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Aspartame is made of 3 components, 50% phenylalanine, 40% aspartic acid and 10% methanol (wood alcohol). In the body methanol breaks down into formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and formic acid.
Aspartame banned in Europe for children's products On the European Common Market, Aspartame is banned for all children's products. Why is this not the case in Canada and the U.S.? Because Monsanto - which owns the NutraSweet Company which manufactures Aspartame - pays off the FDA, the American Medical Association, The American Dietetic and Diabetic Associations, Congressmen and Senators and virtually anyone who gets in the way, and in other countries too. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation caught them red handed and aired a program where Monsanto was trying to bribe Canadian Doctors at Health Canada.
More on the Monsanto company: Monsanto is the world's largest manufacturer of poisons, not only of the citizens of the world but also of the environment. In 1995, Monsanto ranked 5th among US corporations in the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, having discharged 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water and underground.
Responsible for mass poisoning of the world. How Robert B. Shapiro, President and CEO of Monsanto and the other members of the board, many of whom call themselves "Doctors" can live with themselves, knowing what they and the company are responsible for is incomprehensible. The entire lot should be prosecuted for mass genocide. Their track record of plain lying, falsifying and concealing data, bribery of officials, and the list goes on, is truly astonishing.
To quote the Toronto Globe and Mail reporting on the outcome of a three year trial, "The evidence of Monsanto's executives at the trial portrayed a corporate culture where sales and profits were given a higher priority than the safety of products and its workers..... They just didn't care about the health and safety of their workers. Instead of trying to make things safer, they relied on intimidation and threatened layoffs to keep their employees working".
Aspartame contains 10% methanol NutraSweet (Aspartame) is composed of linkages of aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. The aspartic acid acts as a neuroexcitatory agent. When NutraSweet is digested, it yields 10% methanol (wood alcohol). The wood alcohol (methanol) is widely distributed throughout the body including brain, muscle, fat and nervous tissue. It is then metabolized to FORMALDEHYDE which enters the cells and binds to the proteins and DNA (the genetic material).
Cytogenetic effects (changes in DNA) have been shown to result from FORMALDEHYDE exposure and DNA damage occurs from FORMALDEHYDE. The nature of the injury generally involves breaking and then creation of cross linking within the genetic material which alters the cells.
This finding has been confirmed numerous times and the DNA-protein-cross-links are believed to cause cancers in experimental animals. Changes in the genetic material is associated with cancer production in humans. The ability of Aspartame to cause cellular mutations has been shown through studies by Shephard, et al. There are increases in malignant brain tumors suggested to be associated with aspartame use. FORMALDEHYDE is a known stimulant for cancer and genetic damage in the cell.
THE FDA has admitted that only approximately 1% of people know how to, or do, file complaints with them. Under a recent Freedom of Information order the FDA admitted that aspartame accounted for over 75% of complaints filed. They claimed that over 8000 were filed, but they keep changing their bookkeeping to keep the numbers low. The fact that 8000 reports were received indicates that there must have been over 800,000 people adversely affected at the very least.
An average person's daily intake of methyl alcohol from natural sources averages less than 10 mg (1). Aspartame beverages contain 55 mg methanol per liter, and nearly double as much in some carbonated orange sodas. Persons ingesting 5 liters/day can therefore consume over 400 mg methanol. These facts are pertinent:
. Methyl alcohol is probably the first component of aspartame released within the small intestine, and is rapidly absorbed. Blood and methanol concentrations correlate with aspartame intake. "Abuse doses" (100 mg/kg or more) ingested by normal subjects significantly elevate blood methanol concentrations, remaining detectable for 8 or more hours (2).
. Humans are more vulnerable to the toxic effects of methanol than animals because several enzymes required for its metabolism have been lost during evolution and are not present in humans.
. The toxicity of methanol is enhanced by its slow rate of oxidation - only 1/7 that of ethyl alcohol - occurring mainly in the liver and kidneys. Even though the half life in human volunteers ingesting small amounts (1-5 ml) is about 3 hours, complete oxidation to carbon dioxide usually requires several days.
. The body attempts to detoxify methyl alcohol by oxidizing it to formaldehyde (a deadly neurotoxin and Class A carcinogen), and then to formate or formic acid within minutes. Formate and formaldehyde each may contribute to toxicity and nervous system/immune dysfunction through various mechanisms. One is the conjugation of formaldehyde with human serum albumin (F-HSA) to form a new antigenic determinant. Patients with multiple health complaints who had been exposed chronically to formaldehyde develop anti F-HSA antibodies and elevated Tal cells (antigen memory cells), consistent with sustained antigenic stimulation of the immune system
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After 2 days of not using this product (though I continued to drink the same amount of coffee) my head cleared up, and my nose stopped running; but I still felt very ill and out of it. After refraining from this deleterious delight for 1 week, I began to completely recover. A common virus normally doesn't last for two plus weeks (at least not for me), so, since I quit using aspartame after a two week stint of illness, and began recovery only after I quit using it during the third week; I can only conclude that the onset and perpetuation of my discomfort was due to aspartame usage. My daughter forwarded this informative web site to me, and now I am more than convinced, that I am not the only one who gets ill from this government endorsed poison.
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(Flint, Mi)
05/02/2012
Got noro and drank nothing but diet vernors for 2 days. About a week later saw a sale for diet sprite "zero" so got 3 bottles. Waiting on neck surgery and my neck suddenly for no apparent reason "went out" on me to the tune of 2 er trips in one day and a cortesone shot and still hurts. Saw a post on this site that someone else has neck issue flared bc of sweetener. never again.
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Do right by your readers and publish facts supported by studies. Include footnotes and sources. Don't publish anectodal writings and emails, presenting them as facts.
(Decatur, Ilinois)
03/18/2011
If you want to read up on the "Nancy Markel" scheme then it traces back to Betty Martini. It seems as if Betty Martini has an agenda to brainwash people about the "dangers" of aspartame. I'm almost certain she is associated with the sugar industry.
Betty Martini is a regular visitor to many "anti-aspartame" websites always suggesting unsubstantiated claims about aspartames side effects.
If you want the opinion of an actual expert with a background in this area(toxicology)then search what John Garst has to say. If you would like to research this better and not
believe all the anti-aspartame hype then check pubmed.gov
Research things like aspartame and diabetes.
Note the amount of studies that come back. Then research sugar and diabetes then note the much larger amount of studies. Blindness and aspartame a WHOPPING(chuckle) 2 studies come back. Now blindness and sugar.. Figure it out. What is more dangerous to society.
Remember a couple of things:
1)Despite Betty Martini's biggest argument about rats getting cancer from aspartame it is NOT been even remotely established to be true in humans.
Here's a shocker for the layperson: RATS GET CANCER!!! Why? In the longetivity newsgroups they first of all "know their stuff" because many have backgrounds in longetivity research suggest that rats getting cancer is merely a way to control overpopulation.NO BIG DEAL.
(Canada)
03/19/2011
I, being your average lay-person am able to do my research. I, without a doubt beleive there is a danger to consuming aspertame. I'm not saying it is poison to everybody but is most certianly is nothing but poison to some, myself included. I will listen to my body and the experiences of others on such sites as this. Thanks but no thanks, my children will be educated on the dangers of aspertame, sugar, gmo's, factory farms, microwave ovens, floride, over processing ETC, ETC, ETC. The choice will be theirs to make but they will not easily swallow a line like yours stating that aspertame is less dangerous than sugar.
(Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
03/19/2011
I'm with Carmen on this one! Sorry, but in no way, shape or form is aspartame "safe" to ingest. According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, it's a neurotoxin made up of three chemicals discovered by accident in 1965 when James Schlatter, a chemist of G. D. Searle Company, was testing an anti-ulcer drug.
"Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death. A few of the 90 different documented symptoms listed in the report as being caused by aspartame include: Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain."
The fact that it was approved by the FDA means nothing. They also approved so many drugs that had to be withdrawn after patients were killed using them (the cure was worse than the disease).
I agree that sugar isn't healthy. However, I would drink or eat something containing sugar, while I would never do so with aspartame. Something to note: I have found that since drinking green smoothies (an acquired taste for sure), my craving for cane sugar has dropped dramatically.
(London, Uk)
03/19/2011
My response is directed to "Mark from Decatur, Ilinois".
I read your post with a mixture of surprise and pity. Surprise because you believe Aspartame to be safe. Pity because you've not yet been affected by this sweet but deadly poison, assuming you ingest it. When you do, you'll know about it.
I consider myself a fairly healthy person, I was last off work sick about 4 years ago. I attribute this good health to Earth clinic, to Ted and to all the feedbacks posters have kindly provided.
I oil pull in the morning 5 times a week, after which I drink a glass of warm water with a teaspoon of ACV and 2 shakes of cayenne pepper.
My only real issues are mild sinus congestion and ... Tinnitus. Tinnitus began about a year ago when I consumed several packets of sugar free gum a day plus used the sweetner Splenda. Symptoms: heavy head, deep tiredness, unclear eyesight, ringing ears, dripping nose, forgetfulness, sugar craving, aching limbs, blocked nose at night, too many other issues to mention.
Strangely enough, my doctor could find nothing wrong. I assumed it was just old age catching up with me.
2 weeks after giving up all sweeteners, only using Stevia, all symptoms, apart from the Tinnitus, has gone.
Aspartame, and all its derivatives, is toxic to humans. Some people are not affected but most are. The debilitating effects (worse than what I experienced) creep up on a person over a very long period of time, so it can be hard to pinpoint the cause(s).
Anyone who advocates artificial sweeteners as "safe" needs to re-educate themselves before more innocent people are damaged.
(Flint, Mi)
05/02/2012
Regarding falsified letters "proving" the opposite of the letter is true, did you know some people will deliberately write these and the same group will prove them wrong to make people believe everything it says is wrong? Its a tactic to try to brainwash people. Like the letter might say its a fact that nutrasweet has caused 1000 cases of brain cancer. Fact is no it hsan't but that doesn't mean it's good for you but the group that puts that letter out will be the same group using different names that will come out and refute it and thus try to get you to believe it's perfectly safe. It's just a big ugly scam.
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Reverse Toxic Symptoms
Donna, the worst hazards of Aspartame is the wood alcohols as they can be quite toxic if not properly detoxified. To help the detox: Zinc, Manganese, and Niacin are the principle nutrients. Milk Thistle Seed would help the liver also. One clear symptom of Aspartame toxicity is light sensitivity in the pupils of the eyes. I once had this condition which became obvious after looking at a stop-light and those bright colors continuing in my visual field for several seconds following. If Aspartame is not discontinued, this condition could worsen to blindness.