Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.

760 Members

3,682 Posts

0 Online

Steve9 05/05/2013

I am wondering if anyone knows whether Aspartame is a trigger for Afib.

Flecainide/Metoprolol has provided me with seven years of a "charmed life" ( being afib free). Last night I had an Afib episode for no apparent reason other than the fact that I had two glasses of diet ginger ale. That was the only possible trigger I can think of. Thanks for your comments.

Steve

Steve9 07/14/2013

Oh one last thing about the original subject. All I can say about aspartame is that I took it via diet soda and that night I had an episode of AFIB. I experience was jsut like what happens when I have more than one beer at a sitting. So not sure if I can assign blame to aspartame, but I can say that when you take aspartame via diet soda you are getting a pharmacological dose of aspartic acid and methanol( as opposed to a dietary dose you would get from eating a banana ( aspartic acid) and an apple ( wax on surface of apple is a methyl ester).

I used to be a heavy diet soda drinker. I have sicne switched to Perrier, Pellegrino or Polar SPrings sparkling water.

pacyetep 07/14/2013

I was a diet soda addict also.

Steveinnsr 07/14/2013

Steve, I may not have explained the PRN product clearly. When you get a chance please take a look at this link. I would be very interested on your thoughts. You clearly have more knowledge on this than I do and I'm trying to get my head around how much omega-3 in this form is safe or should I wait until more definitive reports come out.

http://www.prnomegahealth.com/Omega-3/PRN-Omega-3/88/

Thanks,
Steve

pamdidi 07/14/2013

I absolutely would get afib if I had two diet sodas. I am careful to only drink those little cans and one only. It is a trigger for me

Surfrat 07/14/2013

Wow, this is crazy stuff. Aspartame is in a TON of products. Steve, was this the first diet soda that you indulged in these many years?

august2012 07/15/2013

I don't use any sweetener....artificial or otherwise
Have I mentioned that I am sweet enough?

Steve9 07/15/2013

Hi Surf,
your question,
Wow, this is crazy stuff. Aspartame is in a TON of products. Steve, was this the first diet soda that you indulged in these many years? "

is a really good one. The diet soda is definitely the first one since my heart became more sensitive to alcohol in January. I cannot remember when I had my last diet soda.

Steveinn,
I read the article and it sounds like the purification possible gets one good fish oil. The technique of codistillation to enhance purity is something I have done to make certain chemicals. So that step is legit. Then transesterifying the ethyl esters to get triglycerides back is a messy step. I would like to see the chromatography of PRN's product vs. natural fish oil. I don't plan on making a move to ingest any kind of fish oil ( except what I get in fish) until the researchers at major hospitals do their work. The VITAL study has three more years to go. Now I can say this because I have very low cholesterol. So assuming fish oil is for lowering cholesterol I don't really need it. If fish oil has an effect on arrhythmias then that is another story.

Join the Conversation