WEBVTT - Are Artificial Sweeteners Really Bad For You? 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.640 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:14.040 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.639 and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry. The 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:23.400 three Musketeers together again after so long, so many weeks 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:28.720 of holidays and time off and rest and relaxation, back 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:33.040 at it again, which which makes this stuff you should 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:37.560 know that's right hard to come back for you. No, No, 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:39.879 I think it was just long enough and everything was 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.640 just satisfying enough that I'm ready. I'm glad to be 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.199 back at you. You're one of those weirdos. It's like 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:49.800 I need to work right exactly, like my skin falls off. 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:52.320 I've always said I would be a great lottery winner, 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:58.120 Oh yeah, or retiree. Yeah, lottery winner is better. I 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.920 guess it's it's the same thing. It's a tree. It 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:04.320 doesn't have to sweat it right exactly, which is nice. Man. 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:07.560 I just should tell people that we were discussing with 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:12.440 Jerry um the word dulcet soar as your voice, Yes, 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:14.920 dulcet tones. You didn't know the definition. I looked it up. 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.560 Oh oh yes, I said sweet and soothing. But then 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:23.800 in parentheses says often used ironically. I don't know what 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.919 that is. It's a back in the compliment. I guess, Jerry, 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:31.479 were you using it ironically? She actually, she didn't even nod. 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:35.199 She's just sort of moving her face around. Her skin 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.759 falls off to when she doesn't work. That's weird, weird. 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:44.520 So sweet and new Guinea is what you said. That's uh, 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:50.040 almond Joy's that's right, Mars bars Almond Joy's coconut sweet 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:54.080 and soothing. Okay, I'll take that. Yeah, I still prefer 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.720 muppety tenor. It's the greatest of all time. It's very 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.800 eye opening for me. What oh that was it a 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:08.640 article about us muppet eat dinner good stuff? So chuck. Yes, 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:13.480 I know that you. Um, you're a health conscious dude. 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:18.080 At the very least you're conscious of healthiness, right, I 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.800 have to and for a very long time I made 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:23.760 the switch, and um, one of the things that I 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:26.880 learned was that one of the easiest ways you can 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:31.399 lose weight very quickly is to just cut like sodas 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:33.679 out of your diet. Yeah. See, my problem is I 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.239 don't even drink SODA's right, So there's like a there's 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.040 a whole step right there. Yeah, that's removed from you. 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:44.160 That's fine, that's good, but in a way, right, but 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.519 I mean there's just no low hanging fruit as it were, 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.240 right as far as using corporate buzz speak ghosts unless 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.480 you count gallons of booze, that's not low hanging, my friend, 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:59.000 that's the top of the tree. That's last. She so um, 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.480 when you stopped drinking soda, you you really do, like 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.800 the pounds just fall off. It's insane, but you still 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.040 want soda, right, I mean it's like the craving still there. 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.760 And the um soda industry knew this, and they said, hey, 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:15.480 we don't want to lose a bunch of revenue, let's 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:22.600 start making diet sodas. And apparently originally they made them 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:27.440 almost exclusively for people with diabetes. UM. Around the post 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:31.200 World War two era, you could find diet sodas with 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.320 basically an inscription or something like that, like it was 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:39.440 inscribed on every hand who would say something like for 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:44.440 people who must uh watch their sugar allotment or something 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.280 like that. Right, and then as the soda industry is like, 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:51.040 oh wait, wait, we can really like make weight loss 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.400 an issue here and like help promote weight loss by 0:03:54.480 --> 0:04:00.560 saying for people who wish to watch their sugar intake right, 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:04.320 and just that little tiny switch changed everything, and like 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:07.760 the diet soda industry was born, so people have aggressive 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.800 nudge in the right direction, pretty much like, hey, don't 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:13.440 you think you should be washing your sugar intake chibs? 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.359 You know, that's what's that's what's between the lines. So 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:21.560 we've got these awesome diet sodas that are sweetened with 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:26.240 artificial sweeteners. But of course there's nothing can possibly just 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:30.480 be just good or just great because there's apparently we're 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:35.440 starting to learn huge, massive problems with artificial sweeteners as well, 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.719 problems so much that, um, they may be worse than 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:42.400 than sugar, it turns out in a lot of cases. Yeah, 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.960 I mean, when have we found and replaced something natural 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:51.280 with something synthetic and have it been nothing but like 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.560 a win win. I mean, I'm sure there's something, but 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:57.960 it seems like there's always some kind of downside. I 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:01.600 guess maybe like a robotic arm just better than the 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:04.880 real arm, and what depends on the arm that it replaces. 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.400 It could be he's saving up for your robotic arm transplant. Sure, 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:11.440 all right, I'm tired of being weak on my right side, 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:15.039 so you can crush those Coke zero cans exactly with 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.039 more bigger. Oh well, I'm not drinking anything any longer. 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.000 After researching this, I'm like, yep, I'm done with diet 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:26.600 soda all together. Oh yeah, like like through not a 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:28.560 this is in a phase or anything like that. I'm 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:30.920 sure over the course of my life I will have 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.440 like a giant like Coke zero at a movie or 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:37.359 something like that, but I'm I'm generally just totally done 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.440 with that. What are you going to constantly be drinking? Then? Well, 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:42.919 to be honest, I'd already kind of started. I was 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:47.240 drinking um, like mineral water a lot more, and I found, 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.960 like once you just kind of switch over, the water, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.400 which used to just be disgusting, is actually kind of 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:59.279 refreshing like this regular like like filtered water with ice. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.360 So funny, because you know, my history has always been 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:05.920 heavy on the water. Sure, I know, like you're totally 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.200 ahead of the game. It turns out well by accident, 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:10.719 but I just I've always loved the water. That's just 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.800 how your taste is always run well, and that's I 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:14.440 was just raised on it. You know, I've said it before. 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:17.040 Like milk and water. We just didn't have a lot 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:18.880 of sodas in the house, and it just never really 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.279 grabbed hold of me in that way, you know, right, 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:25.400 But mixing milk and water, that's good. Then then you 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:29.440 have fat free milk. Yeah, pretty much, at least thin milk. Now, 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.880 drink whole milk. I'm all about it. So I'm off 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:38.080 of the diat soodas forever. Wow. Well that's good for you. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.800 It is good. But if I want to brush my 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:46.799 teeth or use mouthwash US takes, or take certain vitamins 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.760 or something like that, I'm still running the risk of 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:55.359 encountering artificial sweeteners because they're everywhere. Now. Yeah, well, let's 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:57.760 back up a bit. Then that was a nice old 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.600 school intro. By the way, thank you. That's what you 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:03.800 get after you take a nice Christmas You've been rehearsing 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:08.520 that one for weeks. Yeah, you woke up Christmas morning 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:11.080 and you means just like, shut up. I'm like, no, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.640 I gotta practice. Um. All right, Well, we're talking about 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.000 artificial sweeteners, but what we're really talking about, at its 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:23.840 essence is sweet the sensation of sweetness. Um. And if 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.559 you go back and listen to our I think pretty 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.600 good episode on Taste from many years ago. Uh, we 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.160 break it down pretty well as far as the receptors 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:36.200 on our tongues, so we don't really need to rehatch that. 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:38.000 But did you did you go back and listen to 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:42.440 it doesn't really hold up. Yeah, it's not bad, um. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.200 I mean we get to the point there's not as 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.640 much shenanigans. A lot of people prefer those. Yeah, we've 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.040 added a lot of filler over the years. It's okay, um, 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:54.320 But the the level of sweetness that we taste, it's 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.880 gonna depend. You know, those they're those receptors on our 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.600 tongue and they interact with those mala fuels and they 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:02.440 have to fit, you know, the shape has to fits 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.440 that weird thing that nobody really knows is going on 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:10.680 on their tongue, that strange interaction is happening. Yeah, I 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.400 remember from the Taste episode, like one of the theories 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.320 is that it's the whole thing is happening on the 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:22.560 quantum level. I remember correctly. Uh So, how much sweetness 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.920 you're gonna taste, the level of sweet is gonna depend 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.880 on your own receptors and how they're binding to that 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.440 sweet sensation. So these artificial sweeteners, what they do is 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.280 they found a way to elicit that same response as 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:40.240 as we get from sugar, and basically that that's it. 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:44.240 Some of them are, I mean, obviously they're generally a 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.400 lower calorie version of sugar, although we'll get to some 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.240 that aren't later. Uh. And the reasons for that is 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:52.080 some of them, they're all different. But some of them 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.680 are so sweet, like hundreds and even thousands of times 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.800 sweeter than sugar, that they just need to use tiny, 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.520 tiny bits of it, so it's basically no calorie. Other 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.520 times we don't even synthesize and absorbit and metabolize it, 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.480 so that makes it no calorie. Yeah, you get the taste, 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:10.480 but then it just comes out of your pee or 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:14.880 your poop. Yeah, but so no calories exactly. I thought 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:16.920 that was pretty interesting because I've never really stopped and 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.920 thought about why those things are no or low calories. 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.360 It makes perfect sense. Yeah, like the idea that something 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.000 is so sweet you need to use so little of 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.839 it too, that you subvert the calorie uh system, the 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.640 calory system. It's like, well, you can't even count that low. 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:37.079 That many decimal places beneath one calorie. And the weird 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.160 thing is to me is when you look at the 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:43.640 histories of some of these artificial sweeteners, UM, and it's 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:45.559 a little scary is that a lot of them were 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:50.680 discovered by accident from these dumb scientists who are like 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.440 trying to trying to discover something else or work on 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.720 something else, and they're like, oh, let me look my 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:57.600 finger and get a piece of paper, or let me 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.199 smoke a cigarette and not wash my hands, and they're like, oh, 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.320 my hand tastes sweet. Yeah, I mean, and it really 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:07.640 it drives home two things that chemists aren't really fixed 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.840 on their UM their survival they have low survival skills. 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:15.240 And then too that um, all these artificial sweeteners are 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:20.920 in most cases extraordinarily they're synthetic compounds, you know, like um, 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:25.720 saccharin was or is a derivative of coal tar that 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:27.920 was accidentally discovered when they were trying to find a 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:32.960 new die. And then I believe asper tame was a 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:37.080 nonstarter ulcer drug. Yeah, and the dude was literally picking 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:39.800 up paper and like licked his finger and said, well, 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:42.640 that's in the how LSD that was an accident too. 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:46.040 It was it was are no scientists washing their hands anymore. No, 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.679 apparently now, at least not the chemists. Oh yeah, I 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:51.880 guess so chemistry. I don't want to throw all of 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.240 science under the snow. It's just the chemists who don't 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:59.640 care where they live or die. Uh So anyway, saccharin 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:01.600 would is one of the first or I guess d 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:07.280 first artificial sweetener way back in nineteen eighteen seventy nine. Yeah, 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:12.760 way back in nineteen seventy nine. Uh in eighteen seventy nine. 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:15.400 That that was a scientist who did not wash his 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:19.840 hands before dinner and notice it tasted sweet, and said, 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.440 I think I have a new discovery on my hands. Yeah, 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.480 literally on my hands, Yeah, and on my tongue. I'm boy, 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.880 oh boys sweet. Yeah, And it's fine to think of that. Yeah, 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.680 there's a lot of chemicals and compounds out there that 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.120 we may have no clue actually taste sweet because we 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:39.720 just haven't accidentally run across him yet because everyone's washing 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:44.520 their hands now. Yeah. And plus also, sugar has just 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:46.800 such great pr that you tend to think that it 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:50.400 has the market cornered on the sweet sensation. But no, 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:54.720 it's it's just one of many things that elicit that. Yeah, Uh. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:56.880 And the reason, well, there's a lot of artificial sweeteners. 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.560 We're only gonna go over a handful in detail, but 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.040 the res and there are, I mean, there are a 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.560 couple of reasons. One is just good old fashioned competition, 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.760 of course, uh. And another is you can't use them 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:10.480 all in the same way. Like some hold up under baking, 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.560 some don't. Uh. Some you can just dust in a 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.320 throat lozenge, and another might be good in a cake batter, 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.280 you know. So it kind of depends on its use 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.240 as to some are good and ice cream and others aren't. Yeah, 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:25.120 but you you hit it on the head though too. 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.800 I mean, like there's a lot of competition, like aspar 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.360 Tame is owned by Monsanto now, and like anytime those 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.079 guys get in on something, there's that means it's automatically 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:37.439 big business. So there's a lot a lot of money 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.640 to be made. And one of the reasons why also 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:44.400 that it is such big business because it's very frequently 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:49.560 much cheaper to produce this stuff, these artificial sweeteners, than 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:53.960 it is to to um process sugar. Right, So say 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.640 it takes like eight cents worth of sugar to sweeten uh. Two. 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:03.439 Leader of coke in might take three um since worth 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:07.720 of aspartame to sweeten coke zero. And if you're making 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.160 you know, millions upon millions of two leaders of this 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:14.440 stuff a year, that adds up pretty quick. Yea. And 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.600 in fact, there was actually a British company. I didn't 0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:19.320 see which one it was, but they it was found 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.600 that their orange drink, which was not being marketed as 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:26.800 diet or sugar free or anything, was basically made up 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:31.480 of artificial sweeteners. I didn't look it up, I just 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.400 ran across it. Somewhere was the orange orange like soda 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:40.920 in Great Britain and Great Britain. Okay, call it shame made. Well. 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.560 The reason I asked is because you know, my one 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.760 weakness is like once a month I'll get the old 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:50.400 fan of orange. Yeah, the Nazi drink. So I'm okay 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:57.400 with that shaming me. Uh well, So these things are 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:01.760 pretty controversial, um since literally least since the first ones 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:06.280 came around. UM. People started like with anything that's new 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.320 and synthetic, they're gonna be a certain segment of people 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:11.880 are like this is great. In another segment they're like, well, 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.319 I don't know about this. Let's look and see what's 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.560 going on in your body and what if it's not 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:18.760 so good for you? And how do we know? Right? 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.320 People concerned with health? Yeah, that's an easier way to 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.960 say it in public health. Yeah, yeah, there's um it 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.080 does kind of seem to be like Chuck, where at 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.680 this point in history where there is a lot of 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.640 this stuff out there. I think I saw a two 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.960 thousand and sixteen articles. So there's like products in the 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.920 US using one at least one of the five approved 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:46.160 artificial sweeteners by the FDA. So there's tons of products 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:50.800 out there and not enough medical literature to to really 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.640 strongly show one way or the other that yeah, these 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:58.520 things actually are pretty safe, and like all these fears 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.160 are just a general public this trust of science and 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:06.160 change and unnatural nous and we don't also have anything 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.080 to show the other way to that. Um No, actually 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.160 these things are pretty unsafe because it seems like every 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.760 study that you find has a contradictory study with just 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:20.240 completely opposite finding. It's pretty frustrating. Yeah, they're like even 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:24.120 they're they're canceling each other out. It is frustrating. It 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:26.600 does seem though that the at least based on the 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.440 reporting that I'm seeing or have seen in research. It 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:35.240 seems like a body of um medical literature is mounting 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:40.120 that's showing that this stuff is pretty problematic. Actually yeah, 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.360 I mean if you just uh throw science out the 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:47.200 window and start perusing the internet, which everyone should do, 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.880 right at least once a day. If you go on 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.880 websites though and and internet forums and look around, um 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:57.680 people will blame I mean, just about any disease you 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.840 can think of on aspartame a big one that's getting 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.280 a lot of the heat, but all kinds of artificial sweeteners, 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:11.920 um ms, brain tumors, dizziness, Alzheimer's, like all kinds of problems. 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.000 People are saying, well, you know this didn't start happening 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.880 until I started eating or drinking this which contained this. Right, Yeah, 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:23.160 it's anecdotal, extremely anecdotal. And like you said, when you 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:25.280 look at the real studies, and we're gonna get to 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.680 some of these and of course some are are mounted 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:33.680 by the very company selling them. And I had a 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:37.400 thing on Facebook last week about these company back studies 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.040 and whether or not we should even listen to them, 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.840 and most people chimed in that we're in in the 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.560 biz and said, you know what, it doesn't mean it's 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.960 junk science. Um, A lot of these studies wouldn't even 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:51.360 be done if it wasn't for these companies funding them. 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:55.120 But I still like raise an eyebrow anytime I see like, Nope, 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:58.600 Coca Cola debunks study that says it's bad for you 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.680 with our own study. You know, like, how can you 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.040 I'm not even a big cynic and you just have 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.200 to sort of wonder if that's complete BS or not. Yeah. Well, 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:10.879 the FDA, for its part, if you go to their 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.760 website on their Q and A. As far as them 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:19.000 defending their the things that they've approved, they kind of well, 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.240 I'll just read it says all all consumer complaints related 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:25.320 to the sweetener have been investigated as thoroughly as possible 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:27.960 by federal authorities for more than five years, in part 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.879 under f d a's uh ARMS system or ARM system 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.880 Adverse Reaction Monitoring system. In addition, scientific and that's where 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:40.040 people can submit their own beefs basically right and say like, hey, 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:44.119 I'm dizzy and just drink of tab yeah exactly. Uh. 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:48.520 In addition, scientific studies conducted during aspertames preapproval phase I 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:50.520 failed to show that it causes any adverse reactions and 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.800 adults are children. Individuals who have concerns about possible adverse 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:58.360 reactions to aspertame or other substances should contact their position. Basically, Hey, 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:02.480 if you're not feeling good, maybe it's on you. Yeah, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:08.399 why don't you stop being so metabolically weird? Yeah? And 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:10.320 and since you brought up the f d A, there's 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.840 a lot of concerns about how just how much oversight 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:19.040 they're bringing to the table um And from there's this 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.960 Washington Post article I found, it sounds like like not 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:27.120 much at all. There's this um separate track. It's basically 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:31.959 like an expedited track that company who's looking for FDA 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:35.880 approval for their food item can submit. And rather than 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:39.400 so ideally, there's this f d A review process where 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:43.440 the FDA says, let us see your studies. We're gonna 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:46.080 do some research. Who might do some testing ourselves. It's 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.760 gonna take forever. You're gonna lose a bunch of money 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:50.720 while you're sitting there waiting to go to market. But 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:55.840 we will know pretty pretty conclusively that it's safe for 0:18:55.920 --> 0:19:00.000 humans to use. Although even even that's not necessarily true. 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.120 But that's like the ideal situation that we'll get maybe 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.560 close to yes, this is safe for humans. Well they've 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:10.240 basically done away with that and created this fast track 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:16.920 program where you can submit for generally regarded as safe status. Yeah. 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:19.680 That was is when everything kind of there was a 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.240 big sea change there. Yeah, and they did it because 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:26.439 business was like, guys, you're taking so long. This is 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.639 so slow. This process is killing us. It's costing us 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:32.199 so much cash. We want to go to market faster. 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:35.399 It was like, we don't have enough people, right, what 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.560 do we do? So instead of hiring more people, they 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:40.840 just made it easier for the companies to get this 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:43.399 stuff passed. And the way that they did that was 0:19:43.560 --> 0:19:47.800 the FDA said, how about this, you guys, go study 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:51.240 the medical literature, write a review of what you find, 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:54.800 and we'll read your review and then we'll give you approval. 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:57.040 So don't you don't need to submit your data anymore. 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:01.359 Just give us your your findings, your fine things in 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.760 a summary and that should speed things up. And it 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:07.240 did in a big, big way, and it proved the 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:10.040 FDA was so toothless that apparently now a lot of 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:14.479 companies are releasing food additives into the food supply without 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:16.520 even talking to the FDA about it. It It said in 0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:20.520 this article that the UM the one of the Deputy 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:24.040 Commissioners for Food at the FDA, he said, we simply 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:26.440 do not have the information to vouch for the safety 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:29.560 of many of these chemicals. The FDA is just like, oh, well, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:31.840 there's a new food additive out there. I hope it 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.040 goes I hope it goes well for everybody. Yeah, and 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:36.840 in the I don't know if in the FDA's defense 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:38.919 or but what they said initially was the reason we 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.399 did this is we thought that people were doing this 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.080 anyway and just introducing new chemicals without like submitting for 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.720 approval at all. He said, so maybe if we streamline 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.359 this process, they'll at least do that. And that just 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:56.920 hasn't worked out how they hoped. Nope, it's like UM 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:02.760 Citizens United Ruling. Oh yeah, you know, all right, well 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.840 let's take a break. I need to go. I'm I'm 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:09.920 angry now, sorry, I need to go smash. We'll be 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:34.040 back right after that. Okay, we're back. Chuck, you feeling better? Yeah? 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.480 That ming vos Man. That was like an original. Yeah, 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.560 well that was real. It's Connor. Now that's gonna come 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:43.439 out of Jerry's pay, let's you get some super glue? 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:48.199 Oh yeah, I like that. That Brady Bunch episode. I'm 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:50.479 always said, don't play ball in the house. Did they 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:54.199 break something? Yeah, they broke a vase playing basketball in 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:57.120 the house, and um they tried to glue it back 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.920 together and then Mrs Brady used it for some flat 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.560 was from a bunch of leaks. That's so them. I 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:05.920 love those. What are you doing playing basketball inside? Anyway? 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:10.000 And it's dumb, just you know, horseplay, rough housing. The 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:12.879 use I mean they're outside was a studio set with 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:17.080 astro turf, like it's always it's always perfect weather. Yeah, 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:20.720 and that one little quarter drive away. Yeah, I bet 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:22.560 it would be so disappointing if you could go see 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:27.240 a recreation of that set today, you know. Uh yeah, 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:30.840 it's like I said at the Cheers bar once, the 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:33.920 real the not the one in Boston, but the where 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:36.960 they shot the TV show, Okay, And it's just everything 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:43.560 is just always smaller, you know. And in She's tiny, 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:48.040 she was like in my beer mug. Yeah, I was 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:50.439 gonna say the one in Boston. It's like nothing like 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:52.439 the set, So I thought that's where you were going. 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:54.680 I didn't realize you've been on the actual set. Yeah, 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:57.400 that's when I did my famous extra stint on Dear 0:22:57.520 --> 0:23:02.040 John and Cheers was next door. I okay, I don't 0:23:02.040 --> 0:23:04.280 another story. Yeah, yeah, when my brother he worked on 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:05.879 Dear John, and I went out to visit him and 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:07.879 he got me on as an extra. I played a 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:10.320 bus boy in a restaurant scene. Yeah. I'd love to 0:23:10.359 --> 0:23:12.639 get a copy of that. Actually, impost it. Yeah, I 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:14.879 want to see that. It was pretty good. That was 0:23:14.920 --> 0:23:17.560 my first encounter, like real encounter with a film business, 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:19.640 and I was like, this is a weird thing to do. 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.240 This is the life for me. I'm gonna play bus 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:25.080 boys all my life and one day I'm gonna have 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:27.760 a short lived t failure of a TV show myself. 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:33.800 All right, So where were we? We were talking about 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:36.240 a TV show? Oh no, no, no, we were talking 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:38.760 about coming back from the break. And I wanted to 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:42.399 mention you said earlier that when we first intro that 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:46.080 sometimes this stuff like does more harm. And this this 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:50.200 one per Due University study I thought was really interesting 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:54.080 because it found that drinking sugar or eating and drinking 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:59.960