Product Alert! The Dangers of Aspartame
Product Alert! The Dangers of
Aspartame
Aspartame is marketed in The U.S. and
Australia under the trade names of "Equal" and "Nutrasweet". Elsewhere as
"Spoonful" and "Equal Measure". Reports indicate that it is consumed by more
people than any other synthetic product in history1. In 1992, 14 million
pounds (6.4 million kilograms) were consumed.
Contained in: Antibiotic
syrups, chewable and effervescent vitamins, foods of all description, diet
drinks, lipsticks and many unlabelled products. There are no restrictions on
its use in foodstuffs.
Composition: Methyl alcohol (10% by weight),
aspartate and phenylalanine.
Decomposes to: Formaldehyde and formic
acid.
Relatives: Monosodium glutamate. Aspartates and glutamates differ
by one methyl group and have similar undesirable effects. (2)
Toxic
Effects: Aspartates and glutamates are both excitatory amino acids. When
excessive amounts of these are present in the brain they act as a neurotoxin
destroying brain cells.
The phenylalanine component when combined with
the aspartic acid from the aspartate and the methyl alcohol can deplete
serotonin from the brain.
High levels of phenylalanine are associated
with abnormal brain function and brain damage. Levels may reach 30-40 times
normal in certain susceptible individuals producing PKU even in
adults.
Medium to high doses in monkeys produced grand mal seizures in
all test animals within 218 days.
Symptomatology: Memory loss,
depression and irritability, tinnitis, flicker vertigo (3), flicker induced
epileptic activity, seizures, gradual loss of vision, dizziness, increased
appetite (1). Possibly also peripheral neuropathy, joint pain, fatigue, liver
damage but these are unconfirmed.
In extreme cases it may induce
suicidal tendencies. Brain cell damage may result in the symptoms of
Alzheimer's and Huntington's Chorea.
1 . Mullarky, B.A & Newman, A.V "The hidden Effects of Aspartame"
Informed Consent Sept/Oct 1994 3539
2. Letter to Barbara Mullarky from
Ralph Dawson Jnr, PhD, Assistant professor, University of Florida Dept. of
Pharmacodymanics (29 Jan, 88)
3. Flying Safety- a publication of the US
Air force
4. Increased appetite by producing chemical changes in the
brain. Leeds (England) University study.
