Friday, January 20, 2012

What is Aspartame?


www.naturalnews.com - December 04, 2011

Over a billion people consume aspartame in their foods and beverages across the world, believing it to be a safe ingredient, but what they probably don't know is that aspartame currently accounts forover 75% of all side effects complaints received by the FDA's Adverse Reaction Monitoring System (ARMS) for the past 4 years. It is banned by health-conscious countries all over the world, especially where there is a national healthcare system in place.

Aspartame is best known by the brand namesNutraSweet, Equal, Sweet One and Spoonful. Aspartame is asynthetic chemical combination which is comprised of approximately50% phenylalanine, 40% aspartic acid, and 10% methanol. Aspartame is found in thousands of foods, drinks, candy, gum, vitamins, health supplements and even pharmaceuticals. (http://www.wellsphere.com/wellpage/...)...

Each of the three ingredients in Aspartame poses its own dangersand each is well documented as causing a long list of side effects and dangerous health conditions. Watch for the ingredient Acesulfame Potassium, which is just another name for Aspartame.

Phenylalanine: Even a single use of Aspartame raises the blood phenylalanine levels. High blood phenylalanine can be concentrated in parts of the brain and isespecially dangerous for infants and fetuses. Because it is metabolized much more efficiently by rodents than humans, testing and research on rats alone is not sufficient enough to denounce the dangers of Aspartame for human consumption. Excessive levels of phenylalanine in the brain cause serotonin levels to decrease,leading to emotional disorders like depression.

Aspartic Acid: Aspartic acid is considered anexcito-toxin, which means it over stimulates certain neurons in the body until they die. Much like nitrates and MSG, aspartic acid can cause amino acid imbalances in the body and result in the interruption of normal neurotransmitter metabolism of the brain. (http://www.holisticmed.net/aspartam...)

Methanol becomes Formaldehyde(Embalming fluid): The most prominent danger of Aspartame is that when ingested, the methanol (wood alcohol) is distributed throughout the body, including the brain, muscle, fat and nervous tissues, and is thenmetabolized to form formaldehyde, which enters cells and binds to proteins and genetic material (DNA). Methanol is a dangerous neurotoxin and aknown carcinogen, which causes retinal damage in the eye, interferes with DNA processes, and can cause birth defects. (http://aspartame.mercola.com/)

The EPA's recommended limit of consumption of Methanol is 7.8 milligrams per day, but a one liter bottle of an Aspartame-sweetened beverage contains over 50 mg of methanol. Heavy users of Aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily,which is over 30 times the EPA limit.

Suspiciously similar to the symptoms of Fibromyalgia and Multiple Sclerosis, Aspartame's long list includes dizziness, headaches, behavioral changes, hallucinations, depression, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain. Also,many illnesses can be worsened by ingesting Aspartame, including chronic fatigue syndrome, brain tumors, epilepsy, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, mental retardation, and especially diabetes.

Birth defects: According to Dr. Louis Elsas, Pediatrician Professor of Genetics at Emory University, Phenylalanine can concentrate in the placenta, causing mental retardation of a fetus. Also, formaldehyde in the blood stream of a pregnant woman can cause her immune system to target the fetal tissue as a foreign substance and destroy it, the result being a miscarriage. This can happen before she even knows she is pregnant. (http://www.dorway.com/dr-elsas.txt)


2 comments:

Becky Miller said...

Woodrow C. Monte, PhD, a food scientist, researcher, and Professor Emeritus of Food Science and Nutrition at Arizona State University, has just published a comprehensive book, “While Science Sleeps, a Sweetener Kills,” which is now available on Amazon.com.

The book presents Dr. Monte’s lifetime of research into the nutritional causes of the major diseases of civilization. His own research, along with the research of hundreds of other scientists, is presented in language the average reader can understand and apply to very easily avoid many of the worst diseases that currently kill the majority of people in the civilized world. Dr. Monte has carefully and thoughtfully pieced together the scientific evidence found in hundreds of scientific studies to show convincingly that the single culprit is methanol – a molecule found primarily in canned fruits and vegetables, tomatoes, cigarette smoke, smoked foods, and the artificial sweetener aspartame. Methanol is converted by the enzyme known as Alcohol Dehydrogenase Class 1 (ADH1) into formaldehyde inside the body’s most sensitive tissues.

It is methanol that makes the aspartame taste sweet, and within ten minutes of consuming it, the methanol is released from its chemical bond. Each liter of diet soda contains the amount of methanol found in a pack of cigarettes, and evidence is mounting that diseases traditionally associated with smoking – most recently, heart disease and stroke – are now being associated specifically with aspartame consumption.

The human body converts dietary methanol into formaldehyde in the stomach, liver, veins and arteries, lungs, pancreas, skin, breast, and brain. Dr. Monte makes a compelling case that it is this process, and the disease that results, that is responsible for the epidemics of a variety of cancers, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases like Lupus and Multiple Sclerosis, autism, and Alzheimer’s disease that have exploded over the past thirty years since the introduction of aspartame in the summer of 1981.

The book also contains information and documentation showing that the product’s manufacturers and their friends in the Food & Drug Administration knew the dangers posed by aspartame, yet buried the evidence and released it for public consumption despite the risk. Furthermore, they knowingly marketed it to those research had demonstrated were particularly vulnerable to its harmful effects – diabetics and pregnant mothers. Since that time, adult onset diabetes has more than doubled worldwide, with diabetics dying from the major diseases of civilization at a much higher rate than the average population.

Deaths from Alzheimer’s disease, in which formaldehyde inside the brain destroys memory function, have increased 10,000% since 1981. Neural tube birth defects are up around 70% in the same period of time despite efforts to compensate with recommended folic acid.

Dr. Monte has decades of experience in food science and nutrition as a researcher, teacher, inventor, industry consultant and consumer advocate who is committed to food additive safety and the prevention of food borne diseases. He is a dedicated scientist with both a Ph.D. and M.S. in Food Science and Nutrition and a B.S. in Biology. He has been a Registered Dietician, Certified Nutrition Specialist AIN, professional member of the American Chemical Society and emeritus member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1985, he was chosen by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars as a Senior Fulbright Scholar. His testimony before Congress was instrumental in the prevention of Sulfites from receiving status of US FDA GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe) and the implementation of mandatory labeling for most foods that contain this dangerous additive. More information about Dr. Monte and his work can be found on his website: www.WhileScienceSleeps.com.

Mia said...

Thank you so much Becky. This is great information

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