What You Need to Know
About Aspartame Side Effects

What is Aspartame

Once you find out about Aspartame Side Effects, you are going to wonder if it's really safe to be eating this artificial chemical sweetener. Aspartame, also known as:

Nutra Sweet
Candarel
Amino Sweet

has been marketed as a 'sugar substitute' in thousands of foods across the country and is FDA approved as a food additive and is even put into children's food and drinks. Since it's supposed to be 'safe' and it's approved by the FDA, who wouldn't allow this 'safe' sugar substitute into their and their children's foods?

The Safety of Aspartame

There are two completely opposite camps on the issue of whether Aspartame is safe or not. On one side, there are more complaint about Aspartame side effects than any other food additive on the market. On the other side are FDA claims that Aspartame is the most studied food additive in history and that they believe the evidence shows that it is safe.

What's Aspartame Made From

The side effects of Aspartame stem from its chemical components as well as the components that it breaks down into. While aspartame is actually made from what are considered the 'essential amino acids' aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol, this depiction of it being made simply from essential amino acids may be misleading since it breaks down into toxic byproducts of:

Aspartic Acid

Methanol

Formaldehyde (embalming fluid)

Glutamate

Diketopiperazine

The dangers of many of these substances are well known individually, but in combination no one can possibly know what the consequences are. As such, even just the amino acid phenylalanine by itself could potentially be a health hazard in large amounts. While many babies are born and screened for a condition called phenylketonuria (PKU) and need to avoid phenylalanine for life, what is NOT as well-known is that there are millions of people who are CARRIERS for PKU and have altered pathways to process this amino acid which can then build up in the brain and cause neurologic problems.

Both glutamate (a component of the food additive monosodium glutamate) and aspartic acid are in a class of chemicals called 'excitotoxins' and have been written about EXTENSIVELY in the book 'Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills' by Dr. Russell Blaylock who is probably the most vocal and knowledgeable doctor claiming that Aspartame side effects are extremely damaging to health.

Who is in Which Corner of the
Aspartame Side Effects Debate

Dr. Russell Blaylock- wrote the book Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills

Dr. HJ Roberts who states in his paper ASPARTAME DISEASE: AN FDA-APPROVED EPIDEMIC that he has "devoted more than two decades to analyzing aspartame disease"

FDA-FDA's Official Position on Aspartame 2007

The Lancet- Aspartame and the Internet

Time Magazine- A Web Of Deceit

BUTCHKO ET AL- Aspartame: Review of Safety- Says that it's safe and that they have put the question 'to rest' after 30 years of studies

Negative Research on Aspartame Side Effects

Since there are those on both sides of the issue who have been studying this additive for 20 to 30 years and say that have a body of knowledge that surpasses the other side, the issue is not going to be settled easily, but out of all of the studies out there, a study outlining Results of Aspartame Studies Depends Upon Who Funds Them found that 100% of the studies funded by the company that promotes Aspartame found that is was safe. In contrast, 92% of the studies that were independently funded found that Aspartame caused problems. While it doesn't settle the question, it certainly is food for thought.

Main Aspartame Side Effects Reported

Clearly the debate is not settled at this point and consumers and studies continue to come out about disturbing side effects of Aspartame, the vast majority of which are neurologic in nature and can mimic conditions such as:

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

Cipro Tendonitis

Intestinal Candida Symptoms

While one of the reasons that researchers and the FDA continue to claim that it is safe is because there is 'no clear pattern' of reported Aspartame side effects. The study mentioned in the previous section shows over 85 independent studies pointing to neurologic side effects of Aspartame, and in 1984 the CDC Itself Reported that 67% of complaints received about Aspartame were neurologic in nature- mostly related to:

Migraines and Headaches
Several studies show that people who suffer from migraines may be adversely affected by Aspartame (4)(5)(6), and this is backed up by the long time reports of thousands of sufferers of 'Chinese Restaurant Syndrome' who get headaches after eating meals containing glutamates, one of the by-products of Aspartame.

 

Mood Disorders
Aspartame seems to elicit depression in those who are prone to being depressed (7), others get mood changes and some studies show that certain people may have anxiety or panic attacks when ingesting aspartame.

My Take on Aspartame Side Effects
and It's Safety

Even if Aspartame IS the most thoroughly studied food additive that there is and the FDA says that it's completely safe, it is STILL a chemical- and certainly the FDA has been wrong about MANY MANY things before (they have recalled at least 9 different Quinolone Antibiotics alone, not to mention the Vioxx scandal and the more current issues with Avandia).

In any case, there are without a doubt certain people who are unable to detoxify as well as others. One particular gene called the MTHR gene has been linked to breast cancer, autism and other diseases. We know that this gene causes difficulties with the detoxification pathway called 'Methylation'. Interestingly, a form of vitamin B12 called Methylcobalamin B12 has been shown to improve detoxification problems from impaired methylation. Methylcobalamin has ALSO been shown to improve diseases, such as Alzheimers, Amyelotrophic Lateral Sclerosis(ALS), and autism that some have linked to glutamate toxicity.

So, could YOU have impaired Methylation or be a PKU carrier (mentioned above) that might make you particularly susceptible to any damage that COULD be caused by Aspartame? Are you willing to bet your health that you are not?

Personally, I'm going to stay away from them, and if you want to stay healthy and free of the supposed Aspartame Side Effects than I suggest that you stay away from as many avoidable chemicals as possible- not just Aspartame.

While governmental agencies are often charged with the task of keeping us healthy, if the state of the health of the US is any indication, they have done a POOR POOR job!! It's YOUR job to keep yourself healthy and if you decide to consciously ingest chemical substances in large amounts and you later develop health problems, then you need to be the one to accept the consequences of your own actions- and not 'blame' the FDA or anyone else for telling you that it was OK. Chemicals are NOT natural and to knowingly ingest ANY chemicals and assume that they are going to be safe is playing roulette with your health.

Keep reading to find out more about how your symptoms might ALSO be related to problems from having taken any of the Quinolone Antibiotics- problems which mimic reported symptoms of Aspartame Toxicity....

Next --->
Quinolone Antibiotics

References for Aspartame Side Effects

1) Direct and indirect cellular effects of aspartame onthe brain

2) L-Cysteine and glutathione restore the reduction of rat hippocampal Na+, K+-ATPase activity induced by aspartame metabolites

3) Aspartame: Review of recent experimental and observational data

4) The Effect of Aspartame on Migraine Headache

5) Migraine MLT-Down: An Unusual Presentation of Migraine in Patients With Aspartame-Triggered Headaches

6) Aspartame as a Dietary Trigger of Headache

7) Adverse Reactions to Aspartame: Double Blind Challenge in a Vulnerable Population