Friday, November 22, 2013

Is Aspartame a Poison?

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Natural Health Solutions 36
November 22, 2013



Is Aspartame a Poison?
Oh, ya... even the FDA proved it!
 
Dear Marye,

There is no such thing as good sugar.

The worst of it are the artificial sweeteners, but high fructose corn syrup is quite damaging as well. Even refined beet or cane sugar is no friend.

There have been some attempts to make the more "natural" sugars seem healthy, and compared to some, they may be slightly better. These "natural" sugars include turbinado cane sugar as well as maple and agave syrups - they are nicer, because they can be slow cooked to evaporate most of the liquid. All of the above are either toxic, or high glycemic index foods that should be used very sparingly as condiments. Not 9 or 12 teaspoons at a time as found in a can of cola.

And then there is stevia, either in concentrate, or the whole leaves - probably your best choice.

One Healthy, Sweet Alternative...
 
Here is a good alternative: fructo-oligo-saccharides known as inulin that you can add to cereals or drinks. Agave Powder is a natural sweetener (with a low glycemic index), a source of Inulin. It is the leftover from the manufacture of Tequila. This "super fiber" has a neutral, clean flavor and many nutritional properties to add to your diet. It's used increasingly in foods, because it has unusual nutritional characteristics.

Aspartame Goes by Many Names
 
You may know it under its new name, AminoSweet or NutraSweet. It's everywhere, in chewing gum, yogurt, cereals, and of course in soda drinks and ice cream.

 Aspartame is a sweetener made from amino acids that can change levels of chemicals in your brain, affecting your behavior. Scientific testing to establish aspartame's safety prior to FDA approval resulted in:
  • depression
  • menstrual irregularities
  • constipation
  • headaches
  • tiredness
  • general swelling
  • brain tumors and grand mal seizures
  • multiple sclerosis
When exposed to heat, aspartame breaks down into toxic methyl alcohol. This may occur even at temperatures reached by diet sodas during regular storage.

Aspartame can be found on the ingredients list in the following products:
 
  • soft drinks
  • over-the-counter drugs and prescription drugs (often called "inactive ingredients")
  • supplements (vitamins and herbs)
  • yogurt, milk drinks and milk shakes
  • chewing gum, candy, breath mints
  • cereals and instant breakfasts
  • beverages (instant teas and coffees, cocoa, juice)
  • gelatin desserts, frozen desserts and whipped toppings
  • tabletop sweeteners
  • wine coolers
Please Read Labels Carefully!

Many people make the mistake of not checking labels carefully and continue to poison themselves. In addition, many people do not realize that their children may be given aspartame or other artificial sweetener-containing foods or drugs at school, without their knowledge. Talk to the school staff to assure that this does not happen.

In some countries such as Australia, the word "aspartame" may not appear on the label, but the phrase "Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine" appears instead.

Many people find it much easier to avoid toxic sweeteners by shopping at the local, large health food store when possible. Many health food stores have banned artificial sweeteners (especially aspartame) for obvious reasons.

But it is still important to check labels as some health food stores are unknowingly selling aspartame, acesulfame-k, and sucralose!

Take the 60 Day Aspartame Test...

Give up all aspartame for 60 days and note the changes in your health. If you consume a lot of this poison, you will notice changes within a few days. I expect that you will be pleasantly surprised.
 
Agave Powder

Be Naturally Sweet to Your Body with
100% Organic Blue Tequilana Weber Agave


Natural sweetener with a neutral, clean flavor and many nutritional properties to add to your diet. It's used increasingly in foods because it has beneficial nutritional characteristics.
 
This high source of Inulin is a Prebiotic, which is food for Probiotics.It improves the health of your intestines and immune system by stimulating the growth of your naturally present, healthy internal flora.
  • Natural sweetener that enhances low fat meals
  • Promotes healthy intestinal flora with Inulin (FOS)
  • Decreases inflammation
  • Promotes weight loss by increasing low calorie bulk
 
LE_footer_RAF2.jpg
 
 
Life Enthusiast 711 South Carson Street Suite 4 Carson City, Nevada 89701 United States (775) 299-4661

3 comments:

jegarst said...

Aspartame has been a scientific non-issue for twenty years, and will be such, except for some sensitive people who simply cannot tolerate it. For them just don't use it, no one has a gun to your head. But for the rest of us, it is perfectly fine used as instructed.

This sensitivity to some drugs is not something new; there are many people who cannot handle this or that drug. And, even if that number is ~1500, when considered out of 15+ million users, it doesn't mean there is a safety issue here. Not one allegation against aspartame holds any scientifically validated merit. Similarly just because people react to or in fact can even die from milk or peanut exposure, doesn't mean milk or peanuts are unsafe for the rest of us.

With aspartame it is likely that those responding people have a problem, not with aspartame per se, nor with its aspartate or phenylalanine components, but with methanol's oxidation product formate and particularly their own bodies ability to utilize it properly. And that is for two main reasons. Many people are deficient in the relevant vitamins folate and B12--these vitamins convert formate produced from the methanol into methyl groups that are vital and even prevent disease. That methanol is actually vital in low doses; its formate-precursor detoxifies really toxic homocysteine to methylhomocysteine, methylates DNA or its components (uracil is converted to methyluracil, called thymine), and affords vital protection in doing so. Insufficient folate-B12 means insufficient protection. The folate dependency can be seen as well documented by the work of Tephly starting in the 1970's (even before aspartame) here, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Tephly%2Cmethanol%2Cfolate. And folate deficiency, not aspartame, is associated with numerous types of disease and cancer. Folate deficiency plays a major role in breast cancer. In fact the last line of a Australian research team’s abstract says, the “results of this study suggest that moderate folate deficiency has a stronger effect on chromosomal instability than BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations found in breast cancer families” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16162645). But some people have genetic issues that impact susceptibility to formate too.

Consider aspartame’s most widely reported issue, migraine headaches. Migraines have been linked directly to the MTHFR (MethyleneTetraHydroFolate Reductase) C677T folate polymorphism, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylenetetrahydrofolate_reductase). Two papers
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19619240 and
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19384265) report complete resolution of these migraines with added folate alone. These investigations revealed that more than the normal daily recommended amounts are needed (2-5 mg), but in these papers increased folate doses ALONE solved the migraine problem [and aspartame was not even involved]. That alone suggests a human sub-population
that is even more deficient in folate for which resolution of their symptoms requires even more folate. And that is confirmed by science; up to 40% of some populations have these genetic folate polymorphisms that require added folate; most don't even know it. For more read
http://download.cell.com/AJHG/pdf/PIIS0002929707614001.pdf?intermediate=true. Each and every one of the suggested ~90 symptoms of aspartame poisoning are really issues with folate, B12 and biological methylations or accrual of homocysteine consequent to defects in those methylations.

In short, aspartame is not now, nor has it ever been a safety issue in spite of what some conspiracy theorists want you to believe. But, even today vitamin adequacy and the genetics behind these important vitamins are a big problem.

John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Nutrition)

jegarst said...

Aspartame has been a scientific non-issue for twenty years, and will be such, except for some sensitive people who simply cannot tolerate it. For them just don't use it, no one has a gun to your head. But for the rest of us, it is perfectly fine used as instructed.

This sensitivity to some drugs is not something new; there are many people who cannot handle this or that drug. And, even if that number is ~1500, when considered out of 15+ million users, it doesn't mean there is a safety issue here. Not one allegation against aspartame holds any scientifically validated merit. Similarly just because people react to or in fact can even die from milk or peanut exposure, doesn't mean milk or peanuts are unsafe for the rest of us.

With aspartame it is likely that those responding people have a problem, not with aspartame per se, nor with its aspartate or phenylalanine components, but with methanol's oxidation product formate and particularly their own bodies ability to utilize it properly. And that is for two main reasons. Many people are deficient in the relevant vitamins folate and B12--these vitamins convert formate produced from the methanol into methyl groups that are vital and even prevent disease. That methanol is actually vital in low doses; its formate-precursor detoxifies really toxic homocysteine to methylhomocysteine, methylates DNA or its components (uracil is converted to methyluracil, called thymine), and affords vital protection in doing so. Insufficient folate-B12 means insufficient protection. The folate dependency can be seen as well documented by the work of Tephly starting in the 1970's (even before aspartame) here, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Tephly%2Cmethanol%2Cfolate. And folate deficiency, not aspartame, is associated with numerous types of disease and cancer. Folate deficiency plays a major role in breast cancer. In fact the last line of a Australian research team’s abstract says, the “results of this study suggest that moderate folate deficiency has a stronger effect on chromosomal instability than BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations found in breast cancer families” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16162645). But some people have genetic issues that impact susceptibility to formate too.

Consider aspartame’s most widely reported issue, migraine headaches. Migraines have been linked directly to the MTHFR (MethyleneTetraHydroFolate Reductase) C677T folate polymorphism, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylenetetrahydrofolate_reductase). Two papers
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19619240 and
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19384265) report complete resolution of these migraines with added folate alone. These investigations revealed that more than the normal daily recommended amounts are needed (2-5 mg), but in these papers increased folate doses ALONE solved the migraine problem [and aspartame was not even involved]. That alone suggests a human sub-population
that is even more deficient in folate for which resolution of their symptoms requires even more folate. And that is confirmed by science; up to 40% of some populations have these genetic folate polymorphisms that require added folate; most don't even know it. For more read
http://download.cell.com/AJHG/pdf/PIIS0002929707614001.pdf?intermediate=true. Each and every one of the suggested ~90 symptoms of aspartame poisoning are really issues with folate, B12 and biological methylations or accrual of homocysteine consequent to defects in those methylations.

In short, aspartame is not now, nor has it ever been a safety issue in spite of what some conspiracy theorists want you to believe. But, even today vitamin adequacy and the genetics behind these important vitamins are a big problem.

John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Nutrition)

Unknown said...

Yes!! It is good for our health if artificial sweeteners get banned from every shop.

Regards,
Mangosteen Juice