PSA: Food Chemistry

[rolanni]

Have I mentioned here that I'm allergic to Aspartame?

It used to be that it "only" gave me a headache, but the last two times I've unwittingly ingested it, I've gotten, um, *ill*.

So! A few tips:

Aspartame/Nutrasweet is not, oh-no-not, the same as sugar. No, really.

While it's a nice idea to make sweet things for a group event with Aspartame/Nutrasweet so that the diabetic members of the group won't be deprived of the happiness that is dessert? The idea that it's OK to simply make all sweet things with Aspartame because sugar is Poison to Diabetics but Anyone Can Eat NutraSweet -- is demonstrably wrong.

I am myself personally allergic to Aspartame. No, really; I do mean that.

This means:

1. If I happen to pull you out of a signing line, for instance, to hand you a five dollar bill and ask you to get me a Coke or Pepsi? I want The Real Thing, not Diet. Not Brand Zero. I want the Awful, Fattening, Sugar-Loaded stuff. Really. Mind you, I don't do this often, but sometimes at cons I hit a point where I need the caffeine more than I don't need the sugar.

2. If I ask you, "Is the cookie/cake/pie you are offering me made with sugar, I mean SUGAR. NutraSweet is not sugar. Not even a little bit. NutraSweet makes me sick; sugar only makes me fat. A small but important difference.


3. It's also worth noting here that Tylenol is not the same as aspirin. If someone asks you for an aspirin and all you have on you is Tylenol, it's worth saying, "I have Tylenol, will that help?" before just handing over a couple of nondescript white pills.

Comments

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I just avoid all artificial sweeteners... and that crap is even in toothpaste!

[slweippert.livejournal.com]

do you know I've found it in children's vitamins? We're feeding chemicals to our kids. (shudder)

[janni.livejournal.com]

My spouse reacts badly to Nutrasweet too -- it's definitely as real a sensitivity as any other.

[dmellieon.livejournal.com]

Oh no, you are not alone. My husband and I are both sensitive to Aspartame. The worst part is that my husband IS diabetic! Can you taste the difference? I've notice that people who are sensitive to Aspartame can taste the difference and do NOT like it. Others who cannot taste it or LIKE the taste have no problems with it. My mom cannot tell the between Aspartame and sugar in drinks, candy or bake goods. I just don't know how. She doesn't have any side effects - no headaches or digestive "issues" or worst.
I agree, I much rather be fat and fun - thank you I am - than be thin and miserable!
Yes, there is a world of difference between aspirin and tylenol and people respond differently to each. Also ask if they are brand vs generic. Most generic drugs are just the same and I usually buy the generic. But! I've had one bad experience with "real" vs generic. Since then I always bought the smallest bottle of a new generic to see how my family and I respond to the drug or supplement.

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

I can taste the difference but I have no other reaction.

Handy, since my partner can't and he *does* react.

taste

[joythree.livejournal.com]

I think I can taste the artificial sweeteners from several feet away. What an idea that that may be an indication of allergy. I cannot tolerate the taste, so I don't know. I swore off this stuff when I was a Chemistry major back in 1974---too scary.

[doushkasmum.livejournal.com]

I am not allergic to aspartame but I think it tastes revolting, and they put it in to many things! In the UK I found they even put it in drinks that have sugar in them WTF? It is also almost impossible to buy cough syrup that doesn't have aspartame in it. (I tried last week, the chemist was surprised)

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Buttercup syrup is OK, or was the last time I was in the UK with a cough. I hope it hasn't succumbed too.

[doushkasmum.livejournal.com]

I actually live in Australia. I was in the UK last month and had an unpleasent experience with a drink that wasn't "diet" but still tasted of the horrid stuff. At least cough syrup isn't supposed to taste good. 8->

[ebartley.livejournal.com]

I guzzle diet coke. I can taste the difference, I prefer sugar, but I like diet coke quite well as long as it's very cold.

My husband has an unusual reaction to Nutrasweet: it makes him aggressively paranoid. He's a big guy....

[saffronrose.livejournal.com]

re: Aspartame--I know a phenylketonuric. It was very expensive keeping him fed and alive during his childhood and youth. I greatly prefer sucralose: I just think it tastes better.

I'm trying to wean my son off HFCS, and we look for softdrinks made with sugar, as they used to be made. He does drink a fair amount of milk, and likes "juice squeezes", and doesn't drink all that much uncut fruit juice (too much sugar all at one time for a body predisposed to diabetes).

I don't tend to cook with sugar substitutes, but I use splenda in beverages for my consumption. I can't handle the malty sweeteners (not sure about isomalt)--malitol, maltose, and something else I don't recall right now. Has the same effect that metformin/glucophage has for me. Why is it that any med that does a better job of controlling my blood glucose results in a problem that makes me discontinue its use?

When I'm in charge of a potluck, I ask people to LABEL the ingredients of their prepared food--too many people with allergies, preferences, and dislikes.

When I'm asked to get something for someone, and there is more than one expression of the food or drink, I ask for clarification--you would get a Coke Float with real CocaCola and fullfat icecream without vanillin, but with REAL vanilla.

Tylenol will do me as much good as staring at the moon, in order to relieve a headache or muscle pain. Aleve doesn't seem to work on me, either, but fewer people try to give it to you. I mostly use ibuprofen, but for bad migraines, I use FiorinAL, not FioriCET. The former has aspirin, the latter, acetominophen.

I'm allergic to codeine and vicodin--and those are the ingredients in the strongest cough suppressant prescribed. A cup of acceptable, but not TheGoodStuff, singlemalt is what it takes to shut off the cough and allow me to sleep, when the coughing is worst.

Should you and I ever be at the same event, I shall ask you in advance what your food preferences are & make something that meets them. I like cooking for authors & musicians/singers, and no one yet has been even slightly ill from my cooking.

[painoarvokas.livejournal.com]

The note about different medicines is absolutely true. There's the issue of allergy, incompatibilities with other medicines, among other things. And then there's the fact that aspirin is not just a pain reliever; it has unrelated uses – although it is unlikely that someone using cardio aspirin will be asking for it of others.

(I will briefly note that aspartame allergy is often a misdiagnosis; I hope other explanations have been explored as well.)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I can take aspartame, it's saccharin which I detest. I've made the mistake sometimes of picking up "no added sugar" drinks -- no added sugar is good, right? No, not when they then fill it with so-called 'sweetners'! It tastes foul. I'd be happy if they just left out the 'added' sugar and sweetners.

(Whoever thought saccharin was sweet needed his taste buds examined. Preferably after removing his head...)

No, Tylenol is NOT the same as aspirin. The former containes acetaminophen (paracetamol outside north America), to which I have bad reactions, the latter contains salicylic acid (willowbark). (Acetaminophen is also fatal in ridiculously low doses (one packet will do it), and so many things have it in these days that it's not hard to get to the dangerous level by accident if people don't read the labels where they say in small letters "contains paracetamol".) I can take any amount of NSAIDs (aspirin and ibuprofen) with no bad effects (not even stomach problems), one paracetamol makes me unsafe to operate heavy machinery like pencils and keyboards but does nothing much for pain. My aunt actually got headaches from it...

[baobrien.livejournal.com]

"Fatal in ridiculously low doses" is so true - one of my friends recently lost a sister to liver disease triggered by knee pain/too much acetaminophen. Not a safe alternative to aspirin.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

The first person I heard about directly was the mother of a person on a mailing list (Charles de Lint mailing list), it was thought that the woman woke up in pain and was too confused to know that she'd just taken a couple so did it again and again, and finished a packet. She was lucky, she was then in a coma until she died (I'm told that some people actually wake up enough to realise that they've killed themselves).

But it's easy enough, especially for elderly people, to take something for headache, cold, cough, rheumatism pain, etc., and exceed the fatal limit. They might not even be able to read the labels (things like Beechams Powders and LemSip used to be aspirin, it's only very small print which says otherwise).

(The idiot politicians get all upset about 5 people in the country dying of a "legal high" and ban it, and ban things like melatonin which is legal in other countries, but don't do anything about paracetamol...)

What gets me is that here (UK) there are loads of cold and cough and headache remedies available on the shelf containing the stuff, it would be very easy to buy loads of it (at the checkout), whereas if I want aspirin I'm allowed a maximum of 36 300mg tablets (up to 96 200mg Ibuprofen) and then only from the pharmacist. I get my aspirin in Germany once a year, where they ask if I want the 500mg or 1000mg tablets and how many hundred of them...

[(Anonymous)]

Also it is possible to be allergic to Asperin (& ibuprofein). Often - like in my own case - it is linked to particular type of asthma. And though rare it is possible to die of ashtmatic attack so I don't take the chance. If I don't know what kind of pain relief pill it is I don't take it. Usually on trips I carry my own paracetamol with me because I don't want to end up with the wrong stuff from the pharmacy because of language barrier. This also makes things rather interesting when I require something more strong than paracetamol for example after an operation. The doctors usually end up giving me Vicodin which I don't like because it knocks me down and out for hours.

I can taste the difference between artificial sweetener and sugar and I prefer sugar.

Maija
Finland

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I find Tylenol to be completely useless as a painkiller, yeah. Not the same.

Artificial Sweeteners

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Out here in UT artificial sweeteners have not caught on at all. All cakes, cookies, etc. are made with sugar. So you should definitely come for a visit. Home made pastries and at the supermarket. No sign of any artificial sweeteners. Of course all the diet drinks are available.

I'm a borderline diabetic/hypoglycemic. But also allergic to all milk products and chocolate so I get not to eat any pastries of any kind most of the time. The occasional vegan cupcake made by a friend. Working at an animal shelter has it's benefits. There is a lot of vegan desserts available even cupcakes and with not too much sugar. If I'm ever in that signing line I'll try and remember: only natural ingredients and that means sugar.
C. and the naughty furry Gang.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

I find Tylenol to be completely useless as a painkiller, yeah. Not the same.

[otaku-tetsuko.livejournal.com]

And it only takes one person in the family with strong reactions to make the rest of us warriors on their behalf! I can be downright vicious in restaurants, when the waitress blinks at me and says, "well, it's only white flour is that okay?" when I ask if there is wheat, rye or barley (or malt) in the dish. Or then they become super-nervous and want to keep us away from the dairy and the meat...guys...it's GLUTEN. Okay? Wheat, rye, barley (including malt)....let me read the LABEL already! Sigh.

We share your pain, Sharon.

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

I'm of the opinion that ALL things with ANY artificial sweetener should be labeled, even if they are home made. I do a fair amount of cooking for the SCA and recently ranted on this to several people because of the following incident.

A friend was cooking a lunch for about 300 people. So I went to help in the kitchen. One of her friends had made some food at home for the lunch - pickled beef and digby cakes (like a scone). Since he's diabetic he made both with Splenda. He thought that was fine since he'd never heard of anyone having a reaction to Splenda. He handed a piece of the beef to someone in the kitchen and when she told him how good it was he said he'd translated the recipe for Splenda. At which point we had to hunt down a benedryl because Splenda causes migraines in some people.

Really - if a "non-standard", not natural product is being used it SHOULD be labeled. I get the diabetes thing - I have all the qualifiers to know I'm going to have it one day. But I also know when that day comes I'll be doing without sweet instead of using artificial.

[ledav.livejournal.com]

I have seen Splenda cause not only migraines but it has been linked to on going nervous damage in some people. It is always good to note that Splenda is also known as sucrolose.

[maddoxa.livejournal.com]

If you read the ingredients, most products that use Splenda also use aspartame, sugar, or sugar alcohols(usually dextrose & maltodextrin) even the yellow packets are only 2% sucralose and 98% other sweetners.

they get away with '0 grams carb', because they have .99 gram, and they're allowed to round down.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Sigh.

As someone who has had food allergies all her life, I'm always hypersensitive about what I make or serve to others. But having been on the receiving end of too many ("Oops, is almond a nut? I forgot") type mistakes, I know that many others are not.

[adriannem.livejournal.com]

You and me both. People don't understand why I hate eating out. For me it's like playing Russian roulette every time.

"It doesn't have any wheat. It only has flour."
"Our guacamole doesn't have any dairy in it, it has sour cream."
"Our tortillas are corn." In fact they were wheat.
"I need the curry without tomatoes," and am served curry with tomatoes.

Waiters don't get it that one mistake, and I loose 2-3 days out of my week to migraine and illness.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I find it best to start from the default assumption that people are trying to poison me, and then work backwards from there :-)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Clueless people and food allergies . . .

Here. Have a clue-mallet.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

yep, if you have an allergy, definitely specify the substance you're asking for by excluding the thing you're allergic to. ('cause you only have to remember *your* allergies -- the poor
guy on runner duty would otherwise have to remember *everyone*'s
allergies.)

remind me to tell you about the clueless nurse and the MRI machine sometime....

[muntahz.livejournal.com]

I am also reactive to aspertame.
Massive headaches and then sick as a dog.
It tatses metallic to me( like a metal after taste) and it makes my tongue numb.
I know several of my family are the same.
Quite a while ago I was on a flight with a big wig from a sugar company and he let me read the FDA's findings report on aspertame. I knew there were issues, but it is so far worse than we realized and bran formation in fetuses can be inturrupted.
It may be connected to a certain gene broup but they had kids born with only a fully formned brain stem or some of teh upper brain but a very small precent of that area.
Scary!

[baobrien.livejournal.com]

On point #2, there may still be a baking mixture of 50% sugar/50% artificial sweetener (spenda, if I remember correctly). I used it once or twice, then decided we'd all be better off with real sugar. You can taste a slight difference, unless the baked item is highly spiced. Using it, however, if asked if there is sugar in that cookie/cake/pie, the baker would have to say "yes".

You may need to ask if there are any artificial sweeteners used in the baking, instead. They might be anywhere.

[saruby.livejournal.com]

I don't get the point of baking with artificial sweeteners, unless you are baking for yourself or your family alone. If someone doesn't want the sugar, they should just avoid the sweet. Or try another natural sweetener like agave syrup. Personally, with baking, I'm always nervous about making substituions anyway. So I let others bake for me. My problem is gluten, which is a pain in the neck, because everything has wheat in it. Restaurants totally do not get it that wheat means flour. You would think that a chef (trained) would understand, but.... OTOH, at the store, I find that gluten-free foods are likely to also be nut-free, dairy-free, sugar-free and soy-free. In other words there is nothing in them at all.

Tylenol is NOT the same as aspirin. It is adequate for pain mostly, but won't help with swelling or headaches that are vascular or caused by muscle tension. I can't take aspirin because it makes my ears ring (really loudly). So ibuprofen for me.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

::nods:: We're lucky here in the area around Nashville, TN. Because of the number of various cultures and folx with allergies there are actually more restaurants & wait staff that understand. As well as cooks who are extremely careful about not using the same utensils on foods that oh say, have nuts, are gluten free, etcetera.

[sfminou.livejournal.com]

Thank you for bringing up the subject, Sharon. There are many reasons to avoid artificial sweeteners. Some results are an inconvenience, some results are a major public disaster. Unfortunately, it is not my *tongue* which suffers from aspartame and its fellows.
The idea that artificial sweeteners are somehow healthier has been way oversold. One sweet lady at church told me she always uses Splenda. "It's so much better for you," she said, eyeing my substantial self -- so now I have to check on which family baked the goodies I might choose to snack on. Not good!
Lunch at Baja Fresh turned into a problem the other day. I *did* look at the drink label, but only far enough to see that it contained sugar. It also contained fructose, maltitol, and aspartame, presumably to hid the massive amount of sweetener included!
Kathy

[micheledear.livejournal.com]

...or people could pay attention to what you ACTUALLY said/asked and respond appropriately. When people want a diet drink, they will generally say so. Because they don't want "regular".

How's about people start listening?

I suppose it's just me... I have a two and a half year old - if I don't LISTEN, regardless of the warblings of my 5-month old, oh boy is there heck to pay!

[micheledear.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, if you order a coke in Tennessee, they will ask you what flavor you would like, you know, like "Pepsi" or "Orange" or "Sprite"....

[ledav.livejournal.com]

The same in South Carolina. If you want a Coke you have to ask for Coca- Cola. Then you get what you asked for.

[bittergeek.livejournal.com]

I remember this from high school in SC selling food. A coca-cola was just that, co-coler meant fizzy beverage of undetermined sort.

[groblek.livejournal.com]

Gah! I have a friend who gets her emotional state thrown for a loop by aspartame - it took her a while to work out just what was happening. I can't see someone using that in a dessert, but I'm one of those people who can taste it as a somewhat bitter, unpleasant taste, and can't see putting that into anything I baked. The idea that anyone can eat artificial sweeteners is really dumb, and I'm disturbed that it exists.

[eseme]

The reverse is also true. If someone asks for Tylenol, that is what they need.

I have to remember if I have taken any aspirin within the 24-47 hours before I give blood, as people are allergic to aspirin and it can linger in the blood.

[bittergeek.livejournal.com]

My family is really allergic to aspartame. For us a headache is just the warning shot across the bows, the real pain is in the kidneys. A stick of gum sweetened with the stuff feels like a punch in the back, half a soda (was given the wrong stuff by accident, and movie theater soda tastes weird anyway) pushes me into barely functional and whimpering territory. My mom would have to be hospitalized, but she has 4 weird kidneys anyway.

It shows up in all sorts of things. I even spotted it in an over the counter Dramamine pill once (I don't even know why I thought to look. Yay advertency!) Apparently you're not supposed to give it to children anyway, since it can hurt developing nervous systems. Lovely. Give me the real sugar any day. Here in Houston I can even find Coke with actual cane sugar, not corn syrup, fairly often, brought up from Mexico and living in the ethnic foods aisle. And of course almost everywhere has it during Passover.

Man

[(Anonymous)]

You sound like my friend Lisa, who is allergic to aspirin. She told
me allergies get worse and worse...like this could be deadly at some
point.

I would take your request seriously...it might be a question of life
or death.
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

[slweippert.livejournal.com]

{BIG HUG} Somebody who understands about fake sugar!

I too am allergic to aspertame, in a scary way. My fingers and toes turn numb and I have trouble walking & talking. Hunnybun says it's like I'm drunk. I DO NOT LIKE THIS, so please, please have real sugar stuff available. Yes, I'm fat and I know I *shouldn't* eat/drink sugar stuff but I can't. Enjoy your diet soda without me.

[(Anonymous)]

In this day and age, it's hard to believe there are still products that use aspartame. There are already genuine sugars that don't have any calories, so why try to fake it with polypeptides.

Yes, I am talking about Sucralose, aka Splenda, aka natural sugar enantiomers. As a flavored-carbonated-water junkie, I couldn't live without it.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

Ahem. This is why I always try to take a copy of the recipe I used to go along with the food I make & take. If I use a mix, I bring the frelling side of the box with the stats & ingredient list. When I brought things to school functions I always contacted the teacher first and said, "Do any of the other students (my son was allergic to soy & cow milk until he was nine) have food allergies?" They'd be surprised. But hey, I know all about food allergies and I want to make sure that guests in my home etcetera have at least one thing that they can eat (yeah, that's right, I ask people I invite to my home as well). Harrumph! The wrong ingredient can kill someone. Before I had children and still smoked in my house (we moved into a new house before I had kids & I went outside to smoke), I would ask before smoking. Sure it freaked people out but it's safety conscious and polite. grrrrrrrrrr If someone asks you get them A, B, and or C and you can't find them, you go back, tell them what is available, and ask their preference. #$*$^&! Ummmm, where did this soapbox come from??

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Oh, ARGH, and damn the food police.

It's worth knowing, by the way: if you ever have dental surgery and they offer you Tylenol 3s, you can ask for Nurofen instead -- it's ibuprofen + codeine instead of Tylenol + codeine. Ditto Vicoprofen instead of Vicodin.

(I know this because I'm a migraineur, not for recreational reasons.)

[(Anonymous)]

Earlier I replied up in the thread (my post around 15th from up) so I don't know if all people caught it.

Yes, sensitivity to Aspirin can be a big problem. Asperin can cause a severe asthma attack in a sensitive person (which is life-threatening). So if a person has both astma and sensitivity to Asperin it is actually important to avoid all drugs in the family of "non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs" such as ibuprofein. So like eseme and Lauretta pointed out ealier if a person wants Tylenol, they may be a good cause for it too.

Like most people have pointed out it's not a problem what we cook/eat/drink, it's assuming that if we're okay with it, everyone else is too. I have above mentioned "little" problem with Asperin and friends with severe allergies to various things so I've learned always to check (with complete list of (effective) ingredients) if it's ok for me / them.

Maija
from Finland