There is a seemingly endless list of side
effects from aspartame ingestion.
Since it was discovered, scientist have found adverse
effects through experimentation including brain tumors, headaches, vision loss,
and many other neurological problems. They have also reached conclusions about
the causes of
these adverse affects. In 1994, a report was released that listed 92 symptoms
associated with aspartame ingestion and said that aspartame accounted for 75
percent of all adverse reactions reported to the Adverse Reaction Monitoring
System.
Some of the 92 long-term and immediate
adverse effects of aspartame ingestion are:
NutraSweet (aspartame) is the main sweetener in diet
drinks like Diet Coke makes you gain weight. It does nothing to help you lose
the pounds. The only things that will help you are smaller portions and
exercise, e.g., walking, dancing, playing basketball with the kids. Are your
kids fat too?
In addition, aspartame can
mimic symptoms or worsen the following diseases:
|
|
If you have these problems:
CancerLinksUSA.com - Starting point for cancer information on
the web. A physician guided web site for cancer patients, families, and care
givers.
So what causes these
problems? Scientist believe that when aspartame is
ingested it breaks down into 3 potentially harmful products:
There is also concern over
aspartame forming diketopiperazine in liquids when stored for a long
time.
Phenylalanine is normally
found in the brain but excessive levels of it can be dangerous. This is the
problem that people with phenylketonuria have; they
are unable to metabolize phenylalanine and as a result dangerously high levels
of it can build up in their brain. Excessive amounts of phenylalanine in the
brain can lead to schizophrenia and depression. Too much phenylalanine in the
brain also increases a person's chances of having a seizure. All of these
problems caused by phenylalanine have also been associated with aspartame
ingestion. Studies have shown that the amount of phenylalanine in the blood
increases in people who use aspartame regularly. This increase in the amount of
phenylalanine in the body leads to an increase in the amount of phenylalanine
in the brain. As with many of the amino acids that we eat, phenylalanine enters
the brain on transport molecules; phenylalanine shares its transport molecule
with two other amino acids. Normally, when people eat food, they ingest many
amino acids that then have to compete for space on the shared transport
molecules thus limiting the amount of each amino acid that can enter the brain.
With aspartame, however, phenylalanine is the only amino acid for that
particular transport molecule that is ingested so, as a result, there is less
competition and more phenylalanine enters the brain. This increase in
phenylalanine in the brain explains some of the side effects that result from
aspartame ingestion.
When broken down, aspartame
is 40 percent aspartic acid and this means that ingesting aspartame increases
the amount of aspartic acid in the body. Like the glutamic
acid found in monosodium glutamate, or MSG, aspartic acid is an excitatory
amino acid that can have many adverse effects. Aspartic acid,
also referred to as aspartate, can act as an excitotoxin in the human body. Normally, aspartate acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. However,
as with other excitotoxins, the presence of too much aspartate in the brain can cause the killing of certain
brain cells by over-stimulating them. This slow damaging of neurons can lead to
Parkinson's disease and memory loss as well as many other neurological
problems. These are some of the long-term side effects that have been
associated with aspartame ingestion. Because of its composition, aspartame acts
very similar to MSG, a chemical which is generally known to have adverse
effects. However, MSG use has been reduced whereas aspartame is being consumed
in large amounts daily.
Methanol is ten percent of
what is released from aspartame when it is broken down by the digestive system.
Methanol is released by aspartame when the methyl group (CH3) of
aspartame comes in contact with the enzyme chymotrypsin
in the small intestine. Inside the body, methanol breaks into formic acid and
formaldehyde. Both of these products are toxic and symptoms of poisoning
include headaches and nausea. Methanol poisoning can also result in retinal
damage leading to vision problems including blurring and blindness. In
addition, formaldehyde is both a neurotoxin and a carcinogen. These severe
effects of methanol poisoning were seen in a study of the effects of aspartame
on humans. Methanol is also released from aspartame when it is heated above 86 ºF.
This could happen when storing foods or drinks in hot places or by cooking with
aspartame. Some people have attributed the Desert Storm Syndrome, which has
symptoms similar to those of formaldehyde poisoning, to the large consumption
of methanol from aspartame-containing drinks that had been heated to over 86 ºF
in the desert sun. The ingestion of free methanol that has already been
released from overheated aspartame greatly increases the body's absorption of
methanol. Methanol takes a long time to be excreted from the body and as a
result, ingesting large amounts can cause methanol to build up in the body.
This is similar to a drugs with a long half-life. The
recommended limit of consumption for methanol is 7.8 milligrams per day but a
twelve ounce can of a diet cola with aspartame contains about 20 milligrams of
methanol. Even though it is likely that not all of this 20 milligrams
is released from the aspartame and absorbed by the body, consuming a lot of
aspartame daily will cause the amount of methanol in the body to slowly build
up. It should be noted that people ingest methanol from other sources
such as fruit juices and alcoholic beverages. In these cases, however, the
ingestion of methanol is accompanied by the ingestion of ethanol which
counteracts the effects of methanol. In aspartame, there is only methanol
present and no ethanol to counteract the methanol. This addition of methanol
from aspartame into the body results in many of the side effects associated
with aspartame ingestion.
The breaking down of
aspartame into its components is not the only way that the artificial sweetener
creates chemicals which have an adverse effect on humans. It is known that if a
liquid containing aspartame is stored for a long time, diketopiperazine
is formed in the liquid. Scientist have concluded that
diketopiperazine causes brain tumors. According to
Dr. John W. Olney, once digested, diketopiperazine
produces a compound that is similar to a carcinogenic chemical called N-nitrosourea. Studies using rats that were conducted by
NutraSweet have shown that aspartame causes brain tumors. One of these studies
showed 12 out of 320 rats getting brain tumors, and this is even with
NutraSweet falsifying the results. The production of diketopiperazine
by aspartame explains how aspartame causes brain tumors.
If there are all of these side effects and
aspartame is bad, why is it sold and why was it approved? Find
out.
Do
some research: who was president of Monsanto, the company that invented the
killer drug aspartame, when it was invented? This will
get you a little closer to finding out how this drug got through the FDA.