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Florida State University College of Medicine researchers have linked aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in nearly 5,000 diet foods and drinks, to anxiety-

Florida State University College of Medicine researchers have linked aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in nearly 5,000 diet foods and drinks, to anxiety-like behavior IN MICE.

whalesalad 4y ago
Everyone always gets hung up on this... but how else are you supposed to breach this sort of analysis? You start small, and if your findings deserve a deeper look you move up the chain.
- ben_w 4y ago
  Because the headlines without that caveat lead to unrealistic expectations. If everything found to work in mice also worked in humans, we'd have already solved aging, and be able to fly fighter jets from neural implants.
- have_faith 4y ago
  Mice are mentioned a in the article but it's not in the title. The title is as far as the vast majority of people will read or see shared on some social media site. The title without the correct clarification is incorrect.
- hnarn 4y ago
  What do you mean “hung up”? The comment you’re responding to is correcting the headline which is objectively incorrect. Nobody has said that the finding is irrelevant because it’s “only” mice, but of course it matters, and the incentive for the person who wrote this headline to leave that information out is as obvious as doing so is dishonest.
- butternutmutt 4y ago
  Because people and news organisations see these results and run with the idea that having equal in your coffee gives you anxiety. When the research is giving an animal that weighs 0.03 percent of an average human, 15 percent of our recommended maximum. Thats 8 cans of soft drink worth of sweetener to a 19-gram mouse. It needs to be emphasized that this is a proof-of-concept study and may not reflect the real world at all.
blamazon 4y ago
Annoying how headlines these days will always leave details like that out for clickbait. But, next sentence is very interesting: "Along with producing anxiety in the mice who consumed aspartame, the effects extended up to two generations from the males exposed to the sweetener."
dang 4y ago
Ok, we've inmiced (but not INMICEd) the title above. Thanks!

Florida State University College of Medicine researchers have linked aspartame, an artificial sweetener found in nearly 5,000 diet foods and drinks, to anxiety-like behavior IN MICE.

whalesalad 4y ago

Everyone always gets hung up on this... but how else are you supposed to breach this sort of analysis? You start small, and if your findings deserve a deeper look you move up the chain.

ben_w 4y ago
Because the headlines without that caveat lead to unrealistic expectations. If everything found to work in mice also worked in humans, we'd have already solved aging, and be able to fly fighter jets from neural implants.
have_faith 4y ago
Mice are mentioned a in the article but it's not in the title. The title is as far as the vast majority of people will read or see shared on some social media site. The title without the correct clarification is incorrect.
hnarn 4y ago
What do you mean “hung up”? The comment you’re responding to is correcting the headline which is objectively incorrect. Nobody has said that the finding is irrelevant because it’s “only” mice, but of course it matters, and the incentive for the person who wrote this headline to leave that information out is as obvious as doing so is dishonest.
butternutmutt 4y ago
Because people and news organisations see these results and run with the idea that having equal in your coffee gives you anxiety. When the research is giving an animal that weighs 0.03 percent of an average human, 15 percent of our recommended maximum. Thats 8 cans of soft drink worth of sweetener to a 19-gram mouse. It needs to be emphasized that this is a proof-of-concept study and may not reflect the real world at all.

blamazon 4y ago

Annoying how headlines these days will always leave details like that out for clickbait. But, next sentence is very interesting: "Along with producing anxiety in the mice who consumed aspartame, the effects extended up to two generations from the males exposed to the sweetener."

dang 4y ago

Ok, we've inmiced (but not INMICEd) the title above. Thanks!