Aspartame: Harmful to Everyone's Health

I saw in this week's Cancer Compass' newsletter that at the bottom of one of the pages they highlighted an entry of mine about aspartame (AKA Nutrasweet, phenylalanine.) How exciting is that!!! So, here's the article, as it certainly is appropriate to maintaining good health!!:

"I receive an excellent e-publication from Dr Janet Starr Hull: www.janethull.com/newsletter . The July issue features this article: THE SPIN ON ASPARTAME . Please also take a look at this website, regardless of whether or not you consciously use aspartame: www.sweetpoison.com .

"Aspartame has been proven to cause brain cancer, seizures, severe eye problems - the list goes on and on and on. Unbeknownst to most people, aspartame is chemically similar to formaldehyde. If aspartame in liquid form is left to sit on the shelf, or exposed to heat, it will actually biodegrade and become formaldehyde. Phenylalanine, a component of aspartame, can cause serious medical problems for hundreds if not thousands of people. (Read to the end of the entry to see what else it becomes.) Is this a substance we should be taking into our bodies?

"Aspartame is now being marketed in over 6000 food products. It also is being served in thousands of restaurants' foods, including McDonalds (the lemonade, the diet drinks), without being posted as containing aspartame. It no longer has to be listed on the label of any food as containing NutraSweet, but aspartame does have to be listed under ingredients. Check the labels of the products you are picking up, and if it contains aspartame or phenylalanine, put it back on the shelf. Even better yet, take the can/jar/package to the store manager and complain that he is selling an unsafe product, and request that the store post prominently displayed public notice of all products they sell that contain aspartame. Before ordering a drink or a salad dressing at a fast food restaurant, ask if it contains aspartame. If it does, don't buy it, and tell the manager on duty that since they are selling an unsafe product, the least they can do is post notice as to which of their menu items contain aspartame. Make sure you aren't getting concession items at the movie theater, bowling alleys, public sporting events or concerts, etc, that contain aspartame. Ask the managers of those venues to publicly post products they sell that contain aspartame.

"Of course aspartame has become a major ingredient in diet products (e.g. Slim Fast,) but get this: aspartame has even insidiously found its way into non-diet over-the-counter drugs. Check some of the psyllium (Metamucil) or other fiber products. Almost all of them contain some kind of sweetener, and for some that sweetener is aspartame. Look at cough preparations, whether syrups, lozenges, or liqui-gels. At least a few of them contain aspartame.

"Aspartame is even now being seriously implicated in Gulf War Syndrome. Major soft drink companies have been shipping free diet soft drinks to our troops overseas. When stored or heated above 85 degrees F, as in desert heat, aspartame in diet drinks breaks down into neurotoxic substances: Methanol (wood alcohol), Formaldehyde (embalming fluid), Formic Acid (ant sting venom) and DKP (brain tumor agent). No wonder so many of our valiant service men and women have been getting sick. (see this site for more specific clinical information and more articles: http://www.members.tripod.com/~aspartame/eyes.htm.)

It would be wonderful if concerned citizens of the world could stop the marketing of aspartame, but for now that is most likely a pipe dream. However, if you take away only one thing from this message, I hope it will be that you make it a point to avoid ingesting any aspartame, and that you encourage your family and friends to do the same.

SO, what to use instead? This is especially a problem for diabetics, dieters, and those who can't use cane or other simple sugars. My recommendation is crystallized FRUCTOSE, or STEVIA. For details, see my next post: "Safe, Natural, and Sweet: Fructose and Stevia."

(Update 9/4/11: I believe that ALL the artificial sweeteners available on the market are unsafe. There just is NO chemical substitute for the goodness of Nature. There are now a number of natural sugar substitutes on the market in addition to stevia. Of these natural sweeteners, if you don't like stevia, I recommend SUCROSE, marketed as SPLENDA.)