Aspartame is one of the two most dangerous artificial sweeteners in use today (sucralose aka 'Splenda' being the other). Aspartame is a man-made neurological poison serving as one of the most addictive neurotoxins used in our food supply, and it is ingested by two-thirds of the population in over 6000 products in one hundred countries worldwide.* The most popular use for aspartame is in diet drinks for weight loss. In reality, diet drinks do not aide in losing weight; and according to Dr. Helen P. Hazuda, Ph.D., professor and chief of the Division of Clinical Epidemiology in the School of Medicine, "they may be free of calories but not of consequences". Dr. Hazuda was the principal investigator who led a large, population-based study for two decades on diet drink consumption. The study found: Diet soft drink users, as a group, experienced 70 percent greater increases in waist circumference compared with non-users. Frequent users, who said they consumed two or more diet sodas a day, experienced waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than those of non-users. Abdominal fat is a major risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other chronic conditions. The authors of the study wrote, "These results suggest that, amidst the national drive to reduce consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks, policies that would promote the consumption of diet soft drinks may have unintended deleterious effects”.
What exactly is "aspartame"?
Aspartame is a genetically engineered sweetener, excreted by genetically modified E. coli bacteria; yes, aspartame is made from bacteria's waste (poop) which is then then chemically processed.* What makes aspartame particularly dangerous is that it contains three powerful neurotoxins: 10% methanol (aka methyl ester), 40% aspartic acid, and 50% phenylalanine.
The first potent neurotoxin is methanol. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) controls methanol exposure very carefully allowing only very minute levels to be found in foods or in environmental exposures, but the level allowed in NutraSweet is seven times the amount that the EPA will allow anyone else to use. It can produce blindness, cellular destruction in the brain and spinal cord, and in particular the optic nerves that has to do with our vision.* According to food science professor Woodrow Monte, methanol (methyl ester) will immediately convert to methyl alcohol (aka wood alcohol), a deadly poison that can bio-accumulate in the body. A single ounce of methyl alcohol can be fatal. Methyl alcohol then converts to formaldehyde and formic acid, both of which are known toxins. Formaldehyde is one of the ingredients found in embalming fluid which is used to prepare the deceased before burial. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies formaldehyde as a human carcinogen.* In 2011, the National Toxicology Program, an inter-agency program of the Department of Health and Human Services, named formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen in its 12th Report on Carcinogens.* In summary, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the first neurotoxin methanol is a non-drinking type of alcohol used for industrial and automotive purposes and is extremely poisonous. Its intake can affect multiple organs including organ damage that may be permanent.*
Aspartic acid is the second neurotoxin. It is a non-essential acidic amino acid which means the body can produce what is needed on its own. When aspartic acid, an "excitotoxin", is consumed through aspartame, it can raise levels of two important excitatory neurotransmitters - aspartate and glutamate - in the brain. These neurotransmitters are what allows our neurons to communicate with each other by facilitating the transmission of information between one neuronal cell to another. Much like nitrates and monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartic acid can cause amino acid imbalances in the body and result in the interruption of normal neurotransmitter metabolism of the brain. This imbalance of aspartic acid can produce cellular excitation, cell death in the brain, alter the way the brain is formed in newborn babies that permanently changes their brain formation, and can result in behavioral changes in children such as hyperactivity. Neuroscientist John Olney, who founded the field of neuroscience called "excitotoxicity", says that aspartic acid is an excitotoxin that can stimulate neurons into hyperactivity until they exhaust and die.
Phenylalanine is the third neurotoxin. Like aspartic acid, phenylalanine is naturally present in the brain, and is especially dangerous for infants and fetuses. Phenylalanine can also alter how the brain is formed during the fetal formation of the brain, and thereafter, reduce the seizure threshold so you are more likely to have a seizure. The danger can occur from even a single use of aspartame. Excessive levels of phenylalanine in the brain cause decreased levels of serotonin which is a hormone that is very important for mood regulation and the sleep-wake cycle. Low levels of serotonin can make a person more vulnerable to emotional disorders or suffer from brain disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, mood swings and sleep disorders such as insomnia. As an expert on excitotoxicity, neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock stated, "So this combination by putting three relatively powerful neurotoxins into one combination is just to me unbelievable."*
Aspartame brings in more complaints to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) than any other food additive. With more than 10,000 consumer complaints, there are over 92 different side effects linked to the consumption of aspartame including: four kinds of seizures, blindness, memory loss, fatigue, change in heart rate, difficulty breathing, joint pain, bone pain, chest pain, speech impairment, tremors, change in body weight, lumps, blood and lymphatic problems, developmental retardation and problems with pregnancy, anemia, conjunctivitis, male sexual dysfunction, and death. Neurodegenerative disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and sudden cardiac death have also been identified.
MedicineNet.com reports that out of 166 studies on aspartame, 100% of those funded by the manufacturer confirmed aspartame’s safety, while 92% of the independently funded studies found it was unsafe. FDA's own scientists spoke out strongly against its approval; but ultimately, the FDA ignored them and put it out on the market.
Process of Aspartame Approval - Was Strong Political & Financial Pressure Involved?
In 1975, the FDA concluded that aspartame should not be allowed on the market and requested further studies be done. The FDA not only rejected its use once but multiple times for the fact that scientific data did not support it as a safe product. Fast forward five years and in 1981, aspartame was finally approved for use as a food additive despite the following:
- Dr. John Olney, a researcher at Washington University in Saint Louis, first began studying aspartame in 1970. Dr. Olney believed strongly that aspartame should not be on the market "because it hasn't been demonstrated to be safe". In agreement with Dr. Olney were the FDA's own investigations into the chemical which took place from 1975 to 1980.
- In 1980, after being presented with Dr. Olney's research, the FDA set up an outside public board of inquiry composed of outside experts to investigate the safety of aspartame. The doctors unanimously ruled that aspartame should not go on the market. An internal FDA panel concluded the same thing that year.
- The FDA Chairman at that time was Dr. Gere Goyan. His next recommendation was to set up another FDA committee to study aspartame which was to be composed of people who played no previous part in the former studies of aspartame. Unfortunately, the results of that 1980 FDA internal study was never seen by Dr. Gere Goyan because he was forced to step down as FDA Chairman the day Ronald Reagan took office on January 21, 1981.
Dr. Arthur Hill Hayes was chosen to take Dr. Goyan's position as head of the FDA. He was picked by Donald Rumsfeld who was a member of Ronald Regan's political transition team. Donald Rumsfeld just happened to also be CEO of the G.D. Searle Company which owned the patent on aspartame. Interestingly, Dr. Hayes had no previous history of dealing with the science of food additives. A vote was to take place on aspartame's approval for use. Even though the FDA rejected aspartame for approval by a 3-2 margin, Dr. Hayes added a sixth member who voted in favor of aspartame making it a 3-3 tie on the issue. FDA Chairman Hayes broke the deadlock with his own vote of approval for aspartame. Dr. Hill's first act as FDA Chairman was granting aspartame approval for use in dry goods and his last act in office as FDA Chairman was to approve aspartame for use in beverages.
Interesting information concerning Donald Rumsfeld, the approval of a synthetic chemical called aspartame & the financial success of G. D Searle:
- Gerald Ford loses the 1977 presidential race to Jimmy Carter; therefore, Rumsfeld finds himself suddenly without a job and outside of government for the first time in 20 years.
- Rumsfeld is offered a job by his old friend Dan Searle to be CEO of G.D. Searle & Company, a pharmaceutical company.
- The year Rumsfeld arrives at Searle, the company was $28 million in the red. When he leaves four years later, it is $120 million in the black, and in 1982 (one year after the approval of aspartame) Rumsfeld is given stock options in Searle totaling $4 million. When the company is sold three years later in 1985, Rumsfeld leaves the company a very wealthy man.*