Aspartame, much ado about nothing?
Main Category: Multiple SclerosisArticle Date: 27 Sep 2004 - 0:00 PDT
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A recent campaign on the web talks of Aspartame, and contains many unfounded allegations, accusing this product of causing several illnesses from Multiple Sclerosis through to Alzheimer's Disease! Eufic's aim is to provide you with science-based information, and as Aspartame would seem to be the 'flavour' of the month, it is time to recall the basics.
What is Aspartame?
Aspartame is a low-calorie, intensive sweetener which is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). It is used to sweeten a variety of foods and beverages and as a tabletop sweetener.
How is Aspartame Made?
Aspartame is made by joining two amino acids (protein components), asparctic acid and phenylalanine, and a small amount of methanol. These amino acids are found naturally in all protein-containing foods, including meats, grains and dairy products. Methanol is found naturally in the body and in many foods such as fruit and vegetable juices. Aspartame is digested like any other amino acids.
Why is Aspartame Used?
It tastes sweet, and helps people to control calorie-intake.
How do I know that Aspartame is safe?
Aspartame is classed as a food additive under European Food legislation, and as such, underwent rigorous, safety evaluation by the Scientific Committee for Foods (SCF) before its approval in 1981. Once an additive has been approved as safe across the European Union, it is assigned an E-number and Aspartame carries the number E-951.
Safety evaluation includes studies which assess how the additive is handled in the body and the intended uses in order to understand how much of the additive is likely to be consumed.
Aspartame has been approved as safe for the general public - including diabetics, pregnant and nursing women, and children - by more than 90 nations worldwide and by regulatory bodies such as the United Nations' Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JEFCA) and the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Can Anybody Consume Aspartame?
Persons with a rare hereditary disease known as phenylketonuria (PKU) must control their phenylalanine intake from all sources, including Aspartame. Thanks to EU regulation, products sweetened with aspartame must be labelled that aspartame is a source of phenylalanine, thus leaving the consumer the freedom to make an informed choice.
Is there any relationship between Aspartame and Multiple Sclerosis?
An unfounded campaign on the web tried to establish a link between aspartame and Multiple Sclerosis. Many health professional associations have refuted this argument. Dr David Squillacote, Senior Medical Advisor for the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation states that there is no scientific evidence that aspartame in any way causes, provokes, mimics or worsens Multiple Sclerosis. For further information, why not take a look at the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation website: http://www.msfacts.org/aspart.htm
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MLA
15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/14072.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/14072.php.
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Visitor Opinions In Chronological Order (10)
Aspartame safe!!!
posted by m.thompson on 27 Sep 2004 at 1:48 pmSeveral independent studies have shown aspartame to be far from safe. There are 3 building blocks to aspartame, 10% of which is methanol.
Free methanol is created from aspartame when it is heated to above 86f (30c) If you heat products containing apartame, methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body.
Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin -on that basis apartame isn't safe.
Martindales Pharmacopoeia tells you that aspartame 'is converted by hydrolysis into 3 products in the gastro-intestinal tract, aspartic acid, methanol (a poison) and phenylalanine, a chemical known to cause severe mental retardation known as phenylketonuria'.
Aspartame
posted by Lori on 20 Feb 2006 at 3:59 pmYou say that when aspartame is HEATED it releases free methanol, etc. Can you tell me which products that contain aspartame you WOULD HEAT up to above 86f?
Heat Up Aspartame ...
posted by Kev on 21 Apr 2006 at 9:14 pmOne example I can think of right off the bat that you would heat up is sugar free maple flavored syrup. I purchased a bottle recently. Were making pancakes for me and my daughter, noticed it contained aspartame after I opened it. Threw it away. No question.
RE: Aspartame
posted by Liz on 30 Apr 2006 at 1:08 amAnything you eat with aspartame once injested heats up above 86F. It's called your internal body temperature doing it.
Actually Phenylalanine Dosen't Cause Mental Retardation
posted by Brendan on 24 Mar 2007 at 2:59 pmphenylalanine does not cause mental retardation. It only causes it if people who have a rare genetic disease called Phenylketonuria consume too much Phenylalanine.
Idiot
posted by Kaden K on 22 Nov 2007 at 6:13 pmThat fool said phenylalanine is a cause of a "severe mental retardation known as phenylketonuria".
Phenylkentonuria is a genetic birth defect present in people who inherit the faulty gene from BOTH parents, ie, a homozygous defect.
People born with PKU can't metabolise the essential amino acid L-phenylalanine, and thus it accumulates and damages the body.
Ordinary people's bodies utilise phenylalanine in the same way from aspartame as other protein sources.
35g of bread contains an average of 1600mg of phenylalanine and 800mg of aspartic acid, the major components of the methyl ester peptide-bonded 'Aspartame'.
A 375ml diet coke contains 180mg of aspartame, which by weight converts to 18mg of methanol, 90mg phenylalanine, and 72mg aspartic acid, FAR less than that found in a mere 35g of ordinary WHITE BREAD.
The amount of methanol that is toxic to humans begins at 100-200mg of methanol per kg of bodyweight, which for a 80kg person would up to 160000mg of methanol, and THOUSANDS of cans of diet coke AT ONE SITTING.
The amounts of formaldehyde created within the body have been shown also to be well below the dangerous level, and do not accumulate.
This has been show by a massive amount of studies, as aspartame is the most tested chemical in FDA history.
True Heat Of Decomposition For Aspartame
posted by Kaden K on 22 Nov 2007 at 6:15 pmAspartame begins to decompose at 200 degrees CELSIUS.
What Heats Aspertame Above 86F
posted by Richard on 31 Jul 2010 at 7:24 pmYour body! 98.6F > 86F
Relationship Between Autism And Aspartame
posted by Dr. Ann on 4 Aug 2010 at 7:45 amTheir is a relationship between Autism and Aspartame. The Senate is determining what correlates with Autism. For the Senate Hearing on Autism going on this month, it may be beneficial to know that along with Mercury and other contaminations in the environment, Aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal) has also been linked to Autism. If you email me back and ask for the information I have, I can show you a chart that significantly matches Autism rates with Aspartame use rate. Europe has banned the use of Aspartame for pregnant and nursing women as well as children. The countries where Aspartame has been banned or never accepted, their Autism rate is only a small fraction of the U.S. rate. Since Aspartame has been approved in 1981, and placed in soft drinks in 1986, the Autism rate has skyrocketed. The Aspartame notes page explains just a few studies on how Aspartame has been linked with brain disorders I hope this information helps.
Some Main Points:
Dr. Olney warned of the damage that this product would do to the unborn and to children. He said that the FDA acknowledged "aspartame had been shown to induce brain damage in neonatal animals” but FDA dismissed the neurotoxicity as irrelevant on grounds that the approved uses of aspartame don’t include feeding it to newborn humans. Yet aspartame can be found in prescription and over-the-counter pediatric drugs and in pediatric vitamins. Nursing babies receive this poison from mothers who breastfeed. How gruesome! The recent plague of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, and birth defects manifest the neurologic devastations of aspartame. Supporting this view, Dr. Louis Elsas, Emory Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics, testified in a congressional hearing that aspartame is a teratogen (causes birth defects) and a neurotoxin.
Aspartame is a teratogen that triggers birth defects. It is a deadly neurotoxin (Dr. Louis Elsas testimony before congress, pediatric professor,genetics, Emory, http://www.dorway.com). Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., (author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills – 1 800 -643-2665) says in his book that aspartame triggers ADD and autism.
Knows From Experience
posted by Tim on 3 Jul 2011 at 3:45 pmI can tell you from experience what happens when Aspartame is exposed to heat. In 1992 I drank a soda (1/3 to 1/4 of it) and my digestive tract has never been the same. I figured the stuff already did its damage and stayed with it until 1 1/2 years ago. Docs and myself were all baffled that my BP would skyrocket a few days after eating cheese, white or yellow types, and would stay there for a few days.
After quitting aspartame it has taken over a year for cheese to once again, have no effect on my BP. I wasn't expecting that result when I quit aspartame, I quit because my BP was sky-high and my meds had no effect on lowering it. It took 2 months of no aspartame that my meds started being effective again. This was due to aspartame, there in NO other explanation.
I wish someone would have posted this a long time ago but I was an early adopter of the stuff. I expect there will many more people with similar symptoms as this crap has time to saturate their systems.
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