# Does your whey protein contain aspartame?



## Sam_UK (May 22, 2004)

Reason for this thread: I have not been feeling right these past couple of months so I launched an investigation into possible causes - one of the first things I looked at was the ingrediants of my REFLEX INSTANT WHEY tub.

It appears that reflex uses Aspartame to flavour their products, if you're not aware of the affects of aspartame then you should follow the links below;

http://www.dorway.com/badnews.html

http://aspartamekills.com/

http://www.sweetpoison.com/

Put simply it's not good stuff, if you want more information then just type 'aspartame' into google and see what you find...

I'm definitely staying off Reflex from now on, and perhaps any powdered protein altogether until I can find some more info on what's safe.

This might be of little or no concern to some of you, however I just wanted to increase awareness and let you make up your own minds.

Sam


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

Aspartame and whether it has any ill effects is under a lot of debate at the moment. All the studies done on it are coming out clean, but there are an awful lot of people out there who say otherwise. On the one hand the FDA are satisfied that its safe - and they are always eager to ban anything they can! - so that should be re-assuring. On the other hand there are all these campaigns to ban it. Its difficult to know whether it really poses a danger or if it is just scaremongering.

If you wish to stay away from aspartame, then choose protein powders that use sucralose as the sweetner. Most are doing so now actually. In fact I think Reflex will probably change instant whey to sucralose soon as I think they've already done so with instant mass. USN, PVL, Dymatize and quite a few other brands are already aspartame free.


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

Sucralose - in my opinion - also gives much better flavour and texture than aspartame.


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## Z3R0-CooL (Mar 9, 2004)

also MRM is aspartame and acesulfame (Sp?) free. Your best bet is to get some unflavored, unsweetened and put whatever u want in it. i drink it as it is.. no sweetner or flavor but with glucose PWO.. all my other meals are solid food.... i once had unflavoured like that and it wasnt bad at all.. put some ice in the blender and enjoy..


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## AussieMarc (Jun 13, 2004)

i also have been getting an ill sort of feeling since i started actually training... i just looked on the back of my protein tub and it uses suraclose as the sweetner so it isnt the aspartame with me..


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

Aussie Marc - that could be anything really. Have you been training for very long? This could be a sign of possible overtraining/under-recuperating.


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## Langers (Nov 18, 2003)

Check out Reflex Natural Whey.


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

I've just been reading the aspartame kills site. Those guys are complete fruitloops. They are blaming everything from micheal j fox's parkinsons disease to OJ Simpson killing his wife on aspartame!

http://aspartamekills.com/oj.htm

Nutters...


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

This is the only thing you need to read about the possible bad effects of aspartame, it pretty much covers it all nicely:

http://www.dorway.com/badnews.html#symptoms

I like the way it lists 'death' as a symptom of aspartame poisoning. Are you dead? Then you may have aspartame poisoning...

I'm not entirely convinced either way on this one. I dont doubt that the fda could be 'bought' to approve a dangerous compound (the pharmaceutical companies are full of corruption, as is politics obviously). The whole bloody world is corrupt - why do you think smoking remains legal (my favourite conspiracy theory) whilst other less harmful things are illegal - it all comes down to cash and 'who owns who'.

On the other hand, the list of symptoms they give of aspartame poisoning are so wide that everyone is bound to have at least 3 or 4 of them at any time regardless of if they have aspartame or not.

If irritability and weight gain are symptoms then I guess I'd better get down the docs..

I've yet to see anything that I'd consider conclusive evidence of aspartame poisoning.


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## Sportsup (Mar 16, 2004)

Sam_UK said:


> Reason for this thread:
> 
> http://www.dorway.com/badnews.html
> 
> ...


In that case, I would also suggest you avoid a wide range of meats and dairy products which naturally contain Aspartame (and the 2 amino acids that make up Aspartame).

For the record, I currently use 3 to 4 different brands of protein all of which contain Aspartame. I'm not saying you should, just stating this is my choice.

I also drink diet coke etc which also contain aspartame.

Personally, I consider passive smoking to be more of a risk to my health...


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## Killerkeane (Nov 9, 2003)

i think i have allergic reaction to something in these powders, i get a very itchy mouth and throat taking some products. Might have to look into this a little farther.


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

Killerkeane said:


> i think i have allergic reaction to something in these powders, i get a very itchy mouth and throat taking some products. Might have to look into this a little farther.


It might be the chocolate. I tap into the wifes chocolate and it does it to me.

I prefer splenda because it is made from sugar. Tastes great too. I dont like the way aspertain tastes, it is so sweet it is bitter to me.


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## AussieMarc (Jun 13, 2004)

silentbob said:


> Aussie Marc - that could be anything really. Have you been training for very long? This could be a sign of possible overtraining/under-recuperating.


yeh i think i was overtraining a few weeks back. i fixed up my routine to give me more time to recover etc.


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## Sam_UK (May 22, 2004)

I realise the sports supplement re-sellers on this thread might feel i'm scare mongering; that's not the case, all I wanted to do was make others aware and let them make up their own minds.

I'm changing to natural whey I think.


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

Dont feel that way at all mate. Sorry if it appeared like I was putting your concerns down - I just wanted to make it clear that we dont know 100% for sure either way if aspartame is safe or not.

I myself am slightly cautious of aspartame just in case. Its hard to avoid it though as it is in many, many products besides supplements. Some which you probably use a lot. I reckon I get far more of it from diet coke and stuff like that than supplements. The supps I use dont generally contain aspartame (USN, Dymatize, etc..). At least in supplements you can pick the ones that dont have aspartame if you so wish. With many other foodstuffs you dont have a choice.


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

Hey Silentbob do you carry and protein that has Splenda in it? It is all over the place here in the U.S.


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## Killerkeane (Nov 9, 2003)

what is splenda?


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## winger (Jul 26, 2003)

Killerkeane said:


> what is splenda?


An artificial sugar, but it is made from sugar and is probably the best out there as far as taste and less sides if any.


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

winger said:


> Hey Silentbob do you carry and protein that has Splenda in it? It is all over the place here in the U.S.


Yeah, a lot of the new products seem to have switched from aspartame to splenda (Sucralose). I think its much better. It makes the shakes a lot smoother and richer in taste imo. Plus there arent the safety concerns of aspartame.

So far the products we have containing splenda that I can think of are:

all pvl products (whey gourmet, gourmet pudding etc..)

all usn protein products

reflex instant mass

There's more but I cant think of them at the moment.


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## AussieMarc (Jun 13, 2004)

silentbob said:


> Dont feel that way at all mate. Sorry if it appeared like I was putting your concerns down - I just wanted to make it clear that we dont know 100% for sure either way if aspartame is safe or not.
> 
> I myself am slightly cautious of aspartame just in case. Its hard to avoid it though as it is in many, many products besides supplements. Some which you probably use a lot. I reckon I get far more of it from diet coke and stuff like that than supplements. The supps I use dont generally contain aspartame (USN, Dymatize, etc..). At least in supplements you can pick the ones that dont have aspartame if you so wish. With many other foodstuffs you dont have a choice.


good to be cautious mate.. 20 years ago smokeing was safe. look at it now. aspartme could just be your new cigarette  ya never really know.


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## Cheater2K (Apr 3, 2003)

Ive never had a problem yet, just dont over do it with the shakes.


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## megatron (Apr 21, 2004)

I must say that the new instant mass formula is much nicer to drink than the old one. Also I agree with teh nausia feeling straight after drinking the old formula. The only thing is its now 10 tims harder to mix up. I prefer it thought.


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## BSF James (Sep 29, 2003)

what flavour did you have mate? I'm still waiting for some chocolate flavour but our suppliers havent had any. I might have to give strawberry a go at this rate.


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