Aspartame: A boon or a curse?

From vibha

How many of you all have ever thought twice before picking up that harmless looking, ‘sugar free’ chewing gum, with ‘Aspartame’ as one of its contents?

Aspartame an artificial sweetener, is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose,or table sugar.Due to this property, even though Aspartame produces four kilocalories of energy per gram when metabolized, the quantity of Aspartame needed to produce a sweet taste is so small that its calorific contribution is negligible.It is the most common sweetener added to most sugar free stuff sold off the shelves todayand is the technical name for the brand names like Nutrasweet, Equal, Spoonful and Equal Measure. Do you have headaches, dizziness or mood swings or have you experienced nausea or abdominal pain?

Did you know that all of these symptoms and more have been associated with the consumption of Aspartame??

According to researches and physicians studying the adverse effects of Aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting Aspartame: Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia and diabetes. Dr. Russell L Baylock, a professor of neurosurgery at the Medical University of Mississippi, recently published a book thoroughly detailing the damage that is caused by the ingestion of excessive Aspartic acid from Aspartame.

 

        

Aspartame is the Methy ester of Aspartic acid phenylalanine dipeptide and is made up of three chemicals: Aspartate, Phenylalanine and Menthol.

 

Aspartate acts as a neurotransmitter in the mammal brain by facilitating the transmission of information form neuron to neuron. Too much aspartate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium in the cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kills the cells!!

 

Phenylalanine is an amino acid normally found in the brain. Persons with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot metabolize phenylalanine.This leads to dangerously high levels of phenylalanine in the the brain. It has been shown that ingesting Aspartame, especially along with carbohydrates can lead to excess levels of phenylalanine in the brain even in persons who do not have PKU. It can cause the serotonin in the brain to decrease, leading to emotional disorders such as depression.

 

Menthol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of Aspartame encounters the enzyme Chymotripsin. Menthol further breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Heavy users of Aspartame containing products consume as much as 250mg of methanol daily or 32 times the safe limit. Symptoms from methanol poisoning include headaches, dizziness, vision problems, retinal damage which can even lead to blindness! Due to the lack of couple of key enzymes, humans are many times more sensitive to the toxic effects of Menthol than animals. Therefore the tests of Aspartame or Menthol on animals do not accurately reflect the danger for humans.

So friends if you found the discussion convincing enough, say NO to Aspartame!
Let us together make this world an Aspartame free world!!

In continuation with the above discussion on Aspartame and its harmful effects, I hope you will find the link given here both helpful as well as useful.