As you have noticed, we suggest diet sodas and artificially sweetened tea. These non-caloric drinks may be used in place of sugared beverages to help your blood sugar levels drop normally so that you will be able to detect hunger. The artificial sweetener called aspartame has come under fire in past years for allegedly causing side effects in some people.

Aspartame is among the most thoroughly tested and screened food products on the market today. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued approval for aspartame 26 times. The American Council on Science and Health unequivocally endorses its safety.

Aspartame is made up of two amino acids. An amino acid is just one of the smallest units of a protein molecule. Many different amino acids in different combinations make up the proteins you eat. The amino acids in aspartame—phenylalanine and aspartic acid—are found naturally in many foods. For example, if you eat a hamburger patty, you will ingest much more aspartame than you would drink from a two-liter bottle of diet soda. If you believe you get headaches from diet sodas, and if the aspartame/headache theory is correct, then you should get a migraine from one hamburger patty! However, research has shown no such adverse effects, even after repeated double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. One test done at Duke University on people who claimed they experienced aspartame-induced headaches showed the group who took aspartame actually had fewer headaches than the control group who took placebos.

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