Aspartame - The Deceptively Sweet Poison
This is an alarming wake
up call! In this eye-opening article, Dr. Mercola exposes
probably one of the most deadliest man-made food products
know to mankind.
Countless men and women are suffering
with debilitating ailments because of their consumption of
this deadly product known as aspartame.
Aspartame: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You
If a product is approved by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and composed of natural ingredients, would you assume
it is safe to consume?
If the same product is an artificial sweetener, would you
assume it helps control your weight?
Millions of people use aspartame, the artificial sweetener
known as NutraSweetT, with these assumptions in mind.
Aspartame can be found in thousands of products such as:
- instant breakfasts
- breath mints
- cereals
- sugar-free chewing gum
- cocoa mixes
- coffee beverages
- frozen desserts
- gelatin desserts
- juice beverages
- laxatives
- multivitamins
- milk drinks
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- pharmaceuticals and supplements, including over-the-counter
medicines
- shake mixes
- soft drinks
- tabletop sweeteners
- tea beverages
- instant teas and coffees
- topping mixes
- wine coolers
- yogurt
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However, aspartame's tainted history of approval and potentially
toxic ingredients cast serious doubt on the safety of this
sugar substitute. Furthermore, aspartame may actually increase
your appetite (Farber 52).
While the FDA approval may signal the green light for safe
consumption, 85 percent of all complaints registered with
the FDA are for adverse reactions to aspartame, including
five reported deaths. A closer look at the unscientific studies,
suspicious approval methods, and its harmful ingredients,
reveal the hidden dangers of this artificial sweetener. In
reality, aspartame poses a public health threat.
Ailments Resulting From Aspartame
The components of aspartame can lead to a wide variety of
ailments. Some of these problems occur gradually while others
are immediate, acute reactions.
A few of the many disorders associated with aspartame include
the following:
A study funded by Monsanto
to study possible birth defects caused by consuming aspartame
was cut off after preliminary data showed damaging information
about aspartame. Additionally, in the book, While Waiting:
A Prenatal Guidebook, it is stated that aspartame is suspected
of causing brain damage in sensitive individuals. A fetus
may be at risk for these effects. Some researchers have suggested
that high doses of aspartame may be associated with problems
ranging from dizziness and subtle brain changes to mental
retardation.
In 1981, an FDA statistician
stated that the brain tumor data on aspartame was so "worrisome"
that he could not recommend approval of NutraSweet. (14)
In a two-year study conducted
by the manufacturer of aspartame, twelve of 320 rats fed a
normal diet and aspartame developed brain tumors while none
of the control rats developed tumors, and five of the twelve
tumors were in rats given a low dose of aspartame. (15)
The approval of aspartame was a violation of the Delaney
Amendment, which was supposed to prevent cancer-causing substances
such as methanol (formaldehyde) and DKP from entering our
food supply. A late FDA toxicologist testified before the
U.S. Congress that aspartame was capable of producing brain
tumors.
This made it illegal for the FDA to set an allowable daily
intake at any level. He stated in his testimony that Searle's
studies were "to a large extent unreliable" and
that "at least one of those studies has established beyond
any reasonable doubt that aspartame is capable of inducing
brain tumors in experimental animals. " He concluded
his testimony by asking, "What is the reason for the
apparent refusal by the FDA to invoke for this food additive
the so-called Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic
Act? . And if the FDA itself elects to violate the law, who
is left to protect the health of the public?"(16)
In the mid-1970s it was discovered that the manufacturer
of aspartame falsified studies in several ways. One of the
techniques used was to cut tumors out of test animals and
put them back in the study. Another technique used to falsify
the studies was to list animals that had actually died as
surviving the study.
Thus, the data on brain tumors was likely worse than discussed
above. In addition, a former employee of the manufacturer
of aspartame told the FDA on July 13, 1977 that the particles
of DKP were so large that the rats could discriminate between
the DKP and their normal diet. (12)
The American Diabetes Association
(ADA) is actually recommending this chemical poison to persons
with diabetes, but according to research conducted by a diabetes
specialist, aspartame: 1) Leads to the precipitation of clinical
diabetes. 2) Causes poorer diabetic control in diabetics on
insulin or oral drugs. 3) Leads to the aggravation of diabetic
complications such as retinopathy, cataracts, neuropathy and
gastroparesis. 4) Causes convulsions.
In a statement concerning the use of products containing
aspartame by persons with diabetes and hypoglycemia, the researchers
says: "Unfortunately, many patients in my practice, and
others seen in consultation, developed serious metabolic,
neurologic and other complications that could be specifically
attributed to using aspartame products.
This was evidenced by the loss of diabetic control, the
intensification of hypoglycemia, the occurrence of presumed
'insulin reactions' (including convulsions) that proved to
be aspartame reactions, and the precipitation, aggravation
or simulation of diabetic complications (especially impaired
vision and neuropathy) while using these products . Dramatic
improvement of such features after avoiding aspartame, and
the prompt predictable recurrence of these problems when the
patient resumed aspartame products, knowingly or inadvertently."
Another researcher stated that excitotoxins such as those
found in aspartame can precipitate diabetes in persons who
are genetically susceptible to the disease.(5)
In a double blind study
of the effects of aspartame on persons with mood disorders,
findings showed a large increase in serious symptoms for persons
taking aspartame. Since some of the symptoms were so serious,
the Institutional Review Board had to stop the study. Three
of the participants had said that they had been "poisoned"
by aspartame. Researchers concluded that "individuals
with mood disorders are particularly sensitive to this artificial
sweetener; its use in this population should be discouraged."(18)
One researcher stated about aspartame, "I know it causes
seizures. I'm convinced also that it definitely causes behavioral
changes. I'm very angry that this substance is on the market.
I personally question the reliability and validity of any
studies funded by the NutraSweet Company."(19)
Additionally, there are numerous reported cases of low brain
serotonin levels, depression and other emotional disorders
that have been linked to aspartame and often are relieved
by stopping the intake of aspartame.
With the large and growing
number of seizures caused by aspartame, it is sad to see that
the Epilepsy Foundation is promoting the "safety"
of aspartame. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 80
people who had suffered seizures after ingesting aspartame
were surveyed. Community Nutrition Institute concluded the
following about the survey: "These 80 cases meet the
FDA's own definition of an imminent hazard to the public health,
which requires the FDA to expeditiously remove a product from
the market."
Both the Air Force's magazine, Flying Safety, and the Navy's
magazine, Navy Physiology, published articles warning about
the many dangers of aspartame including the cumulative delirious
effects of methanol and the greater likelihood of birth defects.
The articles note that the ingestion of aspartame can make
pilots more susceptible to seizures and vertigo.
Twenty articles sounding warnings about ingesting aspartame
while flying have also appeared in the National Business Aircraft
Association Digest (NBAA Digest 1993), Aviation Medical Bulletin
(1988), The Aviation Consumer (1988), Canadian General Aviation
News (1990), Pacific Flyer (1988), General Aviation News (1989),
Aviation Safety Digest (1989), and Plane & Pilot (1990)
and a paper warning about aspartame was presented at the 57th
Annual Meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association (Gaffney
1986).
A hotline was even set up for pilots suffering from acute
reactions to aspartame ingestion. Over 600 pilots have reported
symptoms including some who have reported suffering grand
mal seizures in the cockpit due to aspartame. (21)
Why Don't We Hear About These Things?
The reason many people do not hear about serious reactions
to aspartame is twofold: 1) Lack of awareness by the general
population. Aspartame-caused diseases are not reported in
the newspapers like plane crashes. This is because these incidents
occur one at a time in thousands of different locations across
the United States. 2) Most people do not associate their symptoms
with the long-term use of aspartame. For the people who have
killed a significant percentage of their brain cells and thereby
caused a chronic illness, there is no way that they would
normally associate such an illness with aspartame consumption.
How aspartame was approved is a lesson in how chemical and
pharmaceutical companies can manipulate government agencies
such as the FDA, "bribe" organizations such as the
American Dietetic Association, and flood the scientific community
with flawed and fraudulent industry-sponsored studies funded
by the makers of aspartame.
Erik Millstone, a researcher at the Science Policy Research
Unit of Sussex University has compiled thousands of pages
of evidence, some of which have been obtained using the freedom
of information act 23, showing: 1. Laboratory tests were faked
and dangers were concealed. 2. Tumors were removed from animals
and animals that had died were "restored to life"
in laboratory records. 3. False and misleading statements
were made to the FDA. 4. The two US Attorneys given the task
of bringing fraud charges against the aspartame manufacturer
took positions with the manufacturer's law firm, letting the
statute of limitations run out. 5. The Commissioner of the
FDA overruled the objections of the FDA's own scientific board
of inquiry. Shortly after that decision, he took a position
with Burson-Marsteller, the firm in charge of public relations
for G.D. Searle.
A Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) was conducted in 1980.
There were three scientists who reviewed the objections of
Olney and Turner to the approval of aspartame. They voted
unanimously against aspartame's approval. The FDA Commissioner,
Dr Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr. then created a 5-person Scientific
Commission to review the PBOI findings. After it became clear
that the Commission would uphold the PBOI's decision by a
vote of 3 to 2, another person was added to the Commission,
creating a deadlocked vote. This allowed the FDA Commissioner
to break the deadlock and approve aspartame for dry goods
in 1981.
Dr Jacqueline Verrett, the Senior Scientist in an FDA Bureau
of Foods review team created in August 1977 to review the
Bressler Report (a report that detailed G.D. Searle's abuses
during the pre-approval testing) said: "It was pretty
obvious that somewhere along the line, the bureau officials
were working up to a whitewash." In 1987, Verrett testified
before the US Senate stating that the experiments conducted
by Searle were a "disaster."
She stated that her team was instructed not to comment on
or be concerned with the overall validity of the studies.
She stated that questions about birth defects have not been
answered. She continued her testimony by discussing the fact
that DKP has been shown to increase uterine polyps and change
blood cholesterol and that increasing the temperature of the
product leads to an increase in production of DKP. (13)
Revolving Doors
The FDA and the manufacturers of aspartame have had a revolving
door of employment for many years. In addition to the FDA
Commissioner and two US Attorneys leaving to take positions
with companies connected with G.D. Searle, four other FDA
officials connected with the approval of aspartame took positions
connected with the NutraSweet industry between 1979 and 1982
including the Deputy FDA Commissioner, the Special Assistant
to the FDA Commissioner, the Associate Director of the Bureau
of Foods and Toxicology and the Attorney involved with the
Public Board of Inquiry.(24)
It is important to realize that this type of revolving-door
activity has been going on for decades. The Townsend Letter
for Doctors (11/92) reported on a study revealing that 37
of 49 top FDA officials who left the FDA took positions with
companies they had regulated. They also reported that over
150 FDA officials owned stock in drug companies they were
assigned to manage. Many organizations and universities receive
large sums of money from companies connected to the NutraSweet
Association, a group of companies promoting the use of aspartame.
In January 1993, the American Dietetic Association received
a US$75,000 grant from the NutraSweet Company. The American
Dietetic Association has stated that the NutraSweet Company
writes their "Facts" sheets. (25)
What is the FDA Doing To Protect The Consumer From
The Dangers of Aspartame?
Less than nothing.
In 1992, the FDA approved aspartame for use in malt beverages,
breakfast cereals, and refrigerated puddings and fillings.
In 1993 the FDA approved aspartame for use in hard and soft
candies, non-alcoholic favored beverages, tea beverages, fruit
juices and concentrates, baked goods and baking mixes, and
frostings, toppings and fillings for baked goods.
In 1991, the FDA banned the importation of stevia. The powder
of this leaf has been used for hundreds of years as an alternative
sweetener. It is used widely in Japan with no adverse effects.
Scientists involved in reviewing stevia have declared it to
be safe for human consumption--something that has been well
known in many parts of the world where it is not banned. Some
people believe that stevia was banned to keep the product
from taking hold in the United States and cutting into sales
of aspartame. (26)
What is The U.S. Congress Doing To Protect The Consumer
From The Dangers of Aspartame?
Nothing.
What is the U.S. Administration (President) Doing to Protect
The Consumer From The Dangers
of Aspartame?
Nothing.
Aspartame consumption is not only a problem in the United
States--it is being sold in over 70 countries throughout the
world.
Commentary By Gillis Triplett
Without a question, aspartame is deadly to your health. Will
it be pulled off the market? That's like asking me if cigarettes
will be pulled off the market. The manufacturers of aspartame
generate billions of dollars and they are not going to allow
a group of concerned citizens halt their cash flow! What you
must do is alert all of the people you know: family, friends
and enemies! Let them know about the dangers of consuming this
sweet poison.
I have had people stop consuming products that contained
aspartame and their symptoms subsided
All too often, I encounter a sick person who believes they
are in need of healing, but then the Holy Spirit speaks up
and says, "They don't need healing, they need to change their
diet! For those who obeyed that Word from God, the symptoms
went
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Dr. Joseph Mercola is trained in both traditional and natural medicine
and has been practicing natural medicine actively since 1990.
He is a (DO), Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. DOs are complete
physicians who, along with MDs, are licensed to prescribe
medication and perform surgery in all 50 states. Osteopathic
physicians practice a "whole person" approach to
medicine, treating the entire person rather that just the
symptoms. With a focus on preventive health care, DOs help
patients develop attitudes and lifestyles that don't just
fight illness, but help prevent it, too. His website, Mercola.com
is one of the top ranking natural health sites!
©Copyright
2004 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission
© Copyright Gillis Triplett Ministries.
2004 - All Rights Reserved. International copyright secured.
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