3) What happenes to cause it to break down?
 
Once in a solution with water, all it takes is for the temperature  to rise to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and  the chemical begins to degrade, separating into aspartic acid and phenylalanine, which also begins to break down to form a chemical known as dkp, which is a known tumour causing agent.  Another reaction begins at temperatures normally found in the human body, releasing methanol  from the molecule.  At this kind of temperature it also begins to degrade into formaldehyde.  EVEN BEFORE IT IS  INGESTED.  You could easily be drinking formaldehyde in your diet soda - especially in the summer.
 
When you consider the fact that cans and bottles of diet soda regularly stand in full sunlight in high temperatures during summer months, for unknown lengths of time, slowly, brewing this chemical soup, it makes you wonder about the sanity of those that know the problems, and do nothing about them.  The Coca Cola corporation new all about this, and, to their credit, resisted the use of aspartame for several years.
 
When you buy a can or bottle of diet soda, you have no way of knowing how long it has been in the package or what conditions it has been stored under.  It is not unusual, especially in the summer, for these sodas to have been stood in high temperatures for long periods of time.  Do you know what you are drinking?
Studies have shown that the chemical composition of the soda's can change dramatically in a relatively short space of time.  According to information provided by Searle (the original manufacturers of aspartame) over an eight week period of being stored at a temperature of 68 degrees F showed that 11-16% of the aspartame had broken down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and DKP.  Eight weeks at 86 degrees will see   38% of the aspartame degraded.
 
A separate study showed that over a period of 6 months the amount of aspartame in the drink had dropped from 550.0mg to 155.34mg, while the quantities of the following chemicals had risen by the following amounts: -L- phenylalanine  methyl rises from 0mg to 28.62mg , DKP rises from 0mg to 135.66mg
 
There is more than enough evidence available to suggest that some of the servicemen suffering from "Gulf war syndrome" are actually suffering from aspartame poisoning.  The "burning tongue" reported by many of them is typical of aspartame poisoning, as are many of the other symptoms.
 
During the gulf war, thousands of pallets of diet sodas were shipped out to the American service men serving in the gulf.  These then stood in the 120degree heat of the desert day, some of them for months before they were consumed.  A high enough temperature to release the methanol from the sweetener and long enough for it to break down into formaldehyde and formic acid.  These servicemen and women were drinking formaldehyde cocktails.  Is it any wonder they became so ill?  Perhaps as many as 6000 people may have perished from gulf war syndrome.  Not all of them will have been poisoned by aspartame, perhaps, but NONE of them NEEDED to be.

4 More on the symptoms of aspartame poisoning'
 
In the opening section on the sypmtoms of aspartame poisoning, several of the items listed were marked with a number of *.  Here's why.
 
Arthritic and joint pain*
 
*The incidence of joint pain is probably caused by the fact that the aspartame causes a hardening of the fluid in the capsule the joint "floats" on, stiffening the joint and making movement both painful and difficult.
 

Blood sugar control problems**
Low blood sugar**
 
**Aspartame has been hailed as the saviour of the diabetic.  A sweetener that does not increase your blood sugar, but will enable you to have your food and drink as sweet as you want it.  Many diabetics using aspartame are having extreme difficulty controlling their blood sugar levels because this drug causes blood sugar to drop making it difficult to predict the natural rise and fall throughout the day.  Diabetics have totally lost control of their condition, entered comas and died because of this.
 

Burning urination***
Interstitial cystitis (loss of bladder lining)***
 
***It is not at all certain why this is in all cases, but there is a link between aspartame and interstitial cystitis, which is a condition which occurs when the lining of the bladder is destroyed.  There is no clear evidence as to whether or not it is caused by aspartame poisoning, but there is to show that once the condition exists, aspartame makes if worse than it needs to be.  The condition is irreversible because once the membrane is destroyed, there are no cells left to regenerate.
 
 
Excessive thirst and hunger****
Weight gain****
 
****I have not come across an explanation for the excessive thirst, and can only assume that is the bodies' way of trying to dilute the toxin and flush it out of the system.  Drinking diet soda's to relieve the thirst only makes matters worse. The hunger, however, is probably partially explained by the action of the aspartame which interferes with the normal functioning of serotonin in the brain.   Serotonin is part of the body's feedback system which tells you when you have had enough to eat.  The aspartame inhibits this function, leaving you feeling hungry when, in reality, you have had enough.  In addition to this, it causes a craving for carbohydrates (probably due, again, tho the lowered blood sugar causing the body to think that it needs to eat to replenish its energy source), leading to an increased appetite again.   It has been noted that a long term user of aspartame can lose up to 19Lb when they cease to use it - without ever taking any other steps to lose weight.
 
 
Seizures and convulsions (right up to Grande Mal epilepsy)*****
 
*****It has been known for many years that aspartame causes seizures of varying degrees.  The United States Air Force, and  magazines catering for civilian pilots, have been warning for some time now that aspartame increases susceptibility for seizures to be triggered by 'flicker' to such an extent that pilots have been noticing an increased tendency to have fits of various types and severity, even (on occasion) in the cockpit.  Several pilots have lost their 'ticket' and had to retire because the cause of the seizures was not found in time and they were considered to be unsafe to fly.
 
 
Thinning of the lining of the blood vessels******
 
******The reason that diabetics slowly lose their vision is that glucose builds up in the cells of the blood vessels and weakens them.  When this happens in the eyes, it is called diabetic retinopathy and can lead to the blood vessels rupturing, damaging the retina.  Because one of the effects of aspartame is to weaken and thin the blood vessel, it accelerates the process, causing more damage than the diabetes, but in conditions that make it look as if the diabetes is solely to blame.  Withdrawal of aspartame may considerably slow down the progress - and in some cases may alleviate the condition.  Thinning blood vessels can also adversely affect the heart and kidneys.
 
In addition to the above problems, aspartame can attack the immune system and cause it to turn on your own body, causing a condition known as lupus.  The formaldehyde released from the methanol alters the structure of the proteins in your body, which the immune system then labels as a being foreign and begins to dismantle the body from the inside out.  Usually the attacks stop once aspartame is no longer challenging the system - but any subsequent ingestion of aspartame can trigger another attack.
 
The news just keeps on getting worse!!
 
Research carried out in July 1973 suggested that there was a correlation between phenylalanine passing through the placenta and causing birth defects - in this case cleft lip and palate.
 
This is by no means conclusive, but it does indicate that we may be going to see an increase in the number of birth defects, both physical and mental as the use of aspartame continues to rise and more and more potential mothers are using it in more and more products.
 
The worry here is that not only will the dose be carried through the placenta and effect the physical development of the foetus, but the dose of phenylalanine
concentrated in the baby's brain will cause a change in the way the brain wires itself up during the learning process.  The effects that are being noticed in thousands of American children right now are:-
 
Irritability
Hyperactivity
Depression
Antisocial behaviour
Deterioration of intelligence
Poor school performance.
 
It is coming to England right now.  America has been living with this trend for the last twenty years.
 
And just when you thought it had got as bad as it could, there is a new sweetener in development and testing called neotame.  It is several thousand times as sweet as sugar and is based on the same formula as aspartame - with the addition of a chemical called 3-di-methylbutyl, which is reputed to be on the EPA's list of most hazardous chemicals.
 
In the next section I begin to show you just what it is about the molecule that is toxic and how it effects the human body.

5) Aspartic acid.
 
Aspartic acid is a non-essential amino acid.  It is not necessary to ingest ANY of it, as the body can manufacture all that it needs in the liver.  Any aspartic acid that is ingested is normally part of a long chain of amino acids (a protein) and is released slowly into the body during the process of digestion.  Once the bond with the phenylalanine is dissolved, the aspartic acid in aspartame is in the free form.  It is not actually bonded to anything, and so it hits the bloodstream in a rush, all at once, in a far higher concentration than is normal.  When you drink it dissolved in water (as in a diet soda) this process is even faster, causing the levels of aspartic acid in the blood and the brain to spike to potentially toxic levels.
 
In its defence the manufacturers have said that aspartic acid is a neurotransmitter, and as such is essential to the healthy functioning of the human brain. 
 
The truth of the matter is that while aspartic acid does stimulate the neurones in the brain to fire, it does so in an inappropriate manner.
Along with glutamic acid (found in monosodium glutamate), aspartic acid is one of a group of chemicals called exitotoxins. 
 
What these substances do is to stimulate the brain cell to fire repeatedly and with such frequency that the neuron becomes swollen and may eventually rupture, killing the cell.
 
While low levels of these chemicals may not cause a significant number of brain cells to die, it is impossible to judge how susceptible you are to this chemical, at what dosage you will get significant damage, and what dosage you are actually getting, because of the number of different sources that now exist. 
 
Aspartame and monosodium glutamate are only two of these substances, and they are available in so many products that it might be impossible to avoid both of them altogether.  It is estimated that aspartame alone is in about 9000 different products in the USA and Britain is rapidly catching up.  Do you know how much aspartame and MSG you are consuming?
 
Because of the particular areas of the brain that are most affected by the action of exitotoxins, it is possible that exposure to them during gestation and childhood may be implicated in a range of learning difficulties, emotional problems and endocrinological abnormalities.
My own nephew has recently been deprived of aspartame, and after a period of about three weeks, he has calmed considerably and is a much nicer child altogether.
    
The brain is normally partially protected from a lot of damage by the blood/brain barrier, but this is not well developed in infancy, making children up to four times more susceptible to damage.  This protection is often weakened by fever, stroke, heavy metal poisoning, head injury and infections.  It can also be weakened by age.  Some parts of the brain are not protected at all.  One of these is the hypothalamus, which controls the pituitary gland, leaving the body open to imbalances in the hormones produced there.
 
Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is another of these toxins and is available in almost any savoury food you can buy.  "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" is well know in America and is most likely to be caused by the amount of mono-sodium glutamate used in Chinese restaurants.  While the amount of aspartic acid in the diet is probably still far less than that of MSG, when it is dissolved in water it can enter the bloodstream far faster and cause a spike in the levels present, raising them to toxic levels for up to two hours.  MSG is an ingredient in a vast number of savoury products.  Check it out sometime.
 
In addition to which, it is very likely that formaldehyde (released from the aspartame in the gut) will act synergistically with the aspartic acid to worsen its effects.
 
Causing the brain cells to fire with this frequency is not only capable of killing individual brain cells; it also stimulates them to form connections with other brain cells.  This is what happens when learning takes place, but in the normal learning process, connections are made along pre-determined pathways.   Under theinfluences of an excitotoxin however, the connections are made in a totally random manner, and no-one can predict what effect this could have on the brain - particularly a child's brain which is actively making new connections all the time as a process of its normal developement.  Studies show that in guinea pigs it can interfere with the development of the part of the brain that deals with smell.  In rats it has been shown to interfere with the learning process.
 
MSG is marketed as a flavour enhancer, not only making the food more flavourful, but also MASKING UNDESIRABLE FLAVOURS SUCH AS SOURNESS AND MUSTINESS.  The irony of it is that it does absolutely NOTHING to the flavour of food at all.  What it does is to get your brain all exited about what you are eating - so you enjoy the flavour more, even though it is exactly the same flavour.
 
Why have I mentioned MSG here?
 
Somewhere in the literature I came across a note that the aspartame is "bulked out" with a substance called maltodextrin - and that maltodextrin has MSG as one of its breakdown products during the digestion process.  This means that a double dose of delight is released into the body on the digestion of aspartame.
If aspartame is 180 times as sweet as sugar, you should need 1/180th of the amount to sweeten with.  Approx. 179/180ths of your spoonful of aspartame is likely to be maltodextrin.  Sweet, huh?
 
Look out for MSG - it also goes by the alias of E621.

 

6) Phenylalanine
 
The situation regarding the ingestion of phenylalanine is similar to aspartic acid in as much as it is also found in "free form" once the aspartame starts to degrade.  To eat this particular amino acid as part of a much larger, more complex protein slows down the speed at which it is released into the blood stream and therefore also the concentration at which it reaches the brain.
 
Dissolved in water (as it would be in a soft drink) it enters the bloodstream rapidly and in a concentration large enough to 'spike' the levels found there.
 
Once in the brain, the phenylalanine breaks down the seizure threshold, making the brain far more susceptible to all forms of fits up to and including Grande Mal epilepsy.  It also raises anxiety levels and triggers anxiety and/or panic attacks.  The effect has been noted in several magazines for civilian pilots and the American Air force has warned its pilots against the use of diet sodas.  Several airline pilots have lost their licence to fly after having started to have seizures.  It is not unknown for a pilot to have had a seizure in the cockpit.  It has long been noticed that some forms of epilepsy can be triggered by flickering lights like strobes or the pattern of light falling through leaves.  Phenylalanine lowers this threshold, making people more susceptible to the 'flicker' inducing a fit.
 
It is also noted that it interferes with the production of serotonin - which causes depression, rage and paranoia. 
 
Serotonin IS a neurotransmitter, and as such is vital for the healthy functioning of the brain.  Many of the drugs prescribed for depression are based on Serotonin.   Because serotonin levels can fluctuate according to the levels of phenylalanine present, it can cause an effect similar to manic depression.
 
Also, because serotonin is part of the mechanism that tells you when you have had enough to eat, it can also result in a feeling of still being hungry even after eating a large meal.  This is extremely bad news for dieters and diabetics, who both need to eat reasonable amounts, and not be constantly thinking that they are hungry when they are not. 
 
This is probably the mechanism by which aspartame causes cravings for carbohydrates.  On average, people who stop using aspartame after a long history of usage lose about 19lb without having to do anything else.
 
The liver converts phenylalanine into tyrosine, but there is a group of people who have a genetic defect called Phenylketonuria (or PKU) and these people are not able to do this.  Sufferers of PKU convert the phenylalanine into other chemicals that are excreted in the urine, but this process is less efficient and toxic levels of the amino acid can build up in their systems.  This is why anything containing aspartame has to be labelled "contains a source of phenylalanine". 
 
Even with a fully functioning liver able to metabolise phenylalanine, people not affected by this condition can experience symptoms very like those of a PKU sufferer, and can sustain brain damage and convulsions, especially at the levels achieved by drinking more than two litres  of diet soda a day - a amount easily achieved by a surprising number of Americans.
 
Another chemical that forms within this broth of chemical activity is called, rather grandly, aspartylphenylalanine diketopiperazine, known as DKP for short.  This is a substance which has been known for some time as a cancer causing agent, closely linked to a specific kind of brain tumour - Astrocytoma.
 
This type of tumour was detected in early trials conducted on rats, along with ovarian and mammary cancers and atrophied testes.  It is now being detected in approximately 14,000 Americans each year, 700 of them children.  This figure will now be out of date, as most of the data I have been able to find predates the year 2000.
 
Are we now seeing a rise in the number of cases of breast cancer?
 
Rats are 60 times LESS (yes. that is less)susceptible to the effects of aspartame than humans, and yet it was in trials on rats that this cancer showed up.
 
According to Dr. Louis Elsas at Emery University, the phenylalanine can concentrate in the placenta to twice the levels of the mothers' blood.  It is then further concentrated in the developing brain another 2-4 fold, causing toxic levels and interfering with the normal development of the brain, which can result in mental retardation.
 
This effect has not been tested in humans as yet and there is no conclusive proof that it happens, but tests with rats and guinea pigs suggest that it is definitely a possibility.
 
The overall prognosis for a society consuming relatively large doses of aspartame would indicate a general lowering of intellect throughout the generation that has grown up with it as well as a noticeable increase of aggressive, anti social behaviour, 'hyperactive' or 'attention deficit' problems, depression and resultant suicide.  Is this a familiar trend?  It is in American schools.  Aspartame cannot be responsible for all of it, but it is  'cranking up the pressure' and causing much more suffering than is necessary.

7) Methanol

L-Aspartyl-L-Phenylalanine-Methyl Ester.  That is the full name of the chemical marketed as aspartame.  It has been claimed that there is no Methanol in Aspartame, but there it is, it is in the methyl ester at the end there.

At temperatures found inside the human body, the methanol is released.  Considering the poor storage arrangements given to soft drinks particularly in hot weather, there is probably already a proportion of the methanol found free in the can before it is drunk.

Any food that is subjected to heat during preparation is going to react the same.
Have you ever wondered why aspartame seems to lose its sweetness when used in cooking?  The temperatures it is exposed to cause the breakdown of the chemical bond and the length of the exposure effects how much of the aspartame disappears. 
 
Even the heat that sugar free jelly is exposed to will be enough to release the methanol - and anything cooked using aspartame is exposed for longer.  How much extra do you think they need to add to ensure that it is still sweet when the product cools down?

Methanol has long been known as an extremely toxic substance.  Back in the days of American Prohibition it was widely known that Methanol in the cheap alcohol available to the drunks on 'skid row' was responsible for so many of them going blind and even dying.
 
The manufacturers of aspartame have said that there is more methanol in fruit and vegetables than there is in aspartame.  What they do not tell you is that when you ingest methanol from a natural source, or when you drink it in an alcoholic beverage, there is usually ethanol present as well.

The human body has a far better affinity with ethanol than with methanol and will set to work on the ethanol, effectively ignoring the methanol which passes through the body to be excreted with relatively little damage.  Methanol poisoning can be treated by administering ethanol for this very reason.

Methanol ingested from aspartame is different.  It is not accompanied by ethanol and therefore there is no defence to block the metabolisation of the methanol, which hits the bloodstream in a concentrated rush.

Within the human body, the methanol breaks down to formaldehyde, which is an exceptionally toxic substance used in embalming, and which further breaks down to become formic acid - the venom in ant bites.

Ten percent of aspartame will convert to methanol in the right conditions.

This is especially bad news for diabetics.

Not only does the methanol increase the likelihood of going blind, but it also causes a condition called hypoglycaemia, or low blood sugar.

Diabetics using aspartame to avoid high blood sugar are finding that instead of helping them to stabilise their blood sugar, it is making it more and more difficult, and the more aspartame they use in an attempt to replace sugar in their diet, the more difficult it will become.  Some diabetics changing from saccharine to aspartame have found difficulties controlling their blood sugar levels and many have eventually slid into a coma.  Some have died. 

Methanol poisoning is known to mimic the symptoms of MS. as it destroys the nervous system.  It is also known to cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, buzzing in the ears, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness and shooting pains, behavioural disturbances, neuritis, misty vision, tunnel vision, blurring vision, conjunctivitis, insomnia, vision loss, depression,  heart problems and inflammation of the pancreas.

Stringent guidelines are in place to restrict the exposure of people working with methanol, even in fairly low levels.  It is often used as an industrial solvent, one I recently heard refered to (on the radio) as a "dangerous industrial solvent"

And we are eating and drinking it voluntarily?
 
Why?

8) Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde has long been known to be toxic.  There are extremely stringent guidelines laid down for use in industry to limit the amount of exposure to formaldehyde and also to deal with accidental exposure to it.  The list of the effects of exposure is long and includes damage to the lungs, stomach, circulatory system, liver, kidneys, heart and brain.  The first organs attacked are usually the lungs eyes and skin.

Formaldehyde is found in the environment in a number of different sources including the fumes from methanol combustion, new carpets, plywood and new caravans.
It is probably most often associated with undertakers, where it is used as an embalming fluid, but is also used for the following: - as a disinfectant/antiseptic, in tanning and preserving hides, as a germicide and fungicide for vegetables and plants and as an intermediate in the manufacture of pesticides.

Industry guidelines for first aid in the case of formaldehyde ingestion read as follows:-
 "If the victim is conscious and not convulsing, give 1 or 2 glasses of water to dilute the chemical and IMMEDIATELY call a hospital or poison control centre"  It then goes on to advise against trying to make the victim vomit  because of the danger of the vapour being drawn into the lungs.

The above is just an indication of the respect with which the substance is meant to be treated in industry.  No-one is suggesting that aspartame can deliver in a single dose anything even remotely close to this quantity of formaldehyde, but it does indicate the level of the toxicity of this substance.

10% of aspartame is the methyl ester that bonds the two amino acids together and that methyl ester releases one molecule of methanol into the system for every molecule of aspartame.  This then breaks down inside the body to form formaldehyde.

It is the formaldehyde component of methanol that causes the blindness, retinal tissue is very active in the metabolism of methanol, and so formaldehyde builds up in the eye and the optical nerve, effectively embalming the tissues while they are still alive, eroding the vision in the process.  The damage, if treated appropriately, can be halted in the early stages, but is irreversible once it has passed a certain stage.

Formaldehyde accumulates in the tissues.

It is a very small molecule, small enough to bind itself into the proteins that form the cells of the human body, including insinuating itself into the D.N.A within the cells.
The formation of formaldehyde adducts such as these is a game of Russian roulette because there is no way of knowing what the effect will be.

Depending on the nature of the cell and the point on the D.N.A. chain at which the formaldehyde binds to it, it could do absolutely nothing, cause a cancer, or alter the germplasm of sperm or ovum in such a way as to cause birth defects in any child unfortunate enough to be born from them.  This is an effect that becomes a permanent feature of that Childs D.N.A., and has a potential to effect future generations.
These products of formaldehyde bonding into proteins are called adducts.
Formaldehyde has been shown to produce mutations and abnormal organisms in bacterial studies.

Toxic effects of this chemical are cumulative and depend on how much you ingest and over what period of time.  The body is capable of removing them from the system, but at a rate which is far less than they can accumulate with only a relatively small intake of aspartame daily.  It can take up to 90 days for the effects to stop making themselves felt, and much longer before the body detoxifies properly.

The higher the level of formaldehyde adducts, the more likely they are to trigger a change in just one cell in the body.  One cell - that's all it takes to change a healthy person into a cancer victim, or the parent of a genetically damaged child.  That damage could be invisible, in the form of a decrease in intelligence, or it could be visible, but as relatively mild as a hair lip.
 
It could be almost anything.

9) Formic acid

Most likely, you will already know of formic acid as the venom in the bite of certain   ants and may be all too familiar with the irritation, the itching and burning sensation that this causes.

In industry, it is used as a fumigant and larvicide for tobacco, dried fruits and cereal, and as a fumigant for nuts and infected clothing, also as a solvent and military poison gas.  In fact it is reputed that aspartame itself was once submitted to congress for approval as a chemical weapon!!

Exposure to this chemical can result in serious consequences to the health and can be absorbed by inhalation, ingestion or through the skin.  Exposure to large doses can be fatal.

This is the reality that industries handling large amounts of concentrated formic acid on a daily basis live with.

Formic acid consumption from aspartame is obviously a lot less than the potential exposure under those circumstances, but this indicates the nature of the chemical that we are dealing with.  It should still be treated with respect, even in small doses.  It is an irritant and a corrosive and will cause problems wherever it comes into contact with living tissues, causing redness and swelling, aggravating breathing problems and over stimulating mucus membranes (probably the cause of the sinus/"nasal drip"  on the symptoms list above)

And we are eating and drinking this stuff voluntarily?  Why?
 
OK, time for some good news.
 
And the good news is?   This is the end of this marathon, I have no more to add to it after this.
 
10) Overview

Millions of people in the USA have been using this product since the middle of the 1970's, most of them without either noticing any drastic ill effects-or associating general ill health and low energy with their aspartame intake.

Low levels of usage may well not cause any effects in the vast majority of the population. 

BUT- the effects of aspartame poisoning are cumulative and may take many years to build up to noticeable levels, by which time most people would not associate their onset with their use of this sweetener.  With increased dosages being taken from an increasing variety of sources, it is likely that every single human being could react at some time in the future, when their individual tolerance is overwhelmed.

The only real test available to most people is to stop using it altogether for at least 90 days and see if any ill health effects reduce in intensity or disappear altogether.
If this is the case, the acid test would then be to challenge the body by dosing it with a moderate amount of aspartame to check whether the symptoms return.  After years of usage, one dose can be enough to show this as the body remains sensitive to it for a long time after having it withdrawn.

The synergistic results of taking a cocktail of potentially toxic substances is almost impossible to predict as it will depend of the chemicals, the quantities, the amounts and on the susceptibility of the person taking them, but there are studies that suggest that it could potentially be disastrous.   The 1976 trials on mice referred  to earlier would indicate this.

So, here we are consuming unknown quantities of a substance that contains not one toxic substance, but seven in a cocktail.  And we wonder why people are getting sick?

The FDA estimate that when there are problems with drugs of this nature, only about 1%  of cases actually gets reported to them.  Using this as a basis, it has been calculated that about 1,900,000 Americans have suffered effects and associated them with the aspartame, but not reported the fact.  This says nothing about the number of sufferers who never made the association and are still not aware of what is causing their suffering; there could be tens of millions.

9000 products and climbing - that is how widespread aspartame use is in the USA, and the number of products available worldwide is rapidly catching up with this.
Please, people, take care of what you are eating and drinking, there are safe alternatives out there.

Most of the above information has been gleaned from the internet and is available for you to check.  Look for the websites  belonging to holisticmed.com, Mission possible and doorway, but research as widely as you can - that way you can 'iron out'  the errors more effectively.

It is not, and never has been, my intention to scare anyone.  There is no need to be afraid as, once you know what is doing it, you can make it stop, and in many cases you can see the symptoms cease if it is the aspartame that is causing problems.

I Hope that the information contained here will not cause undue anxiety, but will help people to understand the subject better.

This document should not be seen as anything other than a guide to the problems that many people are experiencing, and a jumping off point for your own research.

 

To see if aspartame is damaging you, eliminate ALL sources of aspartame from your diet for at least 90 days.  If the symptoms go away, then the likelihood is that it is the aspartame that is to blame.  Trying one drink with aspartame in it will be enough to bring back some of the symptoms if you want to be sure.

 

If eliminating aspartame does not releive the symptoms, or only partially, look again at everything you consume because it finds its way into some very unexpected places.  Look for the term "contains a source of phenylalanine" as this ALMOST ALWAYS indicates that aspartame is present even if you can't see it in the ingredients list.

If anyone has any questions about this, please ask - I will try my best to answer them.  Don't worry if they seem daft - sometimes they are the ones that bring out the best of the details not in here already.

 

Webby

Aspartame..the debate..

It's a question of who you trust, isn't it, as to whom you beleive?

 

Do you trust the FDA and the manufacturers of this chemical, both of whom have a vested interest in it continuing to sell.

 

Or do you trust the voices of those that have been hurt by it, and the people that speak for them?

 

After all, we were told for several decades that lead in petrol was perfectly safe.  Then it was withdrawn because it was no longer possible to ignore the fact that it was damaging people.

 

We have been being told for a long time that paracetamol is the safest drug on the market and at one time it was beleived that it was impossible to overdose on it.  Now it is acknowledged that an accidental overdose from taking different over the counter medications that contain it is enough to cause damage to the liver.

 

Aspartame is a chemical.  Assembled in a factory from other chemicals.  Aspartic acid is an excitotoxin.  It causes the brain cells to become agitated and the synapses to fire more often, leading to a situation where a brainscell can actually become inflamed to the point where it ruptures.  Phenylalonin monkeys with the brains chemistry and methanol is known to make you go blind.  Put them together and what have you got?

 

Well that depends on who you ask, doesn't it?

 

The people that make it and want you to keep buying it, or the people that have direct experience of it's effects?

 

Webby