High Aspartame use and BC

2 diet pepsis a day, every day.  I'm addicted!

Btw...I'm 43 and probably ingest 10-15 Splenda packets a day. Lots of coffee!

I used to drink a lot of diet coke years ago (to keep me caffeinated at work) but quit 10+ years ago. Did it contribute to my cancer? Who knows? How long has it been growing? But post-BC, I've made the choice to avoid artificial anything and to eat organic as much as possible (esp. eggs, dairy and meat; I often avoid them, but if I do eat them I make sure they are organic).

BTW, the book the MOOD CURE claims that aspartame mucks with your serotonin levels (your body's natural "feel good" chemical, so mucking with that can lead to low moods, depression etc) so one option is to maybe take a vacation from aspartame and see if you feel better. You can always go back... (my experience is that there was a few-day period of withdrawal, and then I felt better)

I post my question out of curiosity, and am wondering why on earth such a chemical would be allowed into our national food stream when it causes such horrible side effects.

Yeah, good question.  What I've seen is that a lot of these possible toxins are considered safe until proven guilty. Remember how Coke used to have cocaine in it?   Also, in some cases the US is more lenient that Europe and other countries, such as the approach to GMOs. Not only is GMO food allowed in the US, we can't even get it labelled so we don't know what we're eating. arg! Europeans don't agree with that. OK, stepping off my soapbox.

Lucky48 I see you've been recently diagnoses. It's so hard at the beginning. I hope things are going well for you.  After I was Dx'd I got some cookbooks from the library related to cancer. It felt like a fun little project to learn some healthy and tasty new recipes that were good for me. I like THE CANCER FIGHTING KITCHEN by Rebecca Katz. I'm not much of a chef so some of the recipes felt like a little work, but some were easier, and it was fun (and she talks about foods that have cancer-fighting properties). Good luck!

I am 45.  I've been drinking them since college. I don't drink coffee so I have my diet pepsi in the morning for caffeine!   I always blamed my BC on birth controll pills. 

I switched from sugar to Splenda in my coffee about six years ago. I was trying to lose weight from having a baby the year before.

Interestingly, I had a beautiful Aunt, that was an eighteen year BC survivor, completely NED after undergoing UMX, chemo, rads and was in on the first trial of Tamofixin. Her BC came back with a vengeance after 18 years. Three years before the recurrence (liver) she was diagnosed with diabetes. She was thin and fit, very active, but she had such a hard time staying away from sweets. Much more so than an average person on a diet. She could not resist. Very interesting...

Lucky- I am doing well. Feel pretty much back to "normal". Thanks for asking. Now, if I could just lay off the sugar and fat- I would really be good! I am not overweight, but could still stand to lose about 10lbs!

I don't like honey, maybe I should try the agave!

Never had one tiny bit of aspartame....ever..... Also never had any artificial sugar in my life. I use agave now, but I seriously don't think there is any difference between Agave and any other form of real sugar. But I use it anyway...I also don't think cancer feeds on sugar but it's not good for us to eat soo much of it.

FYI breast cancer does not feed on sugar. Granted sugar isn't good for you and of couse too much will cause you to put on weight… extra weight isn't good for breast cancer as we know but sugar consumption doesn't feed breast cancer. linky 

Granted I'm in the mood for some gummy cherries… but don't have any so I'm good today

I wish it was so easy folks!! I've never had a can of diet soda in my 40+year lifetime (and think in my life I've had less than a dozen cans of regular soda), never drank coffee (never liked the smell), never drank alcohol really at all (not even in college, no beer or wine with dinner, no after dinner drinks, etc), never was on the pill, don't take any pills in fact, not overweight, never smoked, rarely ever eat red meat. AND HERE I AM! 

Give yourselves a break, cells divide, cells die, things get out of wack. It's not fair but it is the reality! 

Makratz: I worried about ovarian cancer since my Mom died from it. My OBGYN suggested I go on birth control pills for 5 yrs since it reduced the chances of my getting ovarian cancer. I did it.  Then bc....I wonder.?????

I guess would llike to know what is considered high apartame intake. I usually have one 20 ounce bottle of Diet Coke during the course of a day. I appreciate research has much as the next person, but I do get frustrated reading about all these different things that may have caused my BC (parabens, birth control, vitamin D deficiency, etc.) It's hard not to turn into a total nutcase. My MO says "all things in moderation", so I use that as my guide.

CTMOM1234 I tend to agree with you but I still want to blame my asshole former boss for flicking the final switch

I have read that birth control is only an issue when you are taking them, or  take them for long periods of time and the risk is just slightly higher. Supposedly once you are off them for 10  years the risk goes back to where you were before taking them. I was on them for a few years back in the early 80's. I highly doubt this had an effect on me.  source linky 

I'm also not a big drinker. It's not unusual for women who are in the luminal b category to have low consumption of alcohol, not use HRT and are younger. source linky   

I rarely ever drink pop at all and if I do, its just the regular sugary stuff, Coke or Gingerale.  I like my red wine and smoke too (yes must quit, I know). Not a sweet freak, eat all my greens, never used Birth Control, no HRT.  Not a big milk drinker. No BC history in the family.  My personal view is what the animals are being fed that we eat and whats the fruit and veg are being sprayed with.  Even my MO says they don't know what causes cancer.