What Is Aspartame & What Are The Dangers Of Consumption?

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There have been over 10 000 complaints lodged with the Food & Drug Adminisatration (FDA) in the US about people’s side affects related to aspartame. That’s a pretty large number of complaints, don’t you think?

Initially aspartame was brought in to help people lower their caloric intake of sugar and heavily promoted as a healthy option. It’s now used in food products around the world amd would now be in thousands of items. But is it really safe?

Well many have tried to debate this fact so I went on a search for the facts and this article outlines some of the things I discovered.

What is Aspartame?

Aspartame is a sweetener, a replacement for sugar. It is commonly known as equal or nutrasweet and comes disguised under the numbers 951 & 955 on many product labels. Although you may think aspartame is a healthy option, the truth is that it is a chemical sweetener. An artificial sweetener that is made from genetically modified bacteria.

Many food companies and food researchers claim that chemically produced products such as aspartame break down in the body like ‘natural’ foods. Personally I don’t think things that are made in a chemical laboratory can even claim to be a food, let alone act the same as a natural food, so I highly disagree with this line of thought.

I’m sure the 10 000 consumers who have lodged their complaints with the FDA would agree with me.

The History Of Aspartame

In 1975 a company called Searle lodged aspartame for approval and initially it was withheld from the food approval. In 1980 the inquiry ruled that aspartame should not go on the market. Dr Vernon Young, a doctor on the board of inquiry and all board members agreed there should be further studies before it was deemed safe for human consumption.

In 1981, a new commissioner was put into the FDA and quickly approved the use of aspartame in food, backed by the US food super giant Monsato. Since then, there have been numerous studies on the negative health effects of aspartame and yet it is still in thousands of food products on the market today.

What Are The Dangers Of Consumption?

Consumers who have lodged complaints have reported various reactions and side affects such as:

• Heart palpitations
• Strange eye twitches
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Stomach pain
• Attention disorders

There could be up to 91 different symptoms and Dr John Olney, a researcher says that aspartame has not been proved safe but can produce brain damage and tumours. This is further supported by some of the research I found below.

Here’s a video from ‘Info Wars’ that looks at some of these issues.

 

 And here is another news story that shares some of these facts:

 

Aspartame has been used in so many ‘diet’ products as a better option for those wanting to watch the waistline but there is research to suggest that you may be doing more harm than good.

What Does Some Of The Research Say

I had to go searching the medical journals and I came up with a few interesting studies.

All and all, it really doesn’t sound good, does it? From all of the studies above it has marked effects on the brain, neurons and neurotransmitters, the messengers that send the correct messages to fuel the body’s functions.

Aspartame Makes You Gain Weight

If that’s not enough to convine you, researchers at Purdue University have done studies that show that non-caloric sweeteners such as aspartame lead to weight gain not weight loss as ‘diet’ products often suggest. The studies done with an animal model show that sweeteners interfere with our natural ability to associate sweet tastes and regulate appetite. The outcome of the study showed that this impaired ability led to an increased intake of high fat, high calorie foods, and as a result weight gain. (4)

So if you’ve been drinking ‘diet’ sodas, eating ‘diet’ foods, and think you’re doing your waistline a favour, think again because you may be doing more harm than good.

Aspartame is Around the World

Aspartame is a worldwide phenomenon, found on the shelves everywhere, so be on the lookout. Here is Australia it appears that the Australia New Zealand Food Standards has no opinion about aspartame, but relies on the judgement of the European Food And Safety Authority even though they quote that contradictory evidence has been found. You can read more about that here. Thanks Australian Food Industry for keeping the health of our nation as your best interest!

As we can see, there are billions of dollars invested in the food industry, in products that contain aspartame. Imagine the havoc it would cause if the food associations said it had to be removed. Unfortunately for them, it’s easier to let big food giants continue to poison us.

Yes, it’s a strong opinion and I’m entitled to have it!

Of course you are entitled to your own opinion too, but I certainly never eat aspartame and for optimal health would never recommend it to anyone either.

Hope you’ve found this post enlightening.

Jedha

P.S. Share this post with friends to help educate them about aspartame.

And if you’d like to learn more about sweeteners, join my email list as I’ll be sharing many more articles in the next few weeks about what choices we have.

 

References

1. P Humphries et al. Effects of aspartame on the brain. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

2. Anonymous. 1984.. Evaluation of consumer complaints.

3. Biosci J. 2012 September;37(4)

4. Davidson TL, Martin AA, Clark K, Swithers SE. Intake of high-intensity sweeteners alters the ability of sweet taste signal to caloric consequences: Implications for the learned control of energy and body weight regulation. QJ Exp Psychol (hove) 2011 July; 64(7):1430-1441.

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