Aspartame-Free Chewing Gum

[rpn453]

Does anyone know of any good aspartame-free chewing gum? I'd like to find some. I've recently been chewing Zapp brand gum. No aspartame or artificial sweeteners, and triple the xylitol; a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that apparently kills dentally harmful bacteria. It was made in California and I ordered five boxes off their internet site a few months ago. It's decent gum. The flavor is good. Both the flavor and consistency don't last as long as my previous gum of choice - Extra - but it works well enough. I have to chew two pieces at a time because they're small and it definitely costs more. I thought it was worth it though, so I ordered another ten boxes a couple months ago. After six weeks, nothing had arrived. No response to my e-mail or message on their 1-800 line. I called the number on the Visa statement and it was no longer in service, so I had the charge canceled. They must be out of business.

Why aspartame free? I've avoided aspartame soft drinks since I tried some as a child and thought they tasted bad. But I accidentally consumed a bunch of aspartame when I drank punch one evening this past summer that unknowingly-to-me contained diet ginger ale. I hadn't realized what I was drinking until I saw the empty bottle in the corner after almost finishing my glass. It didn't taste all that great so I didn't drink a lot, but apparently it was enough because I felt sort of like I had a nasty hangover for about two hours that evening. I wasn't capable of doing anything but lying on the couch in the fetal position until the feeling passed. Maybe it was a coincidence, but that's the only time I've ever felt like that in my life, so I'm blaming the aspartame for now. Immediately after recovering, I decided to cut aspartame completely out and located Zapp gum on the internet. I haven't actually noticed any overall improvement in how I feel since the switch, so I'm willing to try Extra again if I can't find anything else.

I'm a big believer in chewing sugar-free gum after eating anything sugary. Despite my sugary diet, I haven't required any dental work since I started chewing regularly about twenty years ago. I don't even bother with the dentist much. I've probably only seen my uncle (my dentist) two times in my adult life, and he always says good things about my teeth. He retired a couple years ago, and I wouldn't bother seeking out another dentist unless I have a problem.

I'll probably check out some local health food stores to see if I can find anything.

 

[Shannow]

There's a reason that the "control" was MSG in the double blind testing of aspartame...why not sugar/fructose/saccharine etc. ?

xylitol gums down here are usually kids berry and bubblegum flavours.

When you look at what gum chewing does, there's techniques of achieving the same without the gum

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
When you look at what gum chewing does, there's techniques of achieving the same without the gum.


What techniques are those? Do you practice any?

 

[Shannow]

Only ones that I use regularly are swishing saliva around my mouth (supposed to mineralise, neutralise and clean), a sort of tooth chattering/clicking thing that's supposed to improve blood flow, and teeth clenching supposed to improve attachment rigidity.

Can see how gum chewing gives a parallel to the above.

Mostly it's subconscious while I'm wandering the plant problem solving, so not really a formal approach, more like a cat twitching it's tail to calm the nerves...with beneficial effect.

 

[PSS]

I buy xylitol gum from epicdental.com . They have the highest amount of xylitol. I also use their mints, toothpaste and mouthwash to get my six servings of xylitol daily.

 

[rpn453]

Thanks, Shannow and PSS. I need to have gum in my mouth to be able to remember to keep the saliva flowing. I don't know how much effect the gum itself has, but I also like the feel of it sticking and rubbing against the teeth. It seems like it would help to clean them. I'd like to try the Epic stuff, though it's fairly pricey to ship to Canada and their Canadian partner (x-pur.com) charges almost twice as much as Epic for the gum in bulk. I can get xylitol gum locally for considerably less.

I checked out some local health food stores, and they all carry Spry xylitol gum, in various flavors. I bought Green Tea, Peppermint, Spearmint, Cinnamon, and Fresh Fruit. The taste is okay but I preferred Zapp. Texture may be better than Zapp though. I also found some mass-market aspartame-free gum: Dentyne Fire. Bought in bulk, it's almost half the cost of Spry but contains a couple of other artificial sweeteners - sucralose and acesulfame potassium - and no xylitol. It does taste better and provide a better chew than the Spry. I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

While at one of the little co-op health food stores, I also picked up some 'Jason' natural toothpaste because I'd like to reduce my fluoride consumption. The fluoride is sapping and impurifying all my precious bodily fluids!

 

[Techniker]

So this is the medical side of me coming out, but I can't help but wonder if you would have been sick for two hours if you had not seen the label.

 

[Drew99GT]

Given the fact that aspartame breaks down into methyl alcohol and formaldehyde in your body, I doubt it. I feel quite crummy after drinking diet soda.

 

[Techniker]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Given the fact that aspartame breaks down into methyl alcohol and formaldehyde in your body, I doubt it. I feel quite crummy after drinking diet soda.



But only in the most marginal of amounts. Its chief products are phenylalanine. While there are legitimate reasons that one would get sick after consumption of aspartame (if you are a PKU for example), I think there is a good chance you only feel sick because you know you are consuming a diet soda. I think there is a good chance that even if I gave you a Diet Coke with Splenda you would still feel sick afterward.

 

[Drew99GT]

"I think" "I think"

 

[Drew99GT]

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/recent.html

I'll refrain from consuming anything containing aspartame.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: Techniker
So this is the medical side of me coming out, but I can't help but wonder if you would have been sick for two hours if you had not seen the label.


While I would be very surprised if my mind could make me feel like that, it's not impossible. An unsound human mind is certainly capable of much stranger things. I don't think it's likely though because I didn't even expect the aspartame to cause any acute effects. I wouldn't have been chewing about seven pieces of aspartame gum every day if I did. I wasn't dwelling on it; I came home after the meal and went for a walk. I didn't start feeling bad until about a half-hour in. I would not have even gone for an hour-long walk if I were feeling bad or expecting to feel bad. I think it's more likely to be coincidence than craziness. If it were a bit of stomach discomfort, a mild headache, or physical weakness, I'd possibly consider it a matter of perception. But to feel as bad as I did for mental reasons would definitely qualify as mental illness, so I'll resist that label for now!

The only way to know for sure would be to do consume more of it, but I really don't want to do that. It's something that is not beneficial in any way but toxic in many ways. I only continued to use it out of convenience, figuring that if people were consuming massive amounts of the stuff in diet products, then a little bit of gum wouldn't harm me in any noticeable way.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/recent.html

I'll refrain from consuming anything containing aspartame.


After a few years of dating a pharmacist whose primary vocation is pharmaceutical research, it's hard to trust any information from the manufacturers of chemicals designed for human consumption. It can take many studies to get the desired results - which are often barely statistically significant - and the negative results simply don't get published. In a couple more generations we'll probably know whether all these chemicals are truly harmless beyond the multitude of proven potential side effects.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: rpn453
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/recent.html

I'll refrain from consuming anything containing aspartame.


After a few years of dating a pharmacist whose primary vocation is pharmaceutical research, it's hard to trust any information from the manufacturers of chemicals designed for human consumption. It can take many studies to get the desired results - which are often barely statistically significant - and the negative results simply don't get published. In a couple more generations we'll probably know whether all these chemicals are truly harmless beyond the multitude of proven potential side effects.


The rise of cancer and other major diseases occurred after the corporatization and commercialization of the food industry. We went from eating mostly home cooked natural food to packaged, chemically preserved, and then came the cancer epidemic. It's not rocket science!

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: Techniker
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Given the fact that aspartame breaks down into methyl alcohol and formaldehyde in your body, I doubt it. I feel quite crummy after drinking diet soda.



But only in the most marginal of amounts. Its chief products are phenylalanine. While there are legitimate reasons that one would get sick after consumption of aspartame (if you are a PKU for example), I think there is a good chance you only feel sick because you know you are consuming a diet soda. I think there is a good chance that even if I gave you a Diet Coke with Splenda you would still feel sick afterward.
Marginal amounts.... I don't want any amount of those toxic compounds in my body!! Its the long term effects of these chemicals on the human body that count, something we will see in time.