Aspartame (artificial sweetener): Is it safe?

[MIJ-VI]

There are some folks who claim that consuming the artificial sweetener Aspartame forms a health hazard. On the other hand such claims have been denounced as being yet more Internet BS.

Speaking strictly for myself, if I experienced any of these alleged side effects, I'd lay off the phony sweeteners for a few months to see if my health changed:

Aspartame Side Effects: Aspartame Side Effects via @addthis
Aspartame Side Effects

Here's a brief video on Aspartame:

YouTube - 60 minutes on aspartame.flv‏: YouTube - ‪60 minutes on aspartame.flv‬‏ via @addthis
YouTube - ‪60 minutes on aspartame.flv‬‏
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgIj...eature=related

And here's a more in-depth offering:

Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World | Watch Free Documentary Online: Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World | Watch Free Documentary Online via @addthis
Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World | Watch Free Documentary Online

"Aspartame is an artificial sweetener, an additive. And it’s a chemical. It’s not a natural product, it’s a chemical. The molecule is made up of three components. Two are amino acids, the so-called building blocks of protein.

One is called Phenylalanine, which is about 50% of the molecule and the other is Aspartic Acid, which is like 40%. And the other 10% is so-called Methyl Ester, which as soon as it’s swallowed becomes free methyl alcohol. Methanol. Wood alcohol, which is a poison. A real poison.

Excellent documentary showing how dangerous artificial sweetner Aspartame is. From its history, to its effects this video is enough to shock anyone into really looking at there food labels next time they shop. Aspartame is a toxic food that came into the world as an investment by Donald Rumsfeld, while ignoring the deadly effects the tests showed. Take a good look at this video, it could save lives."

Quotes & info from the above video:

Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World - The Sour Truth About NutraSweet (Aspartame): Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World via @addthis
Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World

More info:

DORway » Aspartame & Aspartame Poisoning Information Site: DORway » Aspartame & Aspartame Poisoning Information Site via @addthis

[jaywa]

I despise all artificial sweeteners and I avoid diet soft drinks like the plague. So do my wife and daughters.

In fact, one of those artificial sweeteners (I think it may be aspartame) makes my wife violently ill. So yeah, we're pretty adamant about keeping that garbage out of our home.

[L-A]

FYI, methanol is also in several beers. I hope it's not the main argument of what you just posted.

[MIJ-VI]

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikiped...hanol#Toxicity

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ethanol

[MonetBass]

When possible, I turn to the ever-intelligent Cecil Adams for stuff like this:

Originally Posted by The Straight Dope

Did aspartame (NutraSweet) cause Gulf War Syndrome?
November 29, 1996
Dear Cecil:

The attached document, which is floating around the Web, details a number of deadly side effects of aspartame (NutraSweet). One side effect stems from the release of methanol when aspartame is heated to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. The paper goes on to suggest this may be the cause of Gulf War Syndrome, since the troops all drank diet drinks that had sat in the desert sun for several days. The paper also says the head of the Food and Drug Administration took a high position in the PR firm used by G. D. Searle, the maker of NutraSweet, soon after the product was approved for use in soft drinks. What's the scoop? Am I poisoning myself and my kids by buying diet products?

— Paul Young, via the Internet

Cecil replies:

Now, Paul. Surely you know the Coca-Cola company owns a high-temperature soft-drink testing lab. It's called Atlanta. The summer mortality rate in Atlanta is alarmingly high. But the problem is more sucking chest wounds than diet pop.

Other claimed dangers of aspartame may not be so farfetched, but it's hard to tell. Folks have been arguing about the safety of this stuff for more than 20 years. The weight of scientific evidence is that the sweetener is harmless. Nonetheless since its introduction in 1981 thousands of complaints have been filed with federal health authorities from people saying aspartame gives them headaches or worse.

Sure, where there's smoke maybe there's fire. The problem is that people tend to blame aspartame for everything. The sweetener has been associated with something like 90 different symptoms, including vision problems, dizziness, drowsiness, abdominal pain, anxiety attacks, depression, confusion, memory loss, ringing in the ears, chest palpitations, personality changes, convulsions, and irritability. It's also been linked to conditions ranging from brain tumors, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis to chronic fatigue syndrome.

Scientists say real toxins don't work that way--they produce a specific cluster of symptoms. One chemical can't possibly be causing all this stuff.

For the most part researchers have been unable to replicate adverse aspartame reactions in the lab. In numerous studies investigators recruited individuals who said aspartame triggered headaches, epileptic seizures, or what have you. Typically they fed half the subjects aspartame and the other half a placebo. In most cases there was no observable difference.

Aspartame opponents are a vocal bunch and include some reputable scientists. But their claims are often dubious. For example, Dr. John Olney, a longtime aspartame foe, recently published a study linking the sweetener to an increase in brain tumors in the U.S. The NutraSweet company promptly rounded up experts to point out an obvious flaw: the incidence of brain tumors had begun to rise before the introduction of aspartame and has been leveling off since. Meanwhile use of the sweetener has increased sharply. You don't need a Ph.D. to figure out that if there really were a connection the two rates would go up together.

Mary Stoddard, the head of an antiaspartame group called the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network, told us she and her daughter suffered a broad range of health problems, some quite serious, that she attributed to the sweetener. Ms. Stoddard is a nice lady, but her belief that aspartame was the cause of her difficulties seems largely a matter of personal conviction. She declined to participate in controlled tests that might have conclusively established a link.

Other claims quickly noted: Aspartame causes reduced cognitive ability and other problems in airplane pilots. Several studies have failed to confirm these effects. Aspartame causes blindness because it produces methanol (wood alcohol) when digested. Aspartame does produce a small quantity of methanol, but research shows that even if someone drinks enormous quantities of diet pop the amount is much less than the minimum toxic dose, even in soft drinks stored above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Aspartame is especially dangerous to pregnant women and infants. Experiments suggest any danger is slight, but to be on the safe side pregnant women and babies probably shouldn't have the stuff.

All the noise may be obscuring some genuine problems. A 1993 study of the effect of aspartame on persons with a history of depression had to be halted because of the severity of the reaction. (For more on this see below.) I did find one study that found a connection between aspartame and headaches, and there are some persuasive anecdotal accounts. Those with phenylketonuria, the inability to metabolize phenylalanine, one of aspartame's ingredients, should definitely avoid the sweetener. If the stuff is causing a bad reaction, by all means stop using it.

As for the allegation about the FDA commissioner, it's true that Arthur H. Hayes, who headed the FDA at the time it approved NutraSweet in soft drinks, subsequently became a consultant for Burson-Marsteller, which did public relations work for G. D. Searle. But an investigation by the General Accounting Office conducted at the behest of Ohio Sen. Howard Metzenbaum failed to find any indication of wrongdoing. A separate GAO investigation found no evidence that the aspartame approval procedure had been anything other than legit.

I'm not out to defend aspartame and other diet products. They're a sorry testimony to the public's laziness and the willingness of corporate America to pander to it. Most people would be far better off if they gave up diet products and merely ate a balanced diet and exercised.

Which brings me back to you, Paul. It's one thing to eat diet foods yourself. But why are you feeding them to your kids? If they're really such lard buckets, turn off the damn TV and send them out to play.

About that study that had to be halted
In 1993 R. G. Walton et al reported that they had been compelled to halt a study of aspartame use by people with a history of depression because two participants suffered severe eye problems while the study was underway. One patient suffered a subconjunctival hemorrhage for the first time in her life while another required emergency surgery for a detached retina. The depressed patients also suffered other less severe symptoms.

The NutraSweet company says too few people participated in the Walton study to permit any conclusions to be drawn. Only 13 people were tested. Eight had a history of depression while a control group of five did not. In addition, one of the eye problems showed up while the subject was taking a placebo (an inactive substance) rather than aspartame.

NutraSweet's point about small numbers is well taken, and it may be that the eye problems were a coincidence. Nonetheless this is one study I'd want to do over before dismissing the initial result. Then again, I can appreciate that it might be tough to get volunteers.

— Cecil Adams

Link: The Straight Dope: Did aspartame (NutraSweet) cause Gulf War Syndrome?

[L-A]

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikiped...hanol#Toxicity

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ethanol

I'm not confusing methanol with ethanol, I did my homework about that two years ago. Some strong beers produce a good dose of methanol when brewed – commercial producers filter it out past a certain concentration . It's also naturally present in many fruits, and big orange or apple juice drinkers can get to, I think, 300mg of the stuff daily.

Don't get me wrong, aspartame gives me really atrocious headaches. I hate the stuff. But methanol is not an unknown poison. It gives off the same symptoms as some strong drinks' hangovers, because it can cause the same kind of poisoning, to which people have different degrees of sensitivity. Also, ethanol gets treated first, so alcoholic beverages minimize the taxing effects of methanol by preventing it from being filtered en masse through your body (methanol's filtering byproducts include formic acid, which is also a pretty potent poison).

Here's an excerpt from 1993 about orange juice:
ARCHIVE - FOOD SURVEILLANCE INFORMATION SHEETS

[MJ5150]

I'll have to see what Dr. Oz has to say about this, then I'll decide.

-Mike

[TheSuzie]

I know that aspartame makes me almost instantly ill. I only hope that products that contain it will be clearly labeled. I eat almost no prepared foods but when I do have occasion to peruse labeling, I am frequently surprised at how widely the various artificial sweeteners are used these days.

S

[MatticusMania]

Is it safe? Well a lot of people tell me that its not good for us. I just avoid it cuz it tastes like chalk.

[Smokin' Toaster]

No, it's not safe. But neither is breathing, and I've grown attached to both. If you search the internet, you'll find that everything is going to make you die a slow, painful, gruesome death, from mother's milk to tofu. Sure, it gives some of you headaches, but some people have the same effect from nuts, shriimp, gluten, etc. Hell, a bee sting could kill my wife. Are we gonna ban bees next?

[jmattbassplaya]

You think if it were dangerous the FDA wouldn't allow companies to use it.

[Mark Latimour]

I wonder if posting links may one day be found to be a health hazard?

[MJ5150]

Haha Mark. I know what you mean.

-Mike

[Bloodhammer]

Your body knows what's poisonous and what's not. That's why aspartame tastes so bad; your tongue is sending a signal to spit it out.

Remember the first time you took a shot of liquor? Liquor = poison.

On the other hand, If you want it, then by all means you should have access. You're gonna die anyway.

[Gard]

Originally Posted by Smokin' Toaster

No, it's not safe. But neither is breathing, and I've grown attached to both. If you search the internet, you'll find that everything is going to make you die a slow, painful, gruesome death, from mother's milk to tofu. Sure, it gives some of you headaches, but some people have the same effect from nuts, shriimp, gluten, etc. Hell, a bee sting could kill my wife. Are we gonna ban bees next?

+1

The fact is that for any serious effect to the average healthy individual, you would need to consume so much of this stuff that you'd just flat die over over indulgence. Heck, WATER can kill you if you drink too much of it (no not drown, just drink too much of it!). Same BS went down about saccharine at one time as well.

If you have the condition where you can't process phenylalanine then you should not use it. If you consistently get headaches after ingesting it, avoid it. Otherwise, in moderate quantities, there is zero evidence that it is harmful.

[Snarf]

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

[i]"Aspartame is an artificial sweetener, an additive. And it’s a chemical. It’s not a natural product, it’s a chemical.

The most ignorant couple of sentences I've ever seen. Somehow people have learned that "chemical =/= natural." Did these people even take basic high school chemistry?

[Selta]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Haha Mark. I know what you mean.

-Mike

Thank you Mark and Mike for basically speaking my mind, heh.

Originally Posted by Snarf

The most ignorant couple of sentences I've ever seen. Somehow people have learned that "chemical =/= natural." Did these people even take basic high school chemistry?

And this, too.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by Bloodhammer

Remember the first time you took a shot of liquor? Liquor = poison.

I do. Seems whisky is not poisonous to me...

[Gard]

Originally Posted by Snarf

The most ignorant couple of sentences I've ever seen. Somehow people have learned that "chemical =/= natural." Did these people even take basic high school chemistry?

Yeah, I meant to touch on that as well...hey, arsenic and asbestos are both "natural" (as in "naturally occurring substances, not created via human intervention of any kind") as well!!! I think I'll have a nice all-natural asbestos & arsenic sammich when I get home...I mean it's "natural", so it must be good for me, right???



...sheesh.

[MatticusMania]

I was watching this show about monkeys, and there is a few species of monkeys who live in a region where the leaves on the trees have large traces of cyanide on them. The monkeys dont do much because they dont feel good. But, another type of monkey goes into campsites and eats charcoal out of the BBQ pits, it helps filter the cyanide so theyre not sick all day, and they have lots of time to run around and play.

That is all.