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Hidden Dangers of
Artificial Sweetners
When people decide to lose weight, one of the first changes
many make to their diet is to add artificial sweeteners in
place of sugar. We have been told by the government that artificial
sweeteners are safe, but are there hidden dangers to this
additive? Let’s take a closer look at artificial sweeteners,
specifically aspartame.
Aspartame is made up of three components. Fifty percent is
phenylalanine, forty percent is aspartic acid, and ten percent
is methanol, or wood alcohol. Phenylalanine and aspartic acid
are both amino acids. Amino acids are naturally found in the
food we eat, specifically in the proteins. They are the building
blocks for our bodies, and help us build tissue and muscles.
But, in nature, amino acids are not ingested singularly. Many
types of amino acids are joined together to form protein chains,
and that is what we ingest when we sit down to eat. In aspartame,
Phenylalanine and aspartic acid are the only amino acids being
introduced to the body. There is no protein chain, just singular
amino acids. It has been found that aspartic acid (when not
bound into a protein chain) enters the central nervous system
in high concentration and causes the neurons to begin firing
rapidly. Many times, it excites the neurons so completely,
that the cell dies. High levels of aspartic acid have been
found to cause headaches, mental confusion, balance problems,
and even seizures. And the rest of your body fares no better.
Outside the central nervous system, isolated aspartic acid
has been found to accelerate diseases such as cancer, coronary
artery disease and arthritis. Fortunately, the effects are
cumulative. So, if you stop ingesting isolated aspartic acid,
then the continuing damage will also cease.
High levels of isolated phenylalanine can be quite dangerous
as well. Research has found that excessive levels of this
isolated amino acid cause a decrease in the amount of serotonin
in our brains. Decreased serotonin often leads to depression
and other emotional disorders. When phenylalanine is exposed
to warm temperatures, or is stored for a long time, it breaks
down into diketopiperazine (DKP), which is a known carcinogen.
It is also important to note that in pregnant women, phenylalanine
easily crosses the placental barrier, and in children under
one, also crosses the blood-brain barrier. Infants exposed
to high levels of phenylalanine during the pregnancy and later
through their mother's milk, have an increased risk of birth
defects and irreversible brain damage.
The third component of aspartame is methanol. Methanol is
commonly known as wood alcohol. It is a colorless liquid and
is both poisonous and flammable. Long-term exposure to methanol
causes blindness and death. Early symptoms of methanol poisoning
include headaches, ear buzzing, dizziness, nausea, gastrointestinal
problems, chills, memory lapses, and numbness in the extremities.
One particularly scary aspect of methanol is that at cold
temperatures it creates formaldehyde. The EPA considers methanol
a "cumulative poison", and recommends a limit of
no more than 7.8mg per day. To put this in perspective, one
liter of diet soda contains 56mg of methanol; over seven times
the EPA stated limit. By combining several diet sodas, a couple
of packages of aspartame in morning coffee, and consuming
"diet" food during the day, most consumers are exposed
to considerably more methanol than the 7.8mg per day limit.
With what we know so far, you may be wondering why the FDA
would approve it if it wasn't safe. Instead of giving you
a straight answer, I'm going to outline just a few of the
events that occurred during the FDA approval process of aspartame.
In 1965, James Schlatter, a chemist at the G.D. Searle Company,
stumbled across aspartame while attempting to create a new
ulcer drug. It was initially approved for use in dry goods
on July 26, 1974. But researchers questioned the practices
of the G.D. Searle Company, and the FDA put the approval on
hold pending further investigation. A task force was created
to examine aspartame. The ultimate report from that task force
found that there were serious deficiencies in the research
done by the Searle Company. The task force recommended that
G.D. Searle face a Grand Jury for further inquiry in their
testing procedures. In 1976, a second task force was created,
this time finding the G.D. Searle Company guilty of faulty
and fraudulent product testing, and knowingly misrepresenting
product testing and findings. Officials at the Searle Company
turned to Donald Rumsfeld, who had worked with both the Nixon
and Ford administrations, and elected him as chairman, hoping
to smooth the way and avoid criminal prosecution. In 1977,
the FDA appointed U.S. Attorney Samuel Skinner to investigate
Searle's testing procedures. After a meeting with the Searle
attorneys, Samuel Skinner left the FDA and accepted a position
with Searle's law firm. The FDA then appointed U.S. Attorney
William Conlon to take Skinner's place. Mr. Conlon sat on
the case and did nothing, until he left the FDA in 1979 and
also joined Searle's law firm. In 1981, FDA Commissioner Arthur
Hayes, Jr., approved aspartame for use in dry foods and as
a tabletop sweetener. At that time, three FDA scientists came
forward to oppose the approval, based on their in-house studies
of the additive. Hayes ignored these reports and aspartame
was approved. Arthur Hayes then left the FDA and took a position
as a senior medical consultant for the public relations firm
for the G.D. Searle Company. Ultimately, the statue of limitations
ran out on prosecuting the G.D. Searle Company for wrongdoing.
So, the question remains. Are there hidden dangers associated
with the use of artificial sweeteners? I'll let you decide.
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Author: Eric Choong
Please visit my website at: http://www.health-beauty-care.com
(You are granted the right to reprint this article but the
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