Aspartame and health
Question: Does drinking a lot of soft-drink that is sweetened with Aspartame put your health at risk?

Answer: Short term there doesn't appear to be any major problems. Long term studies are in progress following people who take significant amounts of aspartame. There are theoretical risks to vision and the eye. So far, these have not been seen in current studies.

Nutrition
Question: How much fat should I have per day in a balanced diet?

Answer: This depends a great deal on your age, weight and height. Children and growing teenagers need more fat than developed adults do. This is due to the large need for myelin and cholesterol metabolism in the central nervous system. Both, of these need fat to develop. After the nervous system is completely developed, less fat is necessary. There is major disagreement in the medical community and the nutritional community concerning the appropriate amount of fat. Also, the type of fat is important. That is, saturated fat, non-saturated fat or monosaturated. In general, less saturated fat is the goal. In general, calorie requirements vary between 110-130 kJ per kilogram of body weight. For diabetics, the goal is less than 30% of dietary calories to be fat and no more than 10% to be saturated fats, 10% polyunsaturated and the rest monounsaturated fats. This seems to be a good goal for non-diabetics as well.

Back to Drug InfoNet Home Page.