Pacific Way Wellness Center
                                      Health Newsletter - August 2010


Aspartame: The Sweetener
    with a Toxic Payload      

It pays to be a discerning consumer, and that's especially true when it comes to ingredients in the things we eat. One common food additive to be aware of is Aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener that packs 200 times the sweetening power of sugar and has no calories. Sounds like a dream come true, doesn't it? Not so fast. Aspartame is everywhere, but when you learn more about it you may decide it's not for you.

Where is it?

Aspartame has been marketed under the brand names Nutrasweet and Equal. It is also now being re-branded as AminoSweet. You'll find it in a wide range of foods, especially those advertised as sugar-free. Manufacturers like Aspartame, since it costs far less to use than sugar because it's so sweet. It's second only to saccharin in its use worldwide, and can be found in more than 6,000 food products including soft drinks, candy, chewing gum, and even vitamins! While the calorie-free aspect of aspartame is appealing to dieters and others seeking to avoid sugar, for most consumers aspartame's effects could present far more of a problem than a teaspoon of sugar now and then.

Controversy surrounds aspartame

Controversy has swirled around aspartame ever since it was first synthesized by the G.D. Searle drug company in 1965. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it for consumer use in 1974. Since then, numerous scientist and researchers have questioned the safety of Aspartame. For example, Dr. Samuel Epstein is professor emeritus at the University of Chicago School of Public Health and Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition. He's known for his research on avoidable causes of cancer. In a 2010 report, Epstein asserted that even before the FDA approved the additive, the agency had already concluded that Searle's assertions about the safety of aspartame were overblown. He said research since then shows that the chemical is toxic and has carcinogenic effects that can contribute to the formation of brain tumors and other serious health threats.

What happens when you eat aspartame?

When you eat something containing aspartame, the chemical quickly breaks down into its components, which include phenylalanine (an amino acid), methanol (wood alcohol), formaldehyde (a chemical used in embalming) and formic acid (a significantingredient in bee sting venom). Suddenly aspartame doesn't sound so sweet anymore. A look at its reported effects is cause for alarm. A survey of aspartame users documented about 50 symptoms reported by subjects who ingested the sweetener. Among them were blurred vision, ringing in the ears, headaches, dizziness, numbness in extremities, itching, chest palpitations and seizures. Countless other symptoms, including depression, have also been reported to the FDA.

According to some researchers studying aspartame's effects, reaction to the chemical can worsen the symptoms of various chronic diseases, including epilepsy, Parkinson's Disease, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimers, among others. Some patients suffering from the effects of chronic aspartame use have even been misdiagnosed with diseases they did not actually have, but whose symptoms matched their aspartame-caused complaints. Additionally, there have been over 7,000 toxicity reactions officially received by the FDA from people who complained to the agency. Experts say that the official complaints probably represent just the tip of the iceberg of aspartame problems, since most citizens would not think to report such an issue to the federal government. Because of this likely under-reporting of problems associated with the sweetener, and because much of the evidence against aspartame remains anecdotal, the sweetener continues to be sanctioned by the FDA, despite calls from some lawmakers to outlaw its use.

What's PKU?

Aspartame does present one proven health risk that is actually acknowledged by the federal government: it's dangerous if used by people with a rare genetic disease called phenylketonuria or PKU. People with this disease cannot adequately metabolize phenylalanine. That's why you'll see health warnings in fine print on cans of diet soda and other foods containing aspartame.

While many people eat sugar-free foods because they know sugar is bad for them or they want to lose weight, it is clear that the potential health risks of this manufactured chemical additive far outweigh its benefits. So the next time you are looking to sweeten that glass of iced tea, forgo the packet of Aspartame and reach for a more healthful alternative like Stevia. You'll be giving your body a break.

 

More information about Aspartame can be found at the following websites:


“Sugar-Free Blues: Everything you wanted to know about artificial sweeteners”:
http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/570-sugar-free-blues.htm


“A Dangerous Spin on the Cancer Risks of a Sugar Free Sweetener”:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samuel-s-epstein/a-dangerous-spin-on-the-c_b_411919.html


Theodosia Woods, DC & Susan Lanker, DC
1289 Pacific Way, Gearhart, Oregon 97138    
503-738-9796   www.drtheodosia.com