"Mark Thorson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:ohberg said:Have tried several times, the results being that
I "gave in" after 6 weeks of headaches that it
seemed nothing would relieve... except D/C. Has anyone
triumphed over addiction to this particular product???
I've gotten those headaches from quitting coffee.
You could switch to any other caffeine-containing
product, and it would probably relieve those
headaches. There's nothing special about Diet
Coke, other than that's what you're used to
drinking. It has little or no calories, so it's not
as bad as other things you could be drinking.
It is dangerous to drink because it is sweetened with aspertame which is a
toxic chemical.
If you are one of the millions of Americans who is concerned about being
overweight or about eating too much sugar, chances are you have eaten or
drank products containing aspartame. You have been told by the FDA and the
manufacturers of these products that they are perfectly safe. But, just how
safe are they?
There is a large body of medical information questioning the safety of these
products. If you use any diet sodas containing aspartame or any of the other
thousands of products which contain it, I suggest you listen carefully
because some of your physical, mental or emotional complaints may be due to
their use.
Do you have any idea what percentage of all complaints received by the FDA
are about aspartame? You probably will be as shocked as I was to learn that
between 80 to 85% of all complaints received by the FDA are due to
aspartame. By 1987, the FDA had received more than 6,000 complaints,
including 250 involving epileptic seizures.
How much aspartame do Americans eat? The average American consumes over 14
pounds of aspartame each year and this amount has been rising daily. Since
many of you out there and I avoid it completely, some of you are ingesting a
lot more than 14 pounds per year. In April, 1993, aspartame was approved for
use in baked goods and mixes which greatly added to the 4,200 products
already containing the synthetic sweetener.
Symptoms which May be Due to Aspartame
What kinds of symptoms may occur as a result of ingesting aspartame? They
may involve almost any system of the body. Probably the most common are
headaches, including migraines. As I mentioned, one can also experience
seizures. Some pilots have lost their licenses after having experienced
seizures from aspartame. Several articles have appeared in flying magazines.
Other neurologic or psychiatric symptoms include dizziness, unsteadiness,
confusion, severe drowziness and sleepiness, numbness,
hyperactivity--especially in children, severe depression, irritability,
anxiety, aggression, personality changes, insomnia and phobias.
Visual changes may include blurred vision, blindness, pain and reduced
tears. Ringing or buzzing in the ears, hearing impairment or noise
intolerance occur in some people. Palpitations, shortness of breath or
recent high blood pressure may mimic a heart condition.
Other systems that can be affected are the gastrointestinal system,
including diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain; the skin, including itching
and hives; and the endocrine system, including loss of control of diabetes,
menstrual changes, marked weight loss or gain and aggravated low blood
sugar.
To see if you are being affected by aspartame, eliminate all aspartame
products for about two weeks. If some of your symptoms improve, you may then
reintroduce aspartame and see if your symptoms return. If they do, you
should probably eliminate aspartame entirely.
Mechanisms in the Biochemistry and Pharmacology of Aspartame which May
Explain the Various Symptoms
Research over the past twenty years has shown that certain "natural"
substances found in the body act as excitotoxins in the brain when found at
high levels. These substances can overstimulate and kill brain cells,
causing mild to severe brain damage. There has been speculation that this
mechanism may help to explain such diseases as Parkinson's Disease,
Alzheimer's Disease and Lou Gehrig's Disease. Examples of neuroexcitatory
toxins in high concentrations are monosodium glutamate, also known as MSG
and components or breakdown products of aspartame. The effects of these
substances are both additive and cumulative.
Aspartame consists of three molecules joined together. They are: (1) 50%
phenyl alanine, an amino acid found in food, which can be neurotoxic in high
quantities and can cause seizures in certain susceptible people; (2) 40%
aspartic acid, also an amino acid found in food, which is a neuroexciter and
neurotoxic in high concentrations; and (3) 10% methanol or methyl alcohol,
which is also called wood alcohol. Free methanol is quite toxic even in
relatively low concentrations.
The FDA and manufacturers response to the many expressed concerns of the
damaging effects of methanol in aspartame is to point out that it occurs
naturally in fruit juices and vegetables. They neglect to state that in
these foods, the methanol is in a bound form and the human body does not
have the digestive enzymes that breakdown the pectin and release the
methanol into the bloodstream. In addition, natural methanol is always
accompanied by ethanol in higher concentrations, which acts to protect the
body against any damage. The methanol in aspartame is in free form and can
be absorbed.
Some of the breakdown metabolic products of these substances are also toxic
and carcinogenic. Thus, you can see that there are many possible mechanisms
by which aspartame is potentially toxic and dangerous.
An additional concern about aspartame is that it tends to lower serotonin in
the brain. Low brain serotonin levels are associated with depression. The
FDA has banned the food supplement tryptophan, the essential amino acid
responsible for making serotonin in the brain. With so much aspartame being
used and no tryptophan available to increase brain serotonin levels, is it
any wonder that the new anti-depressant serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs,
such as Prozac, have become so popular.
Who is at risk for experiencing aspartame toxicity? At least 30% of the
population is sensitive to moderate doses of aspartame and may suffer from
any of the symptoms that I've previously discussed. Women are 3 times more
likely to suffer symptoms and pregnant women may put their unborn babies at
risk. The undeveloped nervous systems of children are more vulnerable to
even mild doses. An example of a subpopulation of adults who may be more
susceptible to symptoms are phenyl ketonuria or PKU carriers.
Phenyl ketonuria or PKU is an inherited disease in which babies lack an
enzyme necessary to convert phenyl alanine to tyrosine. If given foods
containing phenyl alanine, they accumulate excessive phenyl alanine in the
brain, which results in permanent brain damage and mental retardation. Their
parents are carriers of the disease and also have some difficulty
metabolizing phenyl alanine. These carriers of PKU, of which there are
between four and twenty million in the United States, are among those most
susceptible to the toxic effects of aspartame.
The FDA & manufacturers of aspartame claim that all of the adverse symptoms
reported are "anecdotal". Because it is common that a person will not
experience noticeable illness from a short term usage of aspartame, this is
taken as proof that there is no problem with safety. Unfortunately, this
position ignores the fact that the effects of aspartame poisoning are
cumulative.
If an approved drug had as many complaints as aspartame, it would have been
removed from the market long ago. But, aspartame has been approved as a safe
food additive and not a drug. The manufacturer does not have to track
adverse reactions once the food additive has been approved, as in the case
of new drugs. Aspartame was approved for use in dry foods and as a sugar
substitute in 1981 and for soft drinks in 1983.
Prior to 1981, many questions had been raised about the scientific integrity
of Searle, the company producing aspartame. The FDA was concerned that
Searle had failed to submit important information, such as the possible link
between brain tumors and aspartame in animal studies. In a recently
published medical journal article, Dr. H.J. Roberts points out that since
aspartame was introduced, there has been an enormous increase in the
incidence of brain cancer in the United States, especially in children. He
is the author of the book Aspartame (Nutrasweet): Is it Safe?
The history of the FDA approval process for this substance raises many
questions about possible conflicts of interest. Suffice to say no less than
10 officials involved in the approval process took jobs with
aspartame-related companies, soon after leaving their governmental posts.
In 1987, the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network was founded. They have put
together a series of articles in a spiral-bound book called The Deadly
Deception: Aspartame.
