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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
[email protected]Shown: posts 1 to 12 of 12. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by tampagirl70 on June 21, 2004, at 11:38:43
has anyone heard anything about staying away from the artificial sweeteners when you're depressed? i think i read somewhere that they might cause problems.
Posted by Maxime on June 21, 2004, at 19:52:30
In reply to equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection?, posted by tampagirl70 on June 21, 2004, at 11:38:43
I have read articles that say it does make depression worse. I am sure if you did a google search you would find some information.
MAxime
> has anyone heard anything about staying away from the artificial sweeteners when you're depressed? i think i read somewhere that they might cause problems.
Posted by Racer on June 22, 2004, at 15:12:37
In reply to equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection?, posted by tampagirl70 on June 21, 2004, at 11:38:43
You'll have to google it, because I'm not up to finding the study right now, but here's what I remember of the study I found:
They found that aspartame was associated with such high rates of depression in such moderate to low amounts that the study was discontinued early. I believe they were testing it on people already being treated for depression, so it might have been partially that the subjects knew what the study was about, but since it was a double-blind, placebo controlled study -- well, google it and draw your own conclusions.
Personally, although I still consume way too much diet soda, after reading that I cut way back. I wish I could say that I'd stopped it entirely, but I can say that I have cut WAY back and keep careful track of how much I drink, as well as my moods. If I ever get around to graphing the effects, I'll try to remember to let you know. If I were offering advice, I'd say "almost anything in moderation, but moderation is a relative term -- in the case of aspartame, limiting consumption pretty radically for anyone who has suffered a depressive episode is probably wise." But you didn't ask for advice, so I won't give it ;-D
I'm sorry I can't post the link for you, but it was very easy to find -- maybe NIMH? NIH? Dunno, but you shouldn't have trouble finding it.
Posted by tampagirl70 on June 23, 2004, at 7:59:20
In reply to Absolutely » tampagirl70, posted by Racer on June 22, 2004, at 15:12:37
thanks racer. here's the study you were talking about (i don't know how to post a link):
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8373935&dopt=Abstracti see the date on it is july 1993 - i'd think there'd be more up to date studies out there. i'll have to see if i can find any. also, now there's splenda which is made from sugar, not aspartame. i'll also check to see if there's any link between splenda & depression.
Posted by Racer on June 23, 2004, at 12:58:15
In reply to Re: Absolutely » Racer, posted by tampagirl70 on June 23, 2004, at 7:59:20
I do have a little canister of Splenda, which I hardly ever use because I hardly ever make anything that needs sweetening these days, but when I did the research way back I couldn't find any safety issues.
Although I admit to a long-term overuse of aspartame, I was always suspicious of it: temp changes being able to scramble its molecular structure? And someone considers that safe for consumers? {{sigh}} a major component of my depression has always been self-destructive things like drinking diet soda when I know that aspartame is linked to depression -- nothing more overt, but a lot of the less visible things, mostly involving food -- so I guess that's my only excuse. Oh, and on some of the meds I've been on, they've affected my metabolism in some weird ways, including wild fluctuations in blood sugars, so regular soda wasn't an option.
(I finally got smart enough to start buying bottled water, by the way, because it's as convenient as grabbing a soda, so I do drink it. Still have my two diet sodas per day, though. Trying to cut them out, too. It's HARD, because they are sweet and there's that 'feels good' thing because they taste good. Someday, right?)
Do post what you find on Splenda, eh? I'd love to see anything out there.
Posted by Sebastian on June 23, 2004, at 20:35:56
In reply to equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection?, posted by tampagirl70 on June 21, 2004, at 11:38:43
do you drink diet caffine? Do you drink more than you did before stoping the wellbutrin. I discover that I have next to no tolerance for caffine anymore, even unsweetened coffee. Taking wellbutrin sr for a year+ now.
Posted by tampagirl70 on June 24, 2004, at 7:51:27
In reply to Re: equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection? » tampagirl70, posted by Sebastian on June 23, 2004, at 20:35:56
i've been drinking caffeine free diet for probably the last 3 or 4 years, maybe more, and i never really noticed any problems with it. i only drink diet sodas/drinks, and hardly ever drink plain water unless i'm at the gym, but i'm trying to pay more attention to how much i drink that has nutrasweet/sweet & lo/equal in it. i remember my mom telling me quite a while ago that she had heard that they could cause some problems, but i don't remember if they were related to depression/anxiety.
Posted by Sebastian on June 24, 2004, at 11:36:48
In reply to Re: equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection?, posted by tampagirl70 on June 24, 2004, at 7:51:27
I've been drinking a ton of diet soda the last 4 years. Haven't notisted any depresion from it.
Posted by snapper on June 24, 2004, at 12:58:27
In reply to Re: equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection?, posted by Sebastian on June 24, 2004, at 11:36:48
> I've been drinking a ton of diet soda the last 4 years. Haven't notisted any depresion from it.
Try going without the soda for an extended period of time and see how your mood is then. Sometimes we don't notice the detriment a particular substance is having on our body or brain until we try to live without it!
Posted by Sebastian on June 24, 2004, at 18:28:53
In reply to Re: equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection? » Sebastian, posted by snapper on June 24, 2004, at 12:58:27
Actualy I cut down a lot in the last few months. The caffine and the taste of aspertame were getting to me. Mainly the caffine. I was not enjoying plain coffee either.
Posted by tampagirl70 on June 25, 2004, at 13:37:27
In reply to Re: equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection?, posted by Sebastian on June 24, 2004, at 18:28:53
i've done some minor googling and found a couple letters from people at a foodanddiet.com website (i think that was the name of it) who state that after using splenda, they got extremely depressed. after stopping usage of it, they went back to normal.
i myself have drank diet sodas, crystal light and any other diet drinks for many years and never really noticed any change in my moods (i was also on medication for depression/ocd), but maybe some people are more sensitive to it than others.
the way i see it, we're all gonna die from something eventually, whether its the sun, too much red meat, too little water, not enough dairy products, etc. there are reports out there that tout the benefit of one thing and another report that states how bad that same thing is for us. who do we believe? who do we trust? its all a crap-shoot.
Posted by Sebastian on June 26, 2004, at 20:31:42
In reply to Re: equal nutrasweet and depression - any connection?, posted by tampagirl70 on June 25, 2004, at 13:37:27
Besides with all the meds I take how could I posibly get depressed?
This is the end of the thread.
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