Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history,
and its approval for use in food was the most contested in FDA history.
In the end, the artificial sweetener was approved, not on scientific
grounds, but rather because of strong political and financial pressure. After all, aspartame was previously listed by the Pentagon as a biochemical warfare agent!
It's hard to believe such a chemical would be allowed into the food
supply, but it was, and it has been wreaking silent havoc with people's
health for the past 30 years.
The truth is, it should never have been released onto the market, and
allowing it to remain in the food chain is seriously hurting people --
no matter how many times you rebrand it under fancy new names.
The Deceptive Marketing of Aspartame
Sold commercially under names like NutraSweet, Canderel and now
AminoSweet, aspartame can be found in more than 6,000 foods, including
soft drinks, chewing gum, table-top sweeteners, diet and diabetic foods,
breakfast cereals, jams, sweets, vitamins, prescription and
over-the-counter drugs.
Aspartame producer Ajinomoto chose to rebrand it under the name
AminoSweet, to "remind the industry that aspartame tastes just like
sugar, and that it's made from amino acids -- the building blocks of
protein that are abundant in our diet."
This is deception at its finest: begin with a shred of truth, and then spin it to fit your own agenda.
In this case, the agenda is to make you believe that aspartame is
somehow a harmless, natural sweetener made with two amino acids that are
essential for health and present in your diet already.
They want you to believe aspartame delivers all the benefits of sugar
and none of its drawbacks. But nothing could be further from the truth
How Aspartame Wreaks Havoc on Your Health
Did you know there have been more reports to the FDA for aspartame reactions than for all other food additives combined?
In fact, there are over 10,000 official complaints, but by the FDA's
own admission, less than 1 percent of those who experience a reaction to
a product ever report it. So in all likelihood, the toxic effects of
aspartame may have affected roughly a million people already.
While a variety of symptoms have been reported, almost two-thirds of
them fall into the neurological and behavioral category consisting
mostly of headaches, mood alterations, and hallucinations. The remaining
third is mostly gastrointestinal symptoms.
The list in the following paragraph will familiarize you with some of the terrifying side-effects
and health problems you could encounter if you consume products
containing this chemical.
Unfortunately, aspartame toxicity is not well-known by doctors,
despite its frequency. Diagnosis is also hampered by the fact that it
mimics several other common health conditions, such as: multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, fibromyalgia, arthritis, multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome, attention deficit disorder, panic disorder, depression and other psychological disorders, lupus, diabetes and diabetic complications, birth defects, lymphoma, Lyme disease, and hypothyroidism.
How Diet Foods and Drinks CAUSE Weight Problems
In recent years, food manufacturers have increasingly focused on
developing low-calorie foods and drinks to help you maintain a healthy
weight and avoid obesity. Unfortunately, the science behind these
products is so flawed, most of these products can actually lead to increased weight gain!
For example, researchers have discovered that drinking diet soda increases your risk of a metabolic syndrome, and may double your risk ob obesity -- the complete opposite of the stated intention behind these "zero calorie" drinks.
The sad truth is that diet foods and drinks ruin your body's ability to count calories, and, in fact, stimulate your appetite, thus boosting your inclination to overindulge.
Unfortunately, most public health agencies and nutritionists in the
United States recommend these toxic artificial sweeteners as an
acceptable alternative to sugar, which is at best confusing and at worst
harming the health of those who take their misguided advice.
Even More Toxic Dangers of Aspartame
Truly, there is enough evidence showing the dangers of consuming
artificial sweeteners to fill an entire book -- which is exactly why I
wrote
Sweet Deception. If you or your loved ones drink diet beverages or eat diet foods, this
book will explain how you've been deceived about the truth behind
artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose -- for greed, for
profits, and at the expense of your health.
As mentioned earlier, almost two-thirds of all documented side effects of aspartame consumption are neurological.
One of the reasons for this side effect, researchers have discovered,
is because the phenylalanine in aspartame dissociates from the ester
bond. While these amino acids are indeed completely natural and safe,
they were never designed to be ingested as isolated amino acids in
massive quantities, which in and of itself will cause complications.
Additionally this will also increase dopamine levels in your brain.
This can lead to symptoms of depression because it distorts your
serotonin/dopamine balance. It can also lead to migraine headaches and
brain tumors through a similar mechanism.
The aspartic acid in aspartame is a well-documented excitotoxin.
Excitotoxins are usually amino acids, such as glutamate and aspartate.
These special amino acids cause particular brain cells to become
excessively excited, to the point that they die.
Excitotoxins can also cause a loss of brain synapses and connecting
fibers. A review conducted in 2008 by scientists from the University of
Pretoria and the University of Limpopo found that consuming a lot of
aspartame may inhibit the ability of enzymes in your brain to function
normally, and may lead to neurodegeneration.
According to the researchers, consuming a lot of aspartame can disturb the metabolism of amino acids, protein structure and metabolism, the integrity of nucleic acids, neuronal function, and/or endocrine balances.
Furthermore, the ester bond in aspartame breaks down to formaldehyde
and methanol, which are also toxic in their own right. So it is not
surprising that this popular artificial sweetener has also been found to cause cancer.
One truly compelling case study that shows this all too well was done by a private citizen named Victoria Inness-Brown. She decided to perform her own aspartame experiment on 108 rats over a period of 2 years and 8 months.
Daily, she fed some of the rats the equivalent (for their body
weight) of two-thirds the aspartame contained in 8-oz of diet soda.
Thirty-seven percent of the females fed aspartame developed tumors, some
of massive size.
How to Ditch Artificial Sweeteners, and Satiate Your Sweet Tooth
If you suffer from sweet cravings, it's easy to convince yourself
you're doing the right thing by opting for a zero-calorie sweetener like
aspartame. Please understand that you will do more harm than good to
your body this way.
First, it's important to realize that your body craves sweets when you're not giving it the proper fuel it needs.
Finding out your
nutritional type will
tell you exactly which foods you need to eat to feel full and
satisfied. It may sound hard to believe right now, but once you start
eating right for your nutritional type, your sweet cravings will
significantly lessen and may even disappear.
Meanwhile, be sure you address the emotional component to your food cravings using a tool such as the Meridain Tapping Technique (MTT). More
than any traditional or alternative method I have used or researched,
MTT works to overcome food cravings and helps you reach dietary success.
And, if diet soda is the culprit for you, be sure to check out Turbo Tapping, which is an extremely effective and simple tool to get rid of your soda addiction in a short period of time.
Non-Acceptable Alternative Sweeteners
I have written a few articles on fructose earlier this year, and I will be writing many more, so please be aware
that I am absolutely convinced that fructose ingestion is at the core of
our obesity epidemic.
And I'm not only talking about high fructose corn syrup, which is
virtually identical to table sugar. The only major difference between
the two is HFCS is much cheaper so it has contributed to massive
increase in fructose ingestion, far beyond safe or healthy.
Please understand
you need to keep your fructose levels BELOW 25
grams per day. The best way to do that is to avoid these "natural"
sweeteners as they are loaded with a much higher percentage of fructose
than HFCS: fruit juice, Agave, and honey.
Please note that avoiding these beyond 25 grams per day is crucial,
even if the source is fresh, raw, and organic. It just doesn't matter,
fructose is fructose is fructose...
Acceptable Alternative Sweeteners
For those times when you just want a taste of something sweet, your healthiest alternative is Stevia.
It's a natural plant and, unlike aspartame and other artificial
sweeteners that have been cited for dangerous toxicities, it is a safe,
natural alternative that's ideal if you're watching your weight, or if
you're maintaining your health by avoiding sugar.
It is hundreds of times sweeter than sugar and truly has virtually no calories.
I must tell you that I am biased; I prefer Stevia as my sweetener of
choice, and I frequently use it. However, like most choices, especially
sweeteners, I recommend using Stevia in moderation, just like sugar. In
excess it is still far less likely to cause metabolic problems than
sugar or any of the artificial sweeteners.
I want to emphasize, that if you have insulin issues, I suggest that
you avoid sweeteners altogether, including Stevia, as they all can
decrease your sensitivity to insulin.
Lo han is another sweetener like Stevia. It's an African sweet herb
that can also be used, but it's a bit more expensive and harder to find.
So if you struggle with high blood pressure, high cholesterol,
diabetes or extra weight, then you have insulin sensitivity issues and
would benefit from avoiding ALL sweeteners.
But for everyone else, if you are going to sweeten your foods and
beverages anyway, I strongly encourage you to consider using regular
Stevia or Lo han, and toss out all artificial sweeteners and any
products that contain them.
If you have experienced an adverse reaction to any aspartame product, cal the
FDA Consumer Complaint Cooridnator in your area.
