Oh no not another, aspartame is deadly!
howsabout some real facts rather than hysterical rantings.
The contention is that aspartame is dangerous because a proportion of it is broken down into methanol by the gut, and then converted to formaldehyde - both are dangerous and toxic in sufficient quantities.
All of the above is perfectly true. However Aspartame is not the only source of methanol in the human diet. Another source is pectin.
so lets compare...
the typical daily dose of aspartame is around 2-10 mg/kg per day. Assuming I'm typical and take 5mg/kg that would mean my total consumption of aspartame would be 400 mg or 0.4g. Aproximately 10% of the aspartame is turned into methanol, or a daily dose of 40mg.
now then lets take a source of pectin. I eat 1 apple each day with my lunch. They weigh around 115g, about 1% of this is pectin i.e. around 1g. When this pectin reaches my gut around 5% is turned into methanol, or 50mg of methanol. That's just ONE smallish apple.
and I found this from a report by the united nations on the safety of methanol.
Quote:
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Methanol occurs naturally. It is a natural constituent in blood, urine, saliva and expired air. Mean blood methanol levels of about 0.73 mg/litre in unexposed individuals have been reported. A mean level of 0.25 µg methanol/litre is expired by unexposed humans. The two most important sources of background body burdens of methanol (and its metabolite formate) are diet and metabolic processes. Methanol is available in the diet principally from fresh citrus fruits and juices, vegetables, fermented beverages and diet foods (principally soft drinks) containing the artificial sweetener aspartame (which on hydrolysis yields 10% by weight of the molecule to free methanol that is available for absorption).
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what's that?
it's in fruit juices AND vegetables, AND in fermented beverages.
and here is another quote from a review of aspartame safety.
Quote:
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Several scientific issues continued to be raised after approval, largely as a concern for theoretical toxicity from its metabolic components--the amino acids, aspartate and phenylalanine, and methanol--even though dietary exposure to these components is much greater than from aspartame. |
and here's the crux.
if you seriously believe that aspartame consumption is dangerous, then you will also have to stop eating fruit, vegetables and drinking beer and wine.
For phenylalanine I thought this list might be helpful...
Quote:
L-phenylalanine is found in most foods that contain protein such as beef, poultry, pork, fish, milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese, soy products (including soy protein isolate, soybean flour, and tofu), and certain nuts and seeds. The artificial sweetener aspartame is also high in phenylalanine.
D-phenylalanine is synthesized in the laboratory is not found in food.
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and as for aspartate...
nah I really can't be bothered
