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Anyone know much about them? Which is best out of the three main ones...you know...equal, sweet and low and spelenda. If you know dangers and side effects or whatever of each individual kind or know somewhere I can get them, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

It's all complete and total bollocks. There are countless urban legends about this. Lots of whack jobs out there with whole websites full of fables, junk science and other rubbish.

Here is where a lot of it comes from. Most of the aspartame stuff came from chain e-mail. More info on snopes.com.
There was also a study where rats where given a very large dose of aspartame. They noticed that more formaldihyde bonded to some other molecule. Some how that got translated into a claim that it metabolizes into formaldihyde and formeric acid. However that's not what the study says, and it's in rats not people.

Then another study showed rats given a large amount had higher then normal cancer rates. However the rats lived through old age and allowed to die of natural causes. So as it turns out the cancer rate wasn't high due to the age of the rats. The cancer society has also said there has been no increase in tumors since the 1982 introduction of aspartame to the market.

There was a study done on Saccran that got it pulled from the market. Rats got cancer from it. However it was discovered the amount the rats were given would be equel to a human drinking 40 cases of saccran sweetend soda per day. So it is back on the market or soon will be.

It is really going to boil down to taste and what you do with it. You might find 1 tastes better then another. Splenda has a small amount of calories and carbs, where the others do not. However splenda is the only one you can bake with because the others brake down when exposed to high temperatures and are no longer sweet. Only splenda will stay sweet. Another option is Stevia, but I don't know much about it. Other then, like all other sweeteners have been shown to be safe by the FDA.

In fact the sweetener that is the most dangerous is sugar. The idea that sugar is harmless is part of what drives the obesity epidemic. The only sweetener that causes disease is sugar. In a high enough amount over a long enough period of time, sugar can cause type 2 diabetes. Then once you have diabetes, if you don't cut out the sugar at that point, all kinds of nasty things can happen. Diabetics who don't take care of them selves loose their legs, go blind, loose sensation in limbs, get neuropothy, have kidney, liver and heart failure, strokes, heart attacks, and who knows what happens after that, because then they die.

I don't mean to be preachy but, I just wish people would wake up and figure out that all this "sky is falling" crap about fat, sweeteners and sodium is all data mined junk science horse $h!t, and it's sugar, white flour and other processed crap that is killing people.

At least they are starting to figure out how dangerous trans-fats are. That's probably only because it has the word "fat" in it. Otherwise they would be munching on fries and chicken nuggets all day, wondering why they weigh 500 lbs, with clogged arteries and liver damage.

So anyway, the short version is, go by taste, but only splenda works for baking.

Well, I see Ironman went on a rant, and I agree with every word of it. Look, I wouldn't worry at all about aspartame, clamates or saccharine, just use them fairly sparingly if you really feel the need to sweeten things up. Luckily, I had a good set of parents when I was growing up, and we lived in the middle of orchards. Mom hardley every used sugar except in the occasional cake or pie, we drank tea unsweetened, and really felt no need for sugar. When we did get a sweet tooth, we went out back and picked a piece of fruit. Granted, the store bought stuff is no where near as good as what you get off trees or a farmers market.but real fruit will fill the bill for sweetening, and provides some fiber to go along with it.
Tim

The main reason why I was asking is because of soda. I used to be an avid drinker of normal sodas (about 2-3 cans a day.) Once I realized I was too fat, I decided to try and cut soda out. Realizing this was next to impossible for me I switched to diet. Went from 230 pounds to 170 (of course I did make other changes, but I am sure this helped greatly). I know I should probably only be drinking water, but I have to drink other things than water. Drinking alot of liquids helps me loose weight. But, if I were choosing soda or juices (which I think are nearly as bad as soda), I might as well have been eating! But I switched to diet soda and now a lot of people are bitching to me about how unhealthy fake sugar is. I had really never heard anything about if it was or not, just thought I would ask some people who might know more than most. But I'll take both of your replies to say that drinking moderate amounts of diet pepsi and the like are ok...heh. Sorry Ironman, did not mean to get ya so worked up either!

No, it's nothing like that. Sometimes I just get on roll. One thought reminds me of something else. It's a good question, I don't want you to think any questions get me irritated or anything because they don't. It's just when I think about it, I have a tendencie to vent frustration at how some people spread BS around, and scare people with it, and overshadow things that are of real concern. So I don't wnat anyone to think anything I say like that is directed at them.

By the way, I drink 3 12 oz cans of diet soda per day. Along with 3 to 4 quarts of water. I have coffe and or tea sometimes, but not every day.

Well, I'll tell you, juices are nearly as bad as soda's. Those two are some of the main things that are driving the young kids today into obesity and type II diabetes (which used to be unheard of for people under 35). As to the diet sodas, I've never heard of it being bad because of the no cal sweetners, but I have heard people bad mouth it because of some of the other additives they pt in it.Anyway, while I rarely drink it any more, I don't think a few a day is going to hurt anything. Also, the carbonation does tend to fill me up, which isn't a bad thing either.
Tim

I heard that Stevia is the best fake sugar. It's actually in my "Healthy 'n Fit Nutritionals 100% Egg Protein" powder, from the Vitamin Shoppe. (I'm through with GNC.)

Diet sodas? Save your money for something important, or a rainy day. I drink 8 ounces of fresh orange juice a day and the rest is water or iced tea. Two dollars a day spent on soda is $60 a month. (This is how I think, because I'm not rich.) I eat oatmeal instead of the bagel in the morning. Better for you, and much cheaper.

Let me add another one to this thread. Why are so many children fat these days? In my day, there was usually one fat kid per class, and he got chosen last to be on your team in gym. Something weird's happening. I have a few friends with kids, and they're fat too, though the parents aren't. I can't figure out this epidemic, but it better be addressed (not just by us!) pretty soon or this counrty will further slide down the hill into obesity and ineffectualness. If that's a word.

I actually just did a research project in my english class on childhood obesity. There were a couple of obvious causes, but for the most part you could say it was american society itself. Overweight children have doubled since 1970, and it has to do with fast food, overall crappy diet (wink wink sugared sodas wink wink), no physical activity (25% have less than 2 physical bouts a week), advertises of unhealthy fatty and sugary snacks and sodas, but perhaps the most was just plain old bad parenting.