Aspartame

Over 75% of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are due to aspartame. Many of these reactions are very serious, resulting in seizures and death but also include: headaches/migraines, muscle spasms, weight gain, depression, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, tinnitus, memory loss, heart palpitations, loss of taste, and joint pain. Studies have also shown that aspartame can trigger or worsen brain tumours, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, birth defects, fibromyalgia and diabetes.

What is Aspartame?

Aspartame was discovered by accident in 1965 by a chemist from G D Searle Company who was testing an anti-ulcer drug and found it had a very sweet taste. It is 200 times sweeter than refined sugar.

It is made up of 3 chemicals: Aspartic acid, phenylalamine and methanol.

Aspartic acid makes up 40%of aspartame and is an amino acid which has been found to cause serious chronic neurological disorders. It acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. Too much aspartic acid in the brain causes cell damage by over-stimulating the cells until they die. Our natural protection in stopping certain toxins like aspartic acid from passing into parts of the brain is not fully developed during childhood, which makes children more vulnerable to the effects of aspartame. The company who first developed aspartame, the pharmaceutical company, Searle, were warned as far back as 1971 that aspartic acid caused holes in the brains of mice. This was many years before aspartame was allowed on the market.

Phenylalamine makes up 50% of aspartame. It is an amino acid, like aspartic acid, which transmits impulses in the human brain. Studies have shown that increasing phenylalamine levels in the brain leads to a decreased level of the neurotransmitter, serotonin, which can lead to a variety of emotional disorders. People with a medical condition called Phenylketonuria are warned against ingesting any product containing phenylalamine and products containing this substance must contain a warning on the label.

Methanol makes up 10% of aspartame and is a wood alcohol poison. When a human consumes aspartame, it breaks down above 85ºC into its constituent amino acids and methanol. Methanol further breaks down into formaldehyde (which is a known carcinogen), formic acid and Diketopiperazine (DKP) which is a brain tumour agent and has also been shown to increase polyps in the uterus and change blood cholesterol levels. It’s worth noting that water boils at 100ºC, so if an aspartame sweetener is dropped into a freshly made cup of coffee, the temperature is likely to be above 85ºC, therefore allowing the aspartame to easily break down into these components.

When was Aspartame released on the market?

Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by James Schlatter, a chemist working for the pharmaceutical company, G D Searle. Shortly after that, tests began on animals to check its safety as an artificial sweetener. From that time onwards, there has been an appalling catalogue of fraud and deception by those with vested interests to promote aspartame as a “safe” artificial sweetener. Studies which were showing the dangers of aspartame had their funding withdrawn before completion. Other studies were shown to be conducted using very poor science with bad record keeping and insufficient controls to gauge results. Early studies were shown to have records falsified by omitting animals who had died or resurrecting them later on! In addition to this, people making decisions on aspartame at the FDA in the US, were later discovered to receive positions in companies involved with aspartame.

In 1981, under pressure from the soft drinks lobby, the FDA approved the use of aspartame in dry foods and as a table top sweetener, ignoring the public complaints and the concerns of three FDA scientists, after their in-house studies had shown a link with brain tumours.

In July 1983, aspartame was approved for use in soft drinks in the US. Three months later, the UK Ministry of Agriculture also approved aspartame even though the Department of Defence knew that aspartame was a neurotoxin and harmful to health.

In 1985, the manufacturer, Searle Company, was bought by Monsanto, better known today for promoting GM foods.

In 1989, the FDA received over 4000 complaints from people who described adverse reactions to aspartame but because it is listed as a “food additive”, the legal requirement for reporting adverse effects and safety monitoring is removed.

Now, aspartame is in over 4000 products worldwide and that number is increasing. It is consumed by 200 million people in the US alone and as far back as 1990, the market for aspartame in the UK was estimated at £800 million.

Between 1973 and 1990, the incidence of brain tumours in people over 65 had increased by 67% in the US. Brain tumours in all age groups had jumped by 10% in the same period but the greatest increase occurred during 1985 – 1987 and these figures continue to rise.

Are there any studies on Aspartame currently in progress?

Scientists at Kings College, London are presently conducting a study to see if there is a link between aspartame and the increased incidence of glioblastomas, a particularly aggressive type of brain tumour, also much on the increase since the introduction of aspartame.