Actual RESEARCH (not hearsay) on Aspartame and Safety

very interesting “research”titled papers.
Coincidentally i was now in the process of researching the veracity of research papers funded by drug companies and indeed hospital institutions dependent on same companies for there financial upkeep.
Indded ,even the WHO has been found wanting in the last 2 years
Would you be so kind as to identify the financial sources of these studies condoning the safe use of Aspartame.
P.S there is also documented evidence to show that Vitamin supplements will kill you!!!!

When will people wake up and realize that products such as aspertame are BIG business and manufactures will go to any extremes to con people into useing them.
People still think that the FDA only inspects and passes products for the safty of consumers , Think again , the role of the FDA is to insure that no other products compete with the ones which they promote! and the ones they promote are from the manufactures that pay them the most! money talks.

Why do you think that the FDA contantly raids and closes down little health food shops that promote and sell herbs and vitamins that are harmless yet vital for health ? it’s simply because they work so well at preventing so many ailments that the drug manufactures lose out on the sales of medicines, they want you to be Ill! it’s big business selling drugs and medicines, it is worth billions every year, and the FDA ensure that it stays this way by killing off anythng that may interfear with profits

This is the reason that the research you quote is meaningless, because they are biased, disstorted and lies, in favour of whoever funds them , The customer, why else do you think they are carried out in the first place, they are an attempt to demonstrate an honest individual non biased scientific study of a product in order to convince people that they are good and safe.

lets put it this way , how many people would fund a study of a multi billion dollar product only to show you how dangerous and un healthy it is then publish the results and watch their sales plumit, it’s not going to happen all they need to do is pay the right people enough, twist a few figures here and there and walla perfectly safe product with research to back it up, perfect,
ca-ching in comes the money.

You Joel are welcome to consume these toxic chemicals, maybe you will not end up ill from them, but why risk it when there is overwhelming evidence suggesting that they are dangerous, sure you can say show me the evidence but as I said no one is going to cause this would be business suicide, the only evidence you need is written all over the net on sites that are able to write freely under the freedoom of speach act, and this can only happen if the site has nothing to sell to anyone if they are set up to make money the info that they can print is limited.

Try the one below, and spend some time in the real world we live in!

http://www.NaturalNews.com

interesting information;
these sweeteners might be useful by helping ppl get over their cravings, etc without consuming actual calories; however, the chemical formula of these are very similar to that of sugar and our pancreas is unable to tell the difference between the two so it’ll release insulin into blood which is not good!
I might be wrong though I have heard this from a very experienced sports nutritionist; judgment is yours!

Aspartame has wood alcohol in it (a poison)…I will pass…Hawaii has legislation in the works in banning Aspartame…
Big Pharma gives money to these studies to say they are safe for consumption.
The website says it all.

I had a feeling that the posted information was going to be pro artificial sweeteners.

In my mind, it’s plain – and very simple. Only eat whole, healthy foods. Pop (soda for you Americans) has somehow been transformed from a treat when it was first invented to a staple by WAY too many people (that seems to be the biggest “offender”).

Coffee, tea, cereal? WHAT is the harm in a SMALL amount of unrefined, natural sugar?

Come on folks – wake up. It’s a chemical, therefore it probably isn’t meant to be ingested by us. OK, so maybe “normal” amounts ingested by “normal” people won’t cause all kinds of cancer. What’s normal? Too many subjectives for my liking.

In reading what I just wrote, I guess the question for you, Joel (if you don’t mind answering) is: what is wrong with a small amount of sugar usage?

-John Kellner.

@Brent –

Everything in Moderation but Moderation Itself…..

A ‘nutrient’ is described by the dictionary as:

a substance that provides nourishment, e.g. the minerals that a plant takes from the soil or the constituents in food that keep a human body healthy and help it to grow

I don’t see how you can really call aspartame a nutrient Joel?? (particularly aspartame as it’s perhaps the most studied nutrient of all time)

@Kevin –

Kevin – everything is chemical! We are chemical. our food, the wood in our homes, the whole planet is, well, the result of the periodic table of elements in any combination!!

I love these comments:

“It’s artificial, ergo your body does not know what to do with it”

Ok, then explain why our body does a very good job of metabolizing and excreting the THOUSANDS of artificial drugs manufactured and taken everyday by millions. (if you think it doesn’t, back it up with your expert knowledge on pharmacology, biochemisty, physiology and kinetics).

“They are all in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies. Why didn’t you put any “research” from independents?

Yep, just as I predicted…the big conspiracy theory. People love a conspiracy as it can explain away anything valid. They can’t refute an individual study on its merits (design, methodology, bias, statistical significance,), but will package the whole school of information as part of a big conspiracy. Every single researcher, scientist, assistant, reviewer and journal IN THE WORLD is in on this big secret conspiracy with Monsanto, J.W. Childs and Merisant (who have bought all of them off). Amazing! Then, they bought off the whole government, too. Someone should make a movie!

“Dr. Blaylock, one of the most respected neurosurgeons in the country says: “The ingredients in NutraSweet [aspartame] literally stimulate the neurons of the brain to death causing brain damage of varying degrees.” ”

Respected? I guess not by his peers. You don’t hear this being said by the thousands of other neurologists in practice today (and not trying to sell a book). Oh, I forgot. They’re obviously in on the conspiracy, too. He is unpublished in any highly respected peer reviewed neurology journal on this subject. He is only published on this subject in “Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine”. More fuel for the conspiracy argument!

This is hilarious!

Hey Joel, this confirms a suspicion of mine, that artificial sweeteners are not nearly so toxic as people trying to sell books online would have me believe. I can respect others opinions, but unless evidence supports them, they’re merely opinions.

And I love how some people here are using personal anecdotes as evidence that these substances are harmful to everyone. My experience as a pharmacist has demonstrated that adverse reactions are highly individualized. Ergo just because one person experienced a side effect does NOT mean everyone will.

Joel, kudos for posting this well thought out and BALANCED information about these sweeteners. There has been far too much anecdotal hysteria about aspartame, similar to the panic over ‘high fructose corn syrup’, which is almost identical in chemical composition to regular sugar, invert sugar (used a lot in baking) and honey, of all things. It’s too bad you couldn’t do to test aspartame what the people on Food Networks’ FOOD DETECTIVES show did to test MSG – they fed a large group of people a Chinese banquet, but only half got MSG in their dinners – and, interestingly enough, some people reported having ‘MSG syndrome’. Then, it turned out that among the people who got MSG, there were only a few who reported symptoms – and there were more among the group that got NO MSG who claimed to have the signs of ‘MSG syndrome’. Needless to say, they had to hang their heads a bit after this revelation.

I think this issue comes down to common sense and moderation. Anything if overdone or overconsumed can be harmful. I am neither for or against artificial sweeteners (I generally will use raw sugar if I can), but in saying that some people will react. Its the same with any substance. For some people, nuts are deadly, for others like my son, they are a recommended snack because of the fatty acids help some of his mental conditions. In reading any research or issues with things, you need to take the fact that we are all unique into perspective. My Grandfather was a diabetic and used Sacchrine and then Nutrisweet (when it became available) most of his life. He lived to 97 with all his mental facilities intact.

Joel, Some of your posters seem to understand neither science or logic.
If something hurts you, STOP USING IT.
In toxicology research, it is the dose that is important. ANY substance can be toxic/harmful in the sufficient dose. Some substances are toxic at such low doses, they can properly be labeled as poisons, dangerous for pretty much anyone. There is no evidence, SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE, that aspartame, MSG, or HFCS do what they have been accused of. There needs to be some major chilling out here. And, it’s time to put up or shut up. Show proof or sit down. And, again, if it hurts you, DON’T USE IT.

Well, ive heard that artificial sweateners may be a nuisance to loosing fat, because the indigested mollecules get stored aboud and block the fat mollecules from entering the blood, thus being used as energy. Im pretty sure this is bull**** but id like someone more experienced to tell me if there is anything that might be close to truth in there

All I can contribute is a personal anecdote. A few years back I used to drink one or two cans of Diet Coke a day (my only caffeine) and chew a lot of gum with aspartame. At the same time, I was in the grip of chronic fatigue syndrome. It could have been worse (it was not completely debilitating) but I was pretty sick. Every day to me felt like I was about to come down with the flu at the same time as having a hangover. I experimented with a lot of things diet- and lifestyle-wise in order to remedy this. In the end, I believe that giving up aspartame was the final piece of the puzzle. I am much better now, I would say 95% (you never quite get over it). And actually giving it up was harder than giving up smoking (I appreciate that I was giving up caffeine also but one or two cans of Diet Coke is not that much).

I think stevia is the way forward.

What about Aspartame as a trigger initiatining and sustaining “metabolic syndrome”

Its about time someone straightened this out – I am sick of being told of the different sorts of cancer I am going to contract. Im going to print this out and the next time I am hounded I will take great pleasure throwing this in their face.
Cheers Joel.

Thanks for the info Joel.

Tim, Warfarin is not used for hypertension. It is used to help prevent clots in people prone to them such as people with artificial heart valves.

Well Joel this is definetly a controversial subject and one that everyone seems to be interested in.

I am a very controlled diabetic and I will probably still have my diet drink occassionally. (I do my best to stick to decaf).

Diane

Sorry I meant Dennis.

Hey TW,

As I sit here reading this and drinking my nice, cold Diet Coke, all I can say is…..oh my God, I forgot what I was going to say. How can this be? What’s happening? It’s like you prophetized my demise. Why didn’t someone warn me?

Please! Someone HELP ME! HELP ME PLEEEEASE!!! MY BRAIN CELLS ARE DYYYYYING!!!

No really, I can’t remember my name. And I’m getting a headache. No, Wait! Tens of thousands of us are dying EVERY DAY!

We’re littered all over the place; dead on the streets, in movie theaters, at the beach…EVERYWHERE. Riddled with cancer and brain lesions. Dead, with Diet Coke cans still clutched in our hands. Were doomed. It’s over. We’re done. Good bye.

Why didn’t someone warn us 25 years ago and save the millions of us who have died of this poison over the years? All those unexplained deaths. Now we really know what caused them. Thanks TW.

(Doesn’t Coca Cola know that if they kill me I won’t buy anymore Diet Coke?)

My concern regarding artificial sweeteners is not cancer – some rumours going around about causing Alzheimer’s and other nerve/brain related illnesses.

Hi Joel,

I’m 58 years young, I always worked out at home doing ground exercised (free-hand) and light barbels & dumbels, about 15 year ago I quit smoking & 10 years ago I quit all alchoholic drinks. I am diabetic and I used to drink all sorts of diet and sugar free drinks until a month ago, my wife forwarded the following message and I would like to share it everyone:
This is not an appeal for help. It is warning for health.

In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick. She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Walking was a major chore. It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain.

By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies and was on 24 various prescription medications. The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her.. She was in so much pain, and so sick. She just knew she was dying. She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest daughter’s name, and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of.

She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to Florida (basically in a wheelchair) for March 22 nd.

On March 19, I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said they didn’t find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS. I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I asked my sister if she drank diet soda? She told me that she did. As a matter of fact, she was getting ready to crack one open that moment.

I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda!

I e-mailed her the article my friend, a lawyer, had sent. My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk! The muscle spasms went away.. She said she didn’t feel 100% but she sure felt a lot better. She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would call me when she got home.

Well, she called me, and said her doctor was amazed! He is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if they consumed artificial sweeteners of any kind.

In a nutshell, she was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet soda….. and literally dying a slow and miserable death.

When she got to Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill, and that was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her way to a complete recovery.

And she is walking! No wheelchair! This article saved her life.

If it says ‘SUGAR FREE’ on the label; DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on ‘ASPARTAME,’ marketed as ‘NutraSweet,’ ‘Equal,’and ‘Spoonful.’

In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the United States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus. It was difficult to determine exactly what toxin was causing this to be rampant.

I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject.

I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous: When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants.. The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus. Many people were being diagnosed in error. Although multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, Methanol toxicity is!

Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. The victim usually does not know that the Aspartame is the culprit. He or she continues its use; irritating the lupus to such a degree that it may become a life-threatening condition.

We have seen patients with systemic lupus become asymptotic, once taken off diet sodas.

In cases of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the symptoms disappear. We’ve seen many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss improved markedly.

This also applies to cases of tinnitus and fibromyalgia. During a lecture, I said, ‘If you are using ASPARTAME (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting, pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss you probably have ASPARTAME poisoning!’

People were jumping up during the lecture saying, ‘I have some of these symptoms. Is it reversible?’

Yes! Yes! Yes! STOP drinking diet sodas and be alert for Aspartame on food labels! Many products are fortified with it! This is a serious problem.

Dr. Esparto (one of my speakers) remarked that so many people seem to be symptomatic for MS and during his recent visit to a hospice, a nurse stated that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence!

Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple SODIUM (salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates. It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight!

These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs. Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and is used primarily to preserve ’tissue specimens.’Many products we use every day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT store it IN our body!

Dr. H. J.. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the ‘diet products’ and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period.

Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics. We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient with retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame. The Aspartame drives the blood-sugar out of control. Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the other amino acids necessary for a good balance…

Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE. Especially with diabetics, the Aspartame passes the blood/brain barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain; causing various levels of brain damage, seizures, depression, manic depression, panic attacks, uncontrollable anger and rage.

Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non-diabetics as well. Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their behaviour when these chemicals have been removed from their diet. So called ‘behaviour modification prescription drugs’ (Ritalin and others) are no longer needed. Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in the first place! Most of these children were being ‘poisoned’ on a daily basis with the very foods that were ‘better for them than sugar.’

It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of diet Coke and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the Gulf War, may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War Syndrome.

Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e . mental retardation, if taken at the time of conception and during early pregnancy. Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should NEVER be given artificial sweeteners. There are many different case histories to relate of children suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological disturbances talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused by the use of this deadly poison.’

Herein lies the problem: There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included 100 different products and strong objection was made concerning its use. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, and still nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets.

Sadly, MONSANTO’S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED! There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this deadly chemical and there will be thousands more introduced. Everybody wants a ‘piece of the Aspartame pie.’ I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame, knows how deadly it is.

And isn’t it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians?

This has been recently exposed in the New York Times. These [organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their link to MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and are required to endorse their products.

Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially regarding pregnant women, children and infants. The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers and the problems existing in the general population regarding seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and behavioural symptoms. The bill was killed.

It is known that the powerful drug and chemical lobbies are responsible for this, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting and uninformed public. Well, you’re Informed now! YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!

As an alternative refreshment, neither milk nor water contain Aspartame, and are both quite refreshing when chilled.

Please e-mail to your family and your well-wishers

Best regards and all the best.

Effie D’Souza
Mohammed Jalal & Sons
IT Centre

Everything natural or man-made can have adverse effects of people. Penicillin, one of the greatest inventions of all time has adverse effects on some people. For the most part, it does not on most people. Aspirin kills thousands of people a year. It cracks me up to hear people place this huge significance on an artificial sweetener when they are putting worse things in their bodies everyday. What about the proteins you eat? The fruit/vegetables you eat? How about all of the bacteria you intake into your body everyday from your food and drink? How about the bacteria from the things you touch and input into your body through your nose, eyes, and mouth? Give me a break and stop with the conspiracies and panic scenarios. I know of hundreds of people who drink diet soda or take-in artificial sweeteners everyday and have had no adverse effects. Heck, even some people are allergic to oranges and can have serious health issues if they eat one. Should we ban oranges too?

Sorry Joel…still not buying that it’s safe!! Not after what happened to me! I will stick with plain old water. Or use alternatives, like Stevia, raw honey, or Agave Nectar. I would even go as far as to say I will use table sugar before I use that crap!

There’s the “insulin” aspect to any artificial sweetener, even as safe as sugar itself (though sugar is really dangerous, but this is another story): any sweet taste, coming with any sweetener, raises glucose concentration in the blood *before* the food has a chance to be digested – a well known phenomenon of “anticipation” or Pavlovian conditioning. What happens next depends on one’s insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, etc., but generally, if you need to lose weight, you automatically do have the insulin problem. Read entire editorial, discussion, any my humble contribution at EDITORIALS: Michael E J Lean and Catherine R Hankey Aspartame and its effects on health BMJ 2004; 329: 755-756 http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/329/7469/755#78439