Okay, here's a few then

http://www.ehso.com/ehso.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holisticmed.com/aspartame/uk.txt
(granted, the author the said piece is into holistic medicine.

http://www.ehso.com/ehso.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holisticmed.com/aspartame/aspfaq.html
(a fully fledged report concerning Monsanto's research procedures ) and in particular check this one out : http://www.ehso.com/ehso.php?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holisticmed.com/aspartame/aspfaq.html

Have also got a link of 100 empirical tests, some showing for and against.  And one that completely debunked the idea that aspartame helps with weightloss.  From a scientific standpoint it states that all tests are inconclusive, but is cautionary considering the number of people who claim to have gotten ill as a result of consuming aspartame.  I could continue, but I have other things that need doing right now, and will soon need to be away from the computer.

That, I can agree with you on.  I bounce a lot of my research off my sister and mother who are both high level Registered Nurses.  They have a much better understanding of how the body works, and are both right into health and nutritian.  They are usually interested in the research too, and can explain facts and information surrounding the research that isn't entirely covered in the report. Also, husband and I market products.  No good marketing something you don't know shit about.

Fats are converted by the body become carbohydrates.  Same as bread.

Some links I came across on carbs and the brain:  just something quickly googled.

http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html
http://scienceweek.com/2004/sc041112-4.htm

I guess at the end of the day, its all about moderation.

Well there is actually only one thing we eat that doesn't contain carbs (fats or sugars) and that is water.  Everything else does.  Remember: Sucrose and glucose aren't the only sugars.  There's also fructose and lactose.  Which means there is sugar in fruit and vegetables, in dairy products of any description.

For most of us (with the exception of course, being Pescado ), require glucose to fuel to brain.  We need it to learn, and to think properly. A lack of glucose in the the bloodstream results in a lack of the ability to concentrate.  But we only need a small amount, not of the refined nature found in many foods.

I generally tend to question the research that links aspartame with brain tumours, even though there have been a few write ups in the Lancet about it.  But the issue with the formaldehyde - yes.  People don't drink as much booze and tomato juice as they do other food, now do they..  Sure normal food has formaldehyde in it.  Just like the potato plant is related to Deadly Nightshade, which has arsenic in it (although its not the leaves that we eat now, is it).  But the problem is the amount of food people tend to eat with aspartame in it, and the levels of aspartame in that said food.  Sure, formaldehyde is a natural chemical process.  But the levels that are being consumed are not natural or safe.

Don't pay so much attention to what is said on wiki, a lot of it has been written by a PR officer for the FDA which is in cahoots with the pharamceutical companies, who actually make the aspartame.  Its not in the companies best interest to take an impartial stance on the issue. No money in it for them, you see.  Cross reference, and don't just stick to stuff published on the internet, as the validity of a lot of stuff online is often questionable at best.

At the end of the day, Honeyeaters, we ain't.  We've got a different metabolism to them.  I hand raised a honeyeater once.  It loved honey, and fruit syrup and honey dipped pears, and all things sweet.  But it needed the sugar levels.  We don't.  We're omnivorous, which means we need sugar, but we also need a lot of other things too.

Pes, that is extremely origional, mate *voice dripping with sarcasm* 

What gets me about aspartme is that its in all the your diet foods, and in large quantities in diet soft drink.  Meaning that we are all getting slowly poisoned.  Because of that, I tend to avoid foods with artifical sweeteners.  I mean, yeah, sure less sugar.  No way, moar poison instead.

All these artificial sweetners and plants that you guys get in America we can't get over her.  Why, the Australian Pharmaceutical Association has deemed them dangerous for some reason or another.  Same for a great many herbal remedies.  Insane.  And getting them sent to Australia can be extremely difficult, as a consequence of strict quarrantine laws.  One of the products in my husbands network marketing business we have difficulty getting because it contains barley seeds.  Seeds cannot be imported to Australia, as are the majority of plant or animal products.

We can get stevia, but I haven't seen agave syrup in the shops for a while (which is crazy because the authorities permit mezcal with the worm in the bottle.)

I've got PCOS, which is a pre-diabetic state, which means if I'm not careful, it could swing the other way and bring on full blown diabetes.  Its a hormone-insulin thing, but doctors don't know what causes it.  Stevia seems to make me hyper like I've had too much sugar, for some reason.  Meaning possibly that its spiking my insulin levels.  Aspartme and the likes don't really affect me weightwise or anything like that, but I still avoid them as they've been found to be toxic, making them worse than cane sugar.  Aspartme actually breaks down into formaldehyde in the body, which is incredibly dangerous.

Well, I don't smoke.  None of my friends do either.  I drink.  Not as much as Amy Winehouse - not by a quarter.  But I do like a good quality wine, champagne, or cocktail.  (Can't stand beer.  Don't understand why so many people do.  Its disgusting.  Give me a good rose, shiraz, grenache, viogner or bubbly any day.)  Love food.  Good quality stuff.  None of that flavourless deep fried mush some people think is food. Kalamata olives are always good nibblies, a nice triple cream brie.  A well cooked pasta (had a sensational one last night - fettucine puttanesca).  I'm an absolute huge fan of mexican food.  Can't beat nachos covered with sour cream, guacamole, salsa and frijoles.  Or tacos, - with guacamole.  Lurve greek food - sadly husband doesn't, so I rarely get a chance.  Love baklava.  Its sweet but so, so good.  Oh, and chocolate moose, with good chocolate.  And fondue - got a wicked fondue recipe that involves good chocolate, double cream and a dash of Grand Marnier.

Do believe in eating healthy though.  Not just because I medical condition which requires me to try and stick to low GI foods.  But it can taste so much better.  Some people are fooled into thinking that if they binge eat on junk food it will make them feel good.  And it does - for a brief amount of time.  But from that great height, you can end up experiencing even worse lows, which means you eat more of the said bad food.  Your weight gains, and you feel more depressed - its a biological fact, and the whole thing is a vicious, vicious cycle - the worse you eat the worse you feel.  And further more, there are the carb cravings - the desire for fatty, sugary food.  Stop eating that stuff for a month, and you cease to want it, need it, or even enjoy it.  I can stand deep fried food now - makes me feel all icky and slimy inside. 

Still have two sugars in my cup of tea, though 

I've got a green tea in the cupboard known as the 'Temple of Heaven Chinese Gunpowder' .  Its a hand rolled green tea.  It looks like little green balls, and is twice as strong as coffee.  Doesn't have must flavour to it, but damn it has a kick.  I can't sleep for week after I have that stuff.  (Incidentally, have had severe issues with chronic insomnia for 6 - 7 years.  Issue is improving, but I've been up until 4 for the past two nights.  Just can't sleep, don't know why, don't care.  As long as I can be asleep by twelve I'm happy.  The worse its been was when I was sleeping until 8 pm.  If I tried to fight it,I would start hallucinating, and apparently was incapable of coherent speech.  Couldn't tell the difference between road and foot path, translate meanings of coloured lights, words, songs and such.  The worst ever feeling.  Like wanting to throw up the whole time.)

I used to have bergamot growing in the garden.  Would harvest it, dry it, and blend it with a good black leaf.  Beaudiful.  Unfortunately, bergamot isn't the easiest plant to look after.   And Tetley?  Don't say that word.  An insult to tea.  Dilmah's tolerable.  But Tetley is just all kinds of wrong.

On your side, mate.  Love a good cup of tea.  When I wake up in the morning until I've had my cup of tea, I'm so grumpy I would make Pescado look like a perky little blonde socialite.  And if I can't have my cup of tea, forget grumpy try I'm a fucking psychotic bitch to put it mildly.  We've got a water filter that heats the water to the perfect temperature for a good cup of tea, and I use nothing less than Twinings.  Earl Grey somedays.  I don't mind a good Irish Breakfast, either.  In a nice big mug, with fresh organic milk (you know, the stuff that still has the cream on top).  Preferably the pot brewed stuff, of a good quality leaf.  I can taste the difference between that and the lesser quality.  I'm all about quality over quantity.

Ry, one suspects that you are in fact a closet vampire, not a pirate.

I've never been a coffee drinker myself, but my friends say I'm like that normally.  (And, oh yeah, keep me the hell away from peppermind chocolate.  I get so much of a sugar buzz on that stuff, my skin goes numb - kid you not.)  Do like my affogatos though.  Yum, yum   Oh yeah, and a good mocha.  Vienna mocha especially    Chocolate and coffee with whipped cream, a truly decadent combination (you do know that chocolate has caffiene in it too -- and moar sugar  )

The whole freebie trick is done in the fashion industry all the time.  Do you honestly think your A-list celebrities pay for those gorgeous gowns they are resplendent went they tread down the red carpet.  Of course not!  The majority of those gowns are given to them from major fashion houses, eager to insure that their House is the one everyone wants to buy from this year.  Target those who are seen the most publicly.  Its all about marketing and selling, something which most artists despise - see it as selling out.  Unfortunately, if you want to make a living out of art, not just merely a hobby, its what you have got to do.  Your creations effectively become nothing more than a product that must be sold to the public.

The women the Houses target the most are the 'It' girls.  Beyonce Knowles is generally off limits, as she mostly wears stuff from her mother's collection, but she has been known to wear Versace.  Jennifer Lopez used to be frequently seen in Valentino, but again she has her own line to promote these days (Sweetface.  For the past two years her collections have been panned by fashionistas, however.  Regarded as boring and unorigional, and even a little dated.)