Aspartame Disease

Susannah

People talk about their symptoms that had disappeared once quitting aspartame. So, yes, I think it is a real problem. Also, methanol is one of the components that aspartame breaks down into when heated (I'm sure you've already come across this info in your readings). Well, the info I found said that aspartame can start breaking down at as low as 80 degrees F. So, that means that all the diet sodas and things probably have at least some amount of methanol in them, because the warehouses where they have been stored get at least that hot. Also, if you are using Equal or another aspartame based sweetener to sweeten your coffee or hot tea, I would stop now. The heat of those beverages is definitely enough to start breaking down aspartame.

For anyone who might see this thread who doesn't already know, aspartame is more commonly referred to as Nutrasweet.

Also, personally, I don't think sucralose (Splenda) has had enough research done on it to definitely determine if it's good or not. I stick to using Stevia, which is just an extract from a plant's leaves, all natural, and no calorie (I also like the taste better).

HeyThere

"PKU" and some people are just sensitive to it just like MSG. I think the other person is refering to when you heat the substance like with in a can like on a hot day it turns to formaldahyde. I read that on the gulf war syndrome forum about several months ago then about two weeks ago I was searching setvia msg and something else and it popped up again how heat makes it convert to formaldahyde which has been known to cause embalmers brain cancer through daily inhalation. Even Setvia has issues. If you need sugar go buy a sugar cane try cutting it -nearly immposible w/out a machetti - then think about if this was meant to be eaten/extracted for over consumption. Fructose is from fruit so eat fruit it is soft and natural. Sugar beets when boiled are pretty good- I had a professsor that went on a sugar beet diet he lost 40 lbs in a few months.

__________________
Peace

Timber

i've known a few people who claim to have gotten really sick from aspartame. i personally never eat it. i feel better avoiding chemicals like that, just in case.

Susannah

No, I meant methanol. One of the breakdown components of aspartame is methanol, and your body does convert this to formaldehyde rather easily. However, the breakdown product of aspartame is methanol, and that's something you really don't want in your body. Look it up.

I'm not sure I personally would want fructose instead of just plain sugar, they did some studies where they gave people just glucose instead of sucrose (which is a disaccharide combinaton of the monosaccharides glucose and fructose), and their cholesterol went down. Fed them sugar again, and their cholesterol went back up. So, it seemed that the fructose component of the sugar was blame. I don't have a link to that exact study, but here is one that is similar:

[url]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=A bstract&list_uids=14576175[/url]

Also, if you type "fructose cholesterol" (without the quotes) into the search on pubmed, you get all sorts of research like that. There's definitely a link there. Also, the first sentence of this abstract says they use a high-fat, high-fructose diet to initiate diabetes in lab rats:

[url]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=A bstract&list_uids=14746577[/url]

Yes, Stevia has potential problems, but it definitely has benefits, too. One of them is that it helps improve your insulin sensitivity. For me, that is great, since I have hypoglycemia and PCOS, which are both things that are due to faulty insulin sensitivity (I control it with the South Beach diet). So, I will take Stevia over the other artificial sweeteners, at least for now. Japan has been using it extensively for 30 years now, so that at least somewhat puts my mind at ease. Japan's cancer rate is a lot lower than the US's.

Also, you said in your message below that you put stevia and msg into a search engine and came up with formaldehyde. Stevia DOES NOT break down into formaldehyde, aspartame breaks down into methanol and some other things, and the methanol is converted into formaldehyde inside of the body. Stevia's potential problems have to do with reproductive issues, I think the biggest of which is a potential for reduced sperm count, even though there aren't studies that say conclusively yes or no.

The problem is is that currently there really isn't a perfect non-calorie sweetener, the sugar alcohols look promising, but of course, they'll either have to be used for a longer amount of time without people seeing bad side effects from them or have more studies before I start using them extensively.

Mara

Last April I eliminated aspartame from my diet. I switched to Splenda and now don't add anything to my tea or coffee. I am baking more with brown sugar then refined. I considered trying Stevia but decided not to because of lack of studies and long term affects etc. They do use it in Japan but don’t consume sugar like we do in the US or I should say not what I would want to use that is not caloric or harmful. Sugar/sweetener is not a major part of there diet even though they use it but that’s not enough to have me pick some up and ingest it. If I were to use it occasionally, I would consider it but as it stands it all pretty much get’s the boot. The chemicals in Aspartame are neurotoxic and DKP is carcinogenic.

Running the chemical name and CAS# (chemical abstract service) for specific chemical information is informative and provides enough info for me to close the book on certain chemicals that are not properly tested for safety. and if they are that information is not available to the public.

Monosodiumgluconate; CAS#527-07-1
A chemicalin Splenda; Maltodextrin CAS#9050-36-6

Aspartame…
L-Aspartyl-l-phenylalanine methyl ester, 98%, aspartame CAS #22839-47-0 (a.k.a. Equal, Nutra Sweet, Spoonful, Benevia, Equal Measure etcetera) is composed of (at least) three things:
1.) aspartic acid, (40%) CAS # 56-84-8 C4H7NO4 (L-Aspartic acid)
2.) phenylalanine, (50%) CAS # 63-91-2 C9H11NO2 (L-Phenylalanine)
3.) methanol (10%) CAS # 67-56-1 CH4O (Wood alcohol)


A list of aspartame breakdown components from the aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol is as follows:

Formaldehyde CAS # 50-00-0 CH2O (embalming fluid)
Formic Acid CAS # 64-18-6 CH2O2 (fire ant-sting poison) Beta Aspartame **
Aspartylphenylalanine **
Aspartylphenylalanine amide **
Tyrosine CAS # 60-18-4 C9H11NO3
L-Dopa ** Dopamine **
Norepinephrine **
Epinephrine **
Phenylethylamine CAS # 64-04-0
Phenylpyruvate **
Phenylactic acid **
Phenylacetic acid CAS # 103-82-2
Diketopiperazine (DKP) CAS # 106-57-0 C4H6N2O2 (Glycine anhydride)

Chemicals, chemicals, chemicals.
These are some high volume chemicals and big money.

Acrylamide (this has a -carcinogenic is found and contains high levels in potatoes when prepared at certain temperatures.
The amount of acrylamide in a large order of fast-food French fries is at least 300 times more than what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows in a glass of water. Acrylamide is sometimes used in water-treatment facilities.
The WHO (World Health Organization) discusses it in length. It also has a CAS#.