Little rumination is required to reach this conclusion: Cows don't make aspartame. But they don't make strawberry flavoring, either. This is relevant to a debate that involves a petition by the dairy industry to the FDA to change what qualifies as milk.

Coca-Cola notes that "when aspartame is digested, the body breaks it down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol" -- and it is methanol that is one of the root problems with aspartame.

While the dairy industry thinks we should embrace chemical sweeteners in our kids' milk to win the war against childhood obesity, in my upcoming book, The Omni Diet, I examine the case against drinking milk at all.

People often ask my opinion about diet sodas. Many see them as a harmless substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages. Others are deeply distrustful of the artificial sweeteners they contain -- and there are plenty of scary rumors circulating on the Internet to bolster these suspicions.

Sweeteners condition our taste buds to want more sweet. Consuming excessive amounts of sugar triggers your brain and body to want sugar most of the time. If your blood sugar dips down, your body gets a signal to eat more sugar. It's almost as if your system has been hijacked.

The safety of aspartame -- the artificial sweetener sold under the brand names Equal and NutraSweet -- has been the subject of many studies over the years. But despite all the hype about controversy, there is no aspartame controversy.

When man tampered with nature and uncoupled the sweetness sensory signal from caloric load, a pairing that we adjusted to for thousands of generations, our capacity to know when we had enough was eradicated.

Nutrition facts panels can be tedious to read -- which is why, unless you're a dedicated, detailed label-reader, you might be surprised to learn that sometimes there are not-so-healthy ingredients hiding in food you'd otherwise think is healthy.

The candy on Halloween isn't nearly as big a source of added sugar as the sugary drinks. The biggest source of added sugar comes from beverages, and for teens, sugary drinks are the No. 1 source of calories.

Ditching that regular soda and switching to a diet version may not be the perfect fix-it healthy solution. Research shows that both versions may lead to disease.

Claims that artificial sweeteners in diet drinks may be hazardous to your health are backed by scientific evidence that points to this conclusion, but a direct causation has not been drawn.

As obesity continues to top news stories and consumers become more conscious about the source of our food, these two ideas seem to be a marketing dream scenario: a miracle ingredient!