Aspartame

[bgast1]

Hi, it has been a long time since I have posted here but I just had the daylights scared out of me when I came to work this afternoon. I don't even know if I am in the right section. Anyway if I am in the wrong section one of the moderators can please move it for me.

I have used products with nutrasweet in them as a supposed safe product to partake in for quite some time. Well this afternoon someone handed me a printed email that he had received and it was about the dangers of aspartame. If I had known that this product was so dangerous and was on the market only for the profits of the pharmaceutical company that makes it, I would never have used it. It would also appear that there is a large body of research confirming what I just read. I don't want to break any rules here by saying too much, just do a google search on the dangers of nutrasweet and see for yourself.

I have not done any research on it but I have heard that Stevia is a safe sweetener. I will be checking into this as well.

Anyone else heard about this?

[Shalyndria]

Interesting that you should post this, bgast, as I had a conversation with a family member earlier regarding aspartame :) Great minds think alike!

If you visit the FDA website you'll find the following statement about aspartame here (http://www.fda.gov/fdac/departs/2002/302_ltrs.html)

The WHO (world heath organization) also stated:
Aspartame - association with brain tumours not supported

United States of America. The Food and Drug Administration has reviewed data on cancer incidence to ascertain whether an association exists between the use of the artificial sweetener, aspartame, and brain tumours, following the publication of an article which raised this question.

Analysis of the National Cancer Institute's public data base did not support such an association. The data show that overall incidence of brain and central nervous system cancers began to increase in 1973 and continued to increase until 1985 since when they remained stable until 1990 and then slightly decreased until 1993 (the last year recorded).

The question of a relationship between brain tumours and aspartame was initially raised in the 1970s when aspartame was being considered for approval. The agency had concluded that aspartame did not cause brain damage and that sufficient information had become available to confirm that aspartame does not cause brain tumours either.
References: FDA Talk Paper T96-74 dated 18 November 1996.


If you visit the Health Canada (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/food-aliment/cs-ipc/chha-edpcs/e_aspartame01.html) site there's a great article.
Saccharin, one of the four approved sugar substitutes, is still being questioned for causing cancer in humans, although there is no documented proof.

I have heard that there's an aspartame internet email hoax going around with the intent to scare the pants off of people. Apparently it's not legitimate.

Hope this helps! If you're overly concerned, Splenda might be a better alternative. It's processed from regular sugar but cannot be digested, and is bulked up with maltodextrin to measure more like sugar.
Shy

[KLD]

I'm not a person who sees a conspiracy behind everything that goes on, but, more and more, I'm coming to believe that maybe there is something behind the rumours that it's the sugar manufacturer's who are promoting all this criticism about the various artificial sweeteners. With all the people in North America who are eating low or at least lower carbohydrate diets, it must be affecting their business significantly.

What I do is use several different artificial sweeteners so that, if any of the rumoured dangers do turn out to be true, I've at least lowered my exposure to the bad ones. I use Splenda (liquid where possible), liquid stevia, and aspartame tablets in my coffee. Whatever the truth is, we know that, as diabetics, sugar is definitely bad for us, whereas we don't know about the other sweeteners, so I'll take my chances with them.

Karen

[Harold]

Probably more than you want to know including the e-mail you saw. (http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp)

[SunniD]

Hello just wanted to add my 2 cents worth concerning Aspartaime.

I have a severe allergy to Aspartaime. When I consume as little as a teaspoon of a diet pop, my heart goes into butterfly fluctations for 2 days. ECG tests show normal but my heart just doesn't know what a normal beat is when there's aspartaime in
the system. Aspartaime breaks down to formaldehyde and PKU
and when I was tested for allergies, I showed a strong positive for formaldehyde so was advised to stay away from that at all costs.

I know the FDA says that anyone consuming aspartaime is probably within the limits but how much formaldehyde is safe to have in your system?? In the lab we use it to preserve the tissues
in Histology so are we gradually pickling ourselves by consuming it?? It is also used as an embalming fluid, a sterilizer and a preservative as I already mentioned. Histology techs are noticing problems with the chemicals in their labs so am wondering what a safe limit is to be consuming.

Found the following about formaldehyde:

Formaldehyde is classified as a human carcinogen and has been linked to nasal and lung cancer, and with possible links to brain cancer and leukemia. Short-term exposure to formaldehyde can be fatal. Long-term exposure to low levels of formaldehyde may cause respiratory difficulty, eczema, and sensitization.

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I am now wondering if my allergies or adverse rxns could be partly due to the consumption of Aspartaime. I guess I'll never know but it makes me wonder. I made a choice and decided I could live without it.<smile>

SunniD

[KLD]

I've heard of others who have had a similar reaction to aspartame. I would certainly avoid it if I were you too.

Karen

[Harold]

SunniD,

With that kind of reaction I would stay away from it as well. Heck I stay away from it because my reaction to it is BAD TASTE IN MY MOUTH. :D

[JasonSmithMT]

Its actually the methanol in aspartame that breaks down into formaldehyde via enzymes in the liver. A lot of people consume methanol in their diets.

NutraSweet FAQ on methanol (http://www.nutrasweet.com/articles/article.asp?Id=57)

Howstuff works: Aspartame (http://health.howstuffworks.com/question536.htm)

[SunniD]

Thanks Jason. Good info to read.

SunniD