America in the first three months of the year.

Executives at Coke and Pepsi blame the declines on perceptions that aspartame isn't safe. That's even though the Food and Drug Administration says aspartame, best known by the brand names Equal and NutraSweet, is "one of the most exhaustively studied substances in the human food supply, with more than 100 studies supporting its safety."

John Sicher, publisher of industry tracker Beverage Digest, noted that attitudes about aspartame can be very negative. Using an online tool called Topsy that measures Twitter sentiment on a scale of 0 to 100, he noted "aspartame" got a 22 ranking, below a 38 ranking for "Congress."

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DIET_PEPSI_NEW_SWEETENER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[They_Live]

1. sucralose is awful also

no thanks diet drinks. I'll have some water.

[Beauregard]

22. Splenda gives you the runs.

That's why Jelly Belly with Splenda warns customers to eat no more than 8 jelly beans.

[mackdaddy]

38. Sucralose/Splenda causes me to loose so much muscle strength I can barely make it ups stairs.

A few years ago I suddenly had extreme muscle weakness, especially in my legs. I am a big strong farm boy type, and I suddenly had a difficult time climbing up stairs without dragging myself with the handrail too. I was afraid I was getting MS or MD and did a web search on leg weakness as preparation to calling my doctor.

I found a post where someone has serious leg weakness after switching to Splenda on Mercolas site. I had just switched to splenda in my iced tea, so I stopped using it, and within days, my legs returned to my regular strength.

I have accidentally ingested something with spenda or the generic sucralose a couple of times since, and I nearly immediately get the muscle weakness. I now read all labels to avoid the stuff like the poison I believe it to be.

From what i can tell, splenda/sucralose is made from sugar, but it is reacted with chlorene, and becomes an organo-cloride. DDT is also an organ-cloride by the way.

Nutrasweet/aspartame just gives me a slight headache, and sweet&low does not seem to have an affect.

I know most people eat stuff with splenda with now apparent problems. Not me though. Of course only about 2 in a hundred people will have their throat swell up and die if they eat peanut butter too. I like peanuts.

[appal_jack]

46. Well said, mackdaddy. Chlorinated sugar - sheesh! k&r, nt

[djean111]

2. I don't drink soda any more, but IMO Pepsi should try what Coke is trying - switch to

stevia - just plain stevia, not mixed with whatever chemical they are trying to get rid of - and/or sugar.
Since stevia is about 200 times sweeter than sugar, it would seem logical to use it. No patents, I guess!

[PatrynXX]

18. except nobodies heard of it

I only heard about it because someone asked about it. only one store carries it around here. Aldies the cheap store but good store based in Germany

[jeff47]

20. There is no plain stevia.

Stevia is a mixture of two molecules.

One molecule is in such a low concentration in the plant that it is useless as a sweetener. Instead, the product sold to consumers (and could be used by Coke/Pepsi) is a 100% man-made copy of that chemical.

The other chemical is a "T"-shaped molecule. The "arms" of the T are what taste sweet. To make it sweeter, the molecule is extracted, and then the "body" of the T is replaced with a copy of the "arm" part of the molecule.

Stevia is an example of marketing over science. Cargill declares it "natural" and markets it as such, despite the fact that it is a 100% man-made product.

[Gormy Cuss]

31. Plain stevia powder is what one gets by drying and grinding the leaves.

And I agree, the powdered white stevia is as natural as Tupperware.

[Hekate]

49. I have a stevia bush and have a couple of jars of dried leaves...

...but have not used it much. A fresh leaf or two is nice in ice tea along with some mint or lemon balm leaves, but I'd be open to suggestion as to how to incorporate the dried leaves into cooking....

[In_The_Wind]

3. PepsiCo used Splenda to sweeten Pepsi ONE but stopped distribution in New York a year ago.

[bigworld]

10. They're test marketing it as Pepsi True

to compete with Coke Life, which isn't all that bad IMHO. Both are a combination of stevia and cane sugar.

[In_The_Wind]

12. I haven't noticed Pepsi True in the local stores but I'll look next time I shop.

Thanks

[asiliveandbreathe]

4. So why drink the crap at all - solves that problem

I am in the throws, making analogy here, of changing the diet of my cat - to NO grain dry food and wet food...it has taken almost two weeks to find the most agreeable food for her....why this analogy - the food she has been eating, thank to me, was full of chemicals, and we needed to wean her off of it..coughing, dander and silky coat is now observed..as well as more active....almost like an addiction - like these beverages....addicting..like tobacco, addicting,

It took me a long time to get my husband to understand the affects of coke....although, I am losing the battle with beer..ha ha ha!

Be well all, happy Friday....love lolcats....

[asiliveandbreathe]

5. oops... no coughing or dander, and nice silky coat observed....

[LynneSin]

6. They need to drop all of it in favor of Stevia

All of those artificial sweeteners are wretched for you.

Stevia is a natural sweetener that has the same number of calories as most artificial sweeteners.

There are studies out there that have shown use of Splenda can actually be counter-productive for those people trying to lose weight. Sure you are getting less calories but it found that Splenda can mess with your metabolism and lead towards overeating.

I only use Stevia or Monkfruit for my morning coffee. As for other beverages I prefer non-sweetened like Iced/Hot Tea. I normally carry a few packets of Stevia with me but if I find I am without when I'm on the road and buy coffee I usually put a little bit extra skim milk in my coffee and maybe half a pack of sugar if even that much. I'd rather do a lil bit of sugar than use any kind of artificial sweetener.


About Splenda:
http://breakingmuscle.com/nutrition/how-sucralose-can-make-you-fat

[jeff47]

21. Stevia is only legally a natural sweetener.

Stevia, as it's used in consumer products, is a mixture of two molecules.

One molecule is in such a low concentration in the plant that it is useless as a sweetener. Instead, the product sold to consumers (and could be used by Coke/Pepsi) is a 100% man-made copy of that chemical.

The other chemical is a "T"-shaped molecule. The "arms" of the T are what taste sweet. To make it sweeter, the molecule is extracted, and then the "body" of the T is replaced with a copy of the "arm" part of the molecule.

Stevia is an example of marketing over science. Cargill declares it "natural" and markets it as such, despite the fact that it is a 100% man-made product.

They are allowed to call it 'natural' because the molecules originally came from a plant.

[Beauregard]

23. Interesting post.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

7. Or maybe folks don't want to make Monsanto, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld richer?

even the highly corrupt FDA refused to certify aspartame as safe because it produced seizures and brain tumors in lab animals.

Then Ronald Reagan became president and removed the FDA commissioner who was blocking its acceptance.

Rumsfeld’s company followed up by presenting the FDA “new and improved” studies showing the additive to be safe. The data presented was later proven to have been falsified.

The FDA Aspartame Story

G.D. Searle & Co. developed aspartame. Donald Rumsfeld was Chief Executive Officer of G.D. Searle & Co. from 1977 to 1985. Controlling interest of G.D. Searle & Co. is owned by the Rockefeller's Chase Manhattan Bank, as is Monsanto.

James Turner, the anti-aspartame advocate alleges that Searle hired Rumsfeld to handle the aspartame approval difficulties as a "legal problem rather than a scientific problem."

A former G.D. Searle salesperson, Patty Wood-Allott, revealed that Donald Rumsfeld, president of Searle, told his sales force that, if necessary, "he would call in all his markers and that no matter what, he would see to it that aspartame would be approved that year." (mgold, Gordon, US Senate Record) The FDA had refused to approve aspartame for 16 years because it triggered brain tumors.

FDA email on Rumsfeld and Cheney.

(According to other sources, Cheney was CEO of Searle at the time.)

[truedelphi]

26. Thank you - the history of Aspartame is the history of

how modern day political arrangements manage to get FDA approval for all sorts of "perfectly acceptable" new food items - - including GMO's.

I remember how during the Congressional hearings on aspartame, a noted child and baby brain development expert testified that the drinks with aspartame should at lest carry a warning that it is not acceptable as a drink for kids under five. But of course, industry saw to it that no such warnings occurred.

And these days, it is not uncommon to notice little kids carrying a diet soda, that they are slurping while out and about with their parents.

[gvstn]

37. It's been in Flinstone vitamins all these ears as well.

How Bayer could think it was better to add a chemical sweetner to a kid's vitamin, I can't imagine.



http://www.drjeremylandry.com/2013/06/the-dangers-of-flintstones-vitamins.html

[truedelphi]

59. Thank you for this info. I had no idea. n/t

[SoapBox]

8. Yucky stuff.

Personally I can't stand the taste or mouth feel of any artificial sweetener.

[former9thward]

9. More anti-science in the U.S.

Agenda groups claim it is unsafe without a particle of evidence. Science says it is safe but the mob rule of the internet wins the day.

[pnwmom]

19. There's plenty of evidence. The FDA banned it before the Reagan Administration

decided to approve it. Talk about "mob rule." It was the Reagan mob -- through Donald Rumsfeld, Searle chairman -- that pushed through its approval. When the 5 person scientific commission voted to continue the ban, Reagan's FDA head appointed a 6th commissioner, who voted to approve it. With the commission tied, Reagan's FDA head voted to break the tie and approve it.

Aspartame contains methanol, which converts into formaldehyde in the body. Go ahead and drink all the aspartame you want, but many of us don't want to pickle our brains.

[former9thward]

25. I guess the Clinton and Obama FDAs have continued the conspiracy.

There has been over 100 scientific studies showing it is safe. None saying it is not (including your unscientific comment). Just the internet mob.

[truedelphi]

27. When will people understand that numbers of scientific reports can be meaningless?

There were THOUSANDS if not tens of thousands of scientific studies, all conducted by industry, that showed that MTBE, the gas additive, was totally safe. And lobbyists even told the Calif legislators that they would allow their kids to brush their teeth with it!

There were only two studies that showed that MTBE was unsafe. One was by a doctor in Italy, and another was done by Gov Davis ("D&quot self appointed Blue Ribbon Panel of scientists, headed by John Froines.

Froines was about the only man in the history of California who Davis knew was honest beyond a fault and could not and would not be bought out by Big Oil's millions.

Result of that activity - MTBE was marginalized as an additive, saving billions of gallons of drinking water, and the lives of hundreds of thousands of Californians.

But Gov Davis paid a steep price. A Republican and Big Oil money campaign got him booted from office, with Schwartzennegger then being supported by same Big Oil monies to become the new Governor of the state.

[former9thward]

29. Do you say that about climate change reports?

Where is one report showing aspartame is unsafe?

[LanternWaste]

30. Or nine out of ten doctors advertising the cool, smooth, lung-opening effects of a Lucky Strike

Or nine out of ten doctors advertising the cool, smooth, lung-opening effects of a Lucky Strike at the end of a hard day...

[former9thward]

33. Where is one report?

Are you this suspicious about climate change?

[truedelphi]

56. I am suspicious about the specious-ness of yr attack.

You cannot win the argument you are in, so you become spurious in yr stupid attack on me.

We are not talking about climate change, the JFK assassination, or the swinging of votes from Kerry to Bush.

Please stay on topic.

[truedelphi]

57. BTW as it is clear you are not one of my DU buddies -

I am not here very often. Not on the computer much any more.

I did get back on the computer a few minutes ago, and made reply 54, below this one, which will give you something to think about.

You might also content yourself with the information that I was a reporter for The Coastal Post, which is one of the FIRST publications to talk about climate change. My colleague, Jim Scanlon, would travel all the way down to Chile to talk to world renowned climate experts.

Our publication published his reports on the harm humans were doing to the environment way way back in 1994, when Al Gore was still in the pockets of the Pesticide Industry.

[former9thward]

61. You don't get it.

Your argument: When will people understand that numbers of scientific reports can be meaningless?

So then you attack aspartame without citing even one study saying it is unsafe. But when climate change deniers say that it is not happening the argument against them is that 99% of scientists say that it is happening. The very thing that you say is meaningless.

War on aspartame is the War on science.

[truedelphi]

63. The war on aspartame is only a war on the political manipulations invvolved in

the approval processes of the government, that science no longer matters.

And specifically it is a war on a substance that only got approval through the manipulations utilized by Don Rumsfeld and other Monsanto Big Shots, with FDA appointments made by the Reagan Administration putting Monsanto officials into thee FDA slots, so that a substance that was known to act as an neurotoxin and a brain disturbance (and especially affects the brains of children under the age of five) was able to be marketed without warnings.

[truedelphi]

64. What part of reply 54 do you not understand?

Since I for one am not making 25 cents per every one of my replies, I am ending the conversation.

If you wanted real studies, they exist on that website. The fact that a list of such studies is assembled on one website does not make them invalid.

But now you are Number Three on my DU ignore list, joining such illuminators of reason
as S Duderstadt (Who might have thought that JFK died of a brain aneurysm!)

[former9thward]

65. Ohhh, the dreaded ignore..

[truedelphi]

55. Say, Lantern Waste -

Glad to have some help here.

A little bit early in the AM for this one, but here goes:

[truedelphi]

54. The wonderful attention to aspartame shown by Dr Martini

Convinced me.

Now she doesn't do lab studies or real research, so I would understand anyone saying her word is not enough.

But here is an interesting study that was published showing that out of 192 studies, one hundred peer reviewed studies of aspartame sponsored by industry, all one hundred showed "Nothing to see here, folks - this substance is good for you!"



But ALL NINETY TWO INDIE STUDIES SHOWED THERE WERE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH ASPARTAME.

[h2]][font color=red]

(Please note that this bit of work proves that your statement is FLAT OUT WRONG! There are peer reviewed studies showing there is a concern about the problem.)

[/h2]][/font color=red]

You can read the above report in its entirety here:

http://dorway.com/aspartame-the-bad-news-repost/peer-reviewed-aspartame-studies/

As far as you suggesting I would be saying this or that about climate change reports - that is pretty conflating. I mean, it is a non-logic argument that only shows the state of mind you were experiencing when typing at me.

If you cannot win an argument on the facts being debated, don't drag in unrelated situations.

[former9thward]

62. An agenda driven website.

The link basically says "we are not going count any study that does not find a problem with aspartame." Then if you get into the study it just says "ADVERSE REACTION IDENTIFIED" but not ONE WORD about what that is or how they define it. Whatever makes your day...

[flashsmith99]

35. The way I remember it

Aspartame was initially approved by the FDA in powder form only, because it becomes unstable in liquid. The sweetener itself might actually be safe, but once it is put in liquid, it degrades into methanol. When methanol, is consumed, it turns into formaldehyde, so a can of diet Pepsi could actually be a do it yourself embalming kit, depending how old it is or if it was heated. I used to buy syrups for a bar, and sugar based syrups have over a 1 year shelf life, while aspartame syrups only last 6 months. I assume that is the point when there is so much methanol that it affects the flavor.

I have personally been injured by aspartame. For over 2 decades, it burned when I urinated in the morning. I've been to more urologists than you can shack a stick at trying to discover the cause. Then while looking for an article on aspartame and vision, hundreds of web pages came up. One of them described burning during morning urination as a symptom of aspartame poisoning. Easy enough to test, I stopped drinking products containing aspartame, and the burning went away.

So, what Chemical Donnie did was call in his markers and got Aspartame in liquid approved, over the protests of the scientists.

[pnwmom]

36. I've also heard that the formaldehyde level is affected by storage conditions

so that drinks that spend time outside in the heat get even higher levels. No thanks.

Years ago, I went on a diet and started drinking diet coke. I didn't think anything of it. Months later I went to a sleep clinic for snoring and found out that wasn't my only problem -- I had a neurological condition that made my limbs jerk in my sleep. My doctor gave me a list of substances that could be causing it and most of them weren't applicable. But there, near the top, was aspartame. I stopped drinking aspartame and the leg jerks went away.

Meanwhile, aspartame was connected to my niece's migraines.

I understand that they haven't connected it to cancer, but cancer isn't the only serious condition out there. Aspartame isn't good for many of us.

[truedelphi]

58. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^n/t

[Thor_MN]

40. I hope you avoid citrus fruits and tomatos with the same fervor.

They have more methanol as breakdown products than aspartame. And don't even think about having an alcoholic drink.

[pnwmom]

41. Methanol is wood alcohol. It isn't safe to drink and is not the same as ethanol. n/t

[Thor_MN]

43. I'm a chemist. I know what methanol is and what ethanol is.

And if you don't know that citrus, tomato and and alcoholic beverages result in breakdown products containing methanol, then you have some serious gaps in your knowledge.

To be technical about it, Aspartame does not contain methanol. Methanol is a breakdown product of aspartame, just as it is of some foods.

Like I said, if you are worried about aspartame, cut all citrus and tomato from your diet and don't go anywhere near an alcoholic beverage.

[pnwmom]

44. Actually, I don't drink fruit juices because my doctor says to limit fructose.

And yes, I know that includes table sugar. (I do eat whole fruit.)

And I'm not an alcohol drinker either. So that argument doesn't have much of an effect on me.

Especially since the sleep clinic has aspartame as #2 on the list of substances to avoid if you have PLMD.

[Thor_MN]

45. Well, damn, that fruit (if citrus) is poisoning you with methanol...

[gvstn]

48. One of the early commercials to dispel fears of aspartame was

"If you have bananas and milk then you have had everything in Nutrasweet". I didn't trust it then and I don't trust it now. It may not be logical but I do eat citrus, tomatoes, an occasional banana and milk products but I avoid aspartame.

[Thor_MN]

50. You are right, it's not logical.

People who understand science tend to be logical and dismiss illogical ideas as woo.

I, personally, don't have issues with other's diets, but will comment when people start preaching woo as fact.

[truedelphi]

66. There are these fancy pants drinks they sell at Safeway - I forget the barnd name.

Pretty packaging and names like "Citrus-rose" or "Pomengranite-grape."

Intrigued, I bought several bottles and drank them along with my meals for two days.

Felt terrible after each time I drank them. Then I read the label. Wood alcohol was a listed ingredient. Why anyone would set out to put this in a beverage I don't know.

And it sometimes seems like the same people that tell us that wood alcohol is okay, or the formaldehyde that is part and parcel of digesting Aspartame is okay for us - those same people are apoplectic if you tell them you take Vitamin C!

[Kurska]

11. I think they are both safe, but I vastly prefer Splenda over aspartame.

So I'll probably be making the switch to diet pepsi from diet coke once this change goes through.

[onehandle]

14. Splenda tastes better to me. nt

[onehandle]

13. Good. nt

[Kingofalldems]

15. I'm drinking a Coke Life right now. It's pretty good.

Cane sugar and Stevia.

[sendero]

16. Thats hilarious...

... replacing aspartame with sucralose. Sucralose makes me, and lots of other people, itch all over.

I think I will ratchet my 2-3 sodas a year down to zero.

[Morely Dotes]

17. Pepsi is nothing but crap.

It'll still taste like crap.

I'm a Diet Coke man... love the taste, perfect every time...

Don't need the sugar man... if Diet Coke can keep the taste with switching to a different sugar, then I'm OK with it.

I don't buy the aspartame bunk though.

[Sunlei]

24. I think more people don't want to drink those junkdrinks any more

[truedelphi]

60. I think the tide on sodas is really turning. n/t

[immoderate]

28. I switched to plain seltzer. I can't stand artificial sweeteners.

Luckily, all I needed was the bubbles.

--mm

[tblue37]

39. I drink lemon-lime flavored seltzer water when I crave something carbonated. nt

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

32. Back in the 1960s, I thought cyclamates in diet soda tasted okay

and better than saccharin. The FDA banned their use in 1970 when it turned out they caused cancer and companies went back to using the less pleasing saccharin which was in turn replaced by aspartame.

[pintobean]

34. Diet Pepsi casting aspartame?

[marle35]

42. No aftertaste, low calories, fizzy, tasty, natural:

http://synergydrinks.com/index.php/products#enlightened-synergy

But kind of expensive unless homemade.

[Jamastiene]

51. So, they are replacing shit ingredients with different shit ingredients.

Got it.

Can you tell I hate artificial sweeteners?

[CBGLuthier]

52. Soda is poison. Sugared or not why would anyone drink that shit?

[madokie]

53. One of my older brothers

who drank diet pepsi said it was the hardest thing yet that he tried to quit doing. he quit smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol but the diet pepsi was the worst of the bunch.

I use sugar if I want something sweetened and I eat real butter if I want butter flavor in my food.