Artificial Sweeteners and Their Serious Side Effects

I have started using Splenda about three months ago. Since then I have been getting itchy red spots on my body. I just read on your site today that Spenda can do this. I have been waking in the morning feeling like I have been run over by a truck. It is all coming to me now that since I started to use Splenda to help lose weight that these problems started to happen. I was just diagnosed as borderline diabetic. Although my wife has used it for years it just became relevant that her cough which the doctor can't find a reason for is probably another symptom of Splenda.No more Splenda for us.

Bills to Ban Aspartame in Hawaii, with New Mexico Efforts in the Background
Stephen Fox

I have focused recent years on creating through our Legislature a Nutrition Council with real powers to challenge FDA approved products, the most dangerous of which is the artificial sweetener, aspartame. Aspartame is found in 7000 food products, including Equal, sugarless gums, all of the Diet Sodas, and numerous children's medications. So what is the problem? If it is FDA approved, it must be OK, right?

Aspartame is metabolized as methanol, formaldehyde, aspartic acid, and phenylalanine, and these ingredients have increased ghastly neurodegenerative illnesses since approval was forced in 1981 by Donald Rumsfeld as CEO of G.D. Searle, the patent holder, in one of the darkest and dirtiest chapters of the history of failures at the FDA. He forced the appointment of a crony, Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes, as FDA Commissioner, in exchange for agreeing to approve aspartame, despite 16 years of the FDA saying no, based on the obvious and rudimentary toxic biochemistry of its metabolized components.

[Google "Rumsfeld's Bioweapon Legacy to read more, as well as Googleable articles by H.J. Roberts (Internist), Russell Blaylock (Neurosurgeon) and Betty Martini, Founder of Mission Possible International. My own best article is "Resolving the Worsening Crisis at the FDA"]. Readers should watch the free online posting of SWEET MISERY, a documentary by a victim of aspartame poisoning at Sound and Fury Productions.tv.

New Mexico State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino introduced bills to ban aspartame but they were shot down by corporate lobbying, to the tune of several million dollars just to eviscerate some true consumer protection initiatives. New Mexico legislators drinking their diet sodas capitulated when corporate theories of federal pre-emption were advanced by lobbyists, along with pointed reminders about how much they and Coca Cola or Pepsi contributed to their campaigns.

Our efforts have shifted now to Hawaii, where activists have succeeded in getting bills to ban aspartame introduced, House Bill 2680 and Senate Bill 2506. The sponsors are strong two Senate Committee Chairs, Kalani English and Suzanne Chun-Oakland, and the Speaker of the House, Calvin Say, by request of Rep. Mele Carroll.

The first salvos for true consumer protection were recently fired on KHON-2, a conservative station and Fox Affiliate in which a predictable "dealarmist" Medical school professor absurdly said "a little bit won't hurt you." However, any sentient being knows that a whole lot of little bits of poison are cumulative and end up killing you, whether through cancer, heart disease, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.

The New Mexico bills were eviscerated by lobbyists representing Ajinomoto of Japan, the world's largest manufacturer of both aspartame and MSG, as well as their duped American corporate henchmen/partners-in-poisoning who use massive amounts of Aspartame, like Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Altria/Kraft Corporate Services. Even more will show up in Honolulu, probably to include Wrigley's Gum, all of whose products contain aspartame, even more dangerous since gum releases poisons absorbed under the tongue, which go directly to the brain.

We attempt this in Hawaii to protect the health of Hawaiians; the legislators recognize the merits and take it seriously. Perhaps seeing a few more victims of aspartame poisoning might wake up Hawaiians to the urgency of these bills.

I am happy to answer questions; you are welcome to print my email address.

Stephen Fox, Managing Editor of Santa Fe Sun News
Founder of New Millennium Fine Art in Santa Fe, NM:
[email protected]
website: unitednationsundersecretarygeneralfornutrition.org

Thank you so much for publishing information re: aspartame and its dangers. I've been hooked on it for some time and my symptoms are getting worse. I Googled aspartame side effects and chose your site. It's given me alot of motivation to quit, and then use the suggestions others have.

A few summers ago I began to have a severe reaction to the sunlight on my skin. Burning (as a chemical would), swelling, itching and then the days following the skin exposed to the sun would peel away. I thought I was having a reaction to a new sunscreen. After complaining to my mother, she reported once having the same problems. Her pharmacist told her she was experiencing an apartame overdose. I quit the diet stuff, and after a couple of weeks I was able to go back outside. What a relief to find out such a simple solution! I'm convinced the stuff is poison!

I am beginning to suspect aspartame causes me to have an increased heart rate, a feeling of being "hollow" or light headed similar to what anithistimes that contain ephedra do. I have noticed this with several flavored water type beverages, even those that do not claim to be "energy drinks". I don't even consume that much with aspartame in it. Maybe twice a week... do other people have similar reactions?

Two years ago, I helped a friend mow lawns at her apartment complexes. She brought out a pitcher of a cold beverage, and I downed two glasses.

In a short time, I didn't feel right. For a couple days, I felt "off-kilter". I had a humming in my ears. It turns out I had consumed "Crystal Light," which has artificial sweetener.

I was skeptical when I heard artificial sweeteners were bad for people. Why would "they" put it in our food and drink, and in those cute packets for our coffee?

What I found out is shocking. These days, a person is hard-pressed to find gum, many beverages, and a gamut of consumables without it in the ingredient list. It's even in prescription medications like quit-smoking aids.

Remember saccharin? Is that still in use? The little pink packets had warning labels on them that caused cancer in lab rats. Hmmm, I think I'll pass on that. None for me, thank you very much.

I have found reliable sources to back the claim that Splenda (sucralose...sucker lose?) and aspartame are detrimental.
From Vision II: The Never-ending Rough Draft of Cures by Brian Severson (1995, '96, '97)...
Aspartame, you would not believe the problems and destruction it causes in your body- everything from brain damage to blindness, to congestion to sinus problems, hearing loss, allergies, and "dry eyes." Aspartame should be immediately and forever banned. It is a chemical poison and when ingested causes seizures, depression, memory loss, headaches, tumors, birth defects, infertility, etc.

The soft drink companies knew aspartame degrades into toxic components and protested Congress in 1983. Five pages of their objections were printed in the Senate Congressional Record on May 7, 1985. "Objections of the National Soft Drink Association to a final rule permitting the use of aspartame in carbonated beverages. Objection one: Searle has not demonstrated that aspartame and its degradation products are safe for use in soft drinks...aspartame is inherently, markedly, and uniquely unstable."

I'm telling you that even if a package is not marked "light" or "diet," it could still be in there.

There are many testimonials from people who have suffered health challenges (behavior problems, anxiety, crying bouts, certain dysfunctions, rashes, etc.). They cut out artificial sweeteners and were relieved of their symptoms.

Just do a search for "dangers of aspartame" or "sucralose testimonials." to read more.

i'm seeking a cure for this stubborn 10 pound weight gain in my hips, thighs & buttocks. gone from a size 4 slack size to a 10. i've stopped using splenda since 2006 & despite using almost every weight loss supplements, exercising 5 Xs a week & eating like a bird/orgainic & vegetarian,. i've been unable to get back to size 4 slacks, ' my cellulite must be holding on to the splenda chemical. is there anyone else who has this problem & how can I lose this extra girth in my hips. i've been VERY depressed.i'm trying my ankle weights again with leg lifts. will building muscles reduce the size of my thighs? thanks so much. i am a performer & must look & feel trim & youthful.

I have been off of Aspartame for 6 days now, caffeine 4 months. I wear charcoal based Odor Eaters. For the past 3-4 days, I have been in excruciating pain in both legs. I don't know if this has a relationship to the 40 plus years I had been on Aspartame or not. Could it possibly be pulling the poisoning out of me? I quit wearing them for two days thinking that was what is happening. The joint pain is awful. Has anybody ever heard of anything like this?

I have had a very large uterine fibroid. Three months ago it was about the size of a small cantaloupe and could easily be felt. When last measured by ultrasound a couple of years ago it was the size of a 14 week pregnancy. I did not want the prescribed historectomy and have been looking for a natural cure. About Jan 8 I made some changes in my lifestyle and my fibroid is now the size of a baseball or smaller. I don't know which things have worked but, these are the changes I've made: Started Lougaol's Iodine (6-7 drops per day) BSM 1 TBSP per day, dramatically rudeced wheat consumption, regular excercise, switched to bottled water and no flouride tooth paste, and now what it turns out may be the MOST important thing. I went from drinking 2-3 diet pepsi's per day to maybe one or two a week. I will now cut that out completely after reading the report I'm attaching to here http://myaspartameexperiment.com/ I strongly encourage anyone who consumes Aspertame and suffers from any type of tumor to read about this experiment and STOP Aspertame now!!!!

My husband drinks Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi and also Coke Zero made with Splenda. I cant seem to get it through his head that these are bad for him because he switched to these and lost a bunch of weight so he thinks that they are good for him and tries to get me to switch to them instead of regular sodas. Does anybody have any ideas on how i can get this information through to him? Please email me at my email above and let me know. Thanks!!

I am in very good health,and do not take any kind of medications.I have been having symptoms that were horrendous for 2 months.In hindsight I have been having puzzling problems for years now,but as my body became more poisoned with time,I played my own doctor...My symptoms were very blurry vision,tired all the time,falling asleep at the drop of a hat,feeling as though I was "high" all the time and could not focus on a thoughtand the bathroom visits!!!!I thought for sure I had colon cancer or something of that nature.It finally dawned on me! The diet pop I drink, the Splenda,I use in my coffee...I immediately stopped all consumption,and it is amazing,within 24 hours, I had a clear head...My visits to the bathroom ceased....my swollen stomach,no longer existed...My eyesight has been the best it has ever been...I have been experiencing withdrawal headaches...I am trying oil pulling as a remedy.I will NEVER consume any products that contain these poisons!!!and they should be outlawed!!!