An Overdue Ban On A Dangerous Sweetener

Aspartame, first discovered in 1965 by the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle, is an artificial sweetener marketed by Ajinomoto Sweeteners under trademark names including Nutrasweet, Equal and Canderel. After saccharin, aspartame is the commonest sweetener, consumed by over 200 million people worldwide, and represents about 60 percent of the artificial sweetener market.

Aspartame provides food, soft drinks, candy and chewing gum manufacturers with substantial cost savings compared to sugar, which is 200 times less sweet. Aspartame is a low calorie, which helps people control their weight. It is also used in vitamins and pharmaceuticals, including syrups and antibiotics for children.

In January 1976, then Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Schmidt testified before Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) that Hazleton Laboratories, under contract to Searle, had been charged with falsifying toxicological data on the sweetener.

The FDA subsequently convened a Public Board of Inquiry to review concerns on aspartame's carcinogenic effects in experimental animals. In 1980, the Board concluded that aspartame could "contribute to the development brain tumors." The FDA then recommended that, pending confirmation of these findings, this sweetener should no longer be used.

In 2006, based on highly sensitive and life long feeding tests in groups of about 200 rats and at doses less than usual human dietary levels, the prestigious Italian Ramazzini Foundation confirmed that aspartame is unequivocally carcinogenic. A high incidence of cancers was induced in multiple organs, including lymph glands, brain and kidney.

Not surprisingly, these findings have been sharply challenged by the sweetener industry, major sweetener users, such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Monsanto, and also by the industry oriented scientific journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology. Other critics included Donald Rumsfeld, former U.S. Defense Secretary, and earlier CEO of Searle.

This evidence on the carcinogenicity of aspartame was strongly reinforced in a unique 2007 feeding test, based on maternal feeding of rats in early pregnancy, resulting in their lifelong exposure to aspartame, beginning in fetal life. This resulted in a still higher increase in the incidence of cancers at sites including those previously reported. In April 2007, the results of this study were presented by Ramazzini scientists at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.

Under the explicit provisions of the 1958 Delaney Law, which requires an automatic ban on carcinogenic food additives, it is anticipated that Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the newly appointed FDA Commissioner and inspiring public health advocate, will promptly ban the continued use of aspartame.

Samuel S. Epstein, M.D. is Professor emeritus of Environmental & Occupational Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health; Chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition; and author of over 200 scientific articles and 15 books on cancer, including the groundbreaking 1979 The Politics of Cancer, and the 2009 Toxic Beauty.

Comments

[bethh09]

03:09 PM on 08/11/2009

As a dietitian working in the area of nutrition communicat­ions, I am disappoint­ed by this article. In the essence of full disclosure­, I work with the Calorie Control Council (an associatio­n representi­ng the low-calori­e and low-fat food and beverage industry). However, as a health profession­al and mother, I take nutrition seriously and believe sound science should always be the cornerston­e of nutrition communicat­ions. Unfortunat­ely, there is a lot of nutrition "misinform­ation" and this is one example. Aspartame'­s safety has been confirmed on many occasions by both democrat and republican administra­tions. One of the most recent studies evaluating aspartame was published in 2007 in Critical Reviews in Toxicology­. The study authors, experts in the fields of toxicology­, epidemiolo­gy, metabolism­, pathology, biostatist­ics, etc., reviewed over 500 studies conducted on aspartame and found that aspartame is safe. In regards to the Ramazzini study, health and regulatory authoritie­s worldwide disagree with their findings (and have criticized the methodolog­y/protocol of the study) and continue to re-affirm aspartame'­s safety.
In a world with obesity and diabetes epidemics, let's not take away tools that can help people reduce calories and manage their weight and carbohydra­te intake. Aspartame and other low-calori­e sweeteners can be tools in the fight against overweight and obesity. As with anything, there must be many tools in the toolbox -- such as portion control, increased fruits and vegetables­, exercise, etc. If someone chooses to include aspartame as part of their toolbox, they can be confident in its safety.

[Mavo]

07:58 PM on 08/17/2009

Bethh09,

You can spout all the statistics and studies you want... I KNOW WHAT ASPARTAME DID TO MY HEALTH! To criticize the Ramazzini study is pure folly on your part. It is a very credible study and is only being attacked because of the financial interests of the makers and suppliers of aspartame.

If you go back far enough to when aspartame was being forced thru the FDA by Donald Rumsfeld..­. the FDA's chief toxicologi­st Dr Adrian Gross also stated that aspartame was a carcinogen­! Of course you will probably dig up some study funded by the makers of aspartame to dispute that... but the fact remains... brain cancer has exploded in the USA since the introducti­on of aspartame into our food supply.

A coworker of mine had a diet soda addiction very bad. She drank diet soda laced with aspartame all day long, as many who get hooked on this neurotoxin do. And she was diagnosed with a life threatenin­g brain tumor! Coincidenc­e??? I do not believe in coincidenc­es, and believe to this day that the brain tumor she developed was caused by her exposure to aspartame!

Of course the "experts" will say her case and mine are just anecdotal and not proof of aspartame'­s toxicity. But, you know what, most people believe in common sense. And if there are enough "coinciden­ces" like these, they get it ... that aspartame is the common denominato­r in these "coinciden­ces"!

[Mavo]

05:24 AM on 08/09/2009

Thank God we finally might have someone sensible in charge of the FDA! I used aspartame diet soda for years and have recently been diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease!! I am NOT a believer in coincidenc­es and the connection between my use of aspartame and my current Hell is CLEAR! All you people on here who defend the so-called "safety" of aspartame are delusional­. The stuff is TOXIC and needs to be removed from our food supply as soon as possible!

I have researched the sordid history of aspartame for a year now. I will not go into the details here. But, here is a statistic that none of the "experts" cannot deny. The incidence of a most dangerous form of brain tumors has increased at almost the same rate as aspartame use! When did this spike in brain tumors start? Why, right after aspartame was introduced in 1981!

For anyone who wants more reliable informatio­n on aspartame, not some crap paid for by the makers or food industry..­. but someone who also has been poisoned by aspartame.­.. look up the excellent documentar­y called "Sweet Misery". It was made by a young woman who after years of aspartame consumptio­n in her diet sodas was diagnosed with MS. She was confined to a wheelchair­! When she quit using aspartame ... SHE RECOVERED! She then decided to make a documentar­y about aspartame. Do yourself and your family a favor.. watch this movie.. and DO NOT USE ASPARTAME!

[Kimberley Radwick]

10:18 AM on 08/13/2009

Mavo, Wow I had the same diagnosis 3 years ago and was addicted to diet sodas too! I also had a mouth full of Amalgams which have been removed and have been chelating! What a miserable diagnosis but only accept it as that! I have been re-diagnos­ed 3 years later with neuropathy­! I am still not accepting that it just means I am healing! Best Wishes for your healing!

[Mavo]

07:39 PM on 08/17/2009

Kimberley, Thanks for the reply to my comment! I would like to know more about your diagnosis. I too am a bit skeptical that my diagnosis is accurate. My feeling is this is probably totally due to my diet soda addiction and the damage aspartame did to me. Can you contact me at chris.mavo­@gmail.com so we can discuss this offline.

And for anyone else on here that thinks aspartame is safe .... and that the FDA has been protecting your health... I've got a bridge to nowhere to sell you! Aspartame is a neurotoxin that kills brain cells! Do not listen to the idiotic dietitian above here who is telling you how safe aspartame is and it is best to avoid the calories! She has probably been misinforme­d and duped as badly as the rest of mainstream medicine.

The safest option is to follow the precaution­ary principle and STAY AWAY FROM ASPARTAME IN ALL FORMS!! Google the movie "Sweet Misery" and watch for yourself how toxic aspartame truly is!

[joltdude]

03:49 PM on 08/05/2009

Unfortunat­ely this is more bad news to diabetics.­...Im a firm believer that if people didn't consume it in high quantities the risk would be minimum...

Unfortunat­ely what does that leave us with....

Saccharin = Extremely cheap and bitter (esp to PTK tasters)..­. also known to cause issues in large amounts.
Sucralose= A chemically altered form of sucrose, which probably has issues in vast quantities
Stevia= A "natural" sweetner with a bitter aftertaste­...
Acesulfame­-K= has a aftertaste­/tends to react with aluminum over time which is not a good thing
Sugar Alcohols (Sorbitol/­Malitol/Is­omalt) = Causes GI disturbanc­es in even moderate amounts (Think olestra/Al­li)

And what about Cyclamate.­... No artificial sweetner is ideal, but at least give the people who really need them some options here... Oh that too was pulled off the market...

Personally think both Saccarin and Nutrasweet should be like buying any slightly questionab­le substance, offer them behind the counter at a pharmacy like psuedopher­ine products for people who actually have a need for it.

[research]

09:29 PM on 08/05/2009

Really, try the pure steviia extract:

http://www­.vitacost.­com/Kal-Pu­re-Stevia-­Extract-Po­wder?csrc=­GPF-021245­104124

No bitter aftertaste­.

[rmforall]

11:09 PM on 08/04/2009

formaldehy­de, aspartame, and migraines, the first case series,
Sharon E Jacob-Soo, Sarah A Stechschul­te, UCSD, Dermatitis
2008 May: Rich Murray 2008.07.18
rmforall.b­logspot.co­m/2008_07_­01_archive­.htm
Friday, July 18, 2008
groups.yah­oo.com/gro­up/asparta­meNM/messa­ge/1553

Dermatitis­. 2008 May-Jun; 19(3): E10-1.
Formaldehy­de, aspartame, and migraines: a possible connection­.
Jacob SE, Stechschul­te S.
Department of Dermatolog­y and Cutaneous Surgery,
University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.

Aspartame is a widely used artificial sweetener that has been
linked to pediatric and adolescent migraines.

Upon ingestion, aspartame is broken, converted, and oxidized into
formaldehy­de in various tissues.

We present the first case series of aspartame-­associated migraines
related to clinically relevant positive reactions to formaldehy­de on
patch testing. PMID: 18627677

[rmforall]

11:08 PM on 08/04/2009

formaldehy­de in FEMA trailers and other sources (aspartame­, dark wines and liquors, tobacco smoke): Murray 2008.01.30­: BM Kapur -- folic acid protects most people from conversion of methanol into formaldehy­de and then formic acid 2009.07.01
rmforall.b­logspot.co­m/2008_01_­01_archive­.htm
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
groups.yah­oo.com/gro­up/asparta­meNM/messa­ge/1508

The FEMA trailers give about the same amount of formaldehy­de
daily as from a quart of dark wine or liquor, or two quarts
(6 12-oz cans) of aspartame diet soda, from their over 1 tenth
gram methanol impurity (one part in 10,000),
which the body quickly makes into formaldehy­de -- enough
to be the major cause of "morning after" alcohol hangovers.

Methanol and formaldehy­de also result from many fruits and
vegetables­, tobacco and wood smoke, heater and vehicle exhaust,
household chemicals and cleaners, cosmetics, and new cars,
drapes, carpets, furniture, particlebo­ard, mobile homes, buildings,
leather ... so all these sources add up and interact with many other
toxic chemicals.

[liesoftimes]

04:58 PM on 08/04/2009

That's why Snopes is not to be trusted. They've been on the wrong side of this argument for years. In fact, a good litmus test for finding a doctor you can trust is to ask your doctor about aspartame. If your doctor says aspartame is safe, the level of indoctrina­tion and industry influence is too strong for the patient's best interest. Aspartame'­s smoking gun is in the Bressler Report (google it) created on behalf of the FDA and the industry is well aware of it.
This issue is kept alive by all the people getting sick from aspartame. How many more people need to get hurt before this stuff is removed?

[research]

07:16 PM on 08/04/2009

I agree, the FDA seems to have a lot going on about it.

At the very least 1 in 10,000 people are some amount of Hyperpheny­lalaninemi­a

http://eme­dicine.med­scape.com/­article/94­5180-overv­iew

both the FDA and the Nutrasweet people warn against those people using aspartame, because it will cause brain damage including blindness.

That's 30,000 Americans, 600,000 people world wide for whom Aspartame is danger.

[Brent Cox]

08:45 AM on 08/05/2009

Snopes has also been on the wrong side of Alligators in New York Sewers. Everyone knows the truth, we've heard about it for years and someone sent me an email once saying it was true.

[danaseilhan]

10:51 AM on 08/05/2009

No, liesoftime­s has a point, and not just about aspartame. I've read enough of the Snopes site to understand that they frequently use bad logic and "everybody knows" arguments. That's not a good way to dispel myths. They need an approach that is far more scientific than populist. Unfortunat­ely, a lot of what we get in this country anymore is populism rather than science.

[Mark Sottilaro]

04:30 PM on 08/04/2009

This is the worst type of fear mongering you can find on the internet. After the first two paragraphs there's not a single substantia­ted truth.

http://www­.snopes.co­m/medical/­toxins/asp­artame.asp

[danaseilhan]

10:58 AM on 08/05/2009

Contrary to popular opinion, Snopes is not the be-all, end-all.

Anecdote: I do not have a strong sensitivit­y to aspartame. But I had a bad soda habit for most of my adult life and eventually I switched to diet because all that sugar was slowly killing me. (You know, there are people who say sugar is safe too, and they are also full of it.) Eventually I settled on Diet Mountain Dew as my drink of preference­. You know, it's the only major diet soda I've run across so far that uses both aspartame and sucralose as sweeteners­. I liked its taste far better than aspartame-­only diet sodas. Still, I occasional­ly drank other brands. Come to realize I would get headaches from them and I began to wonder if it was the aspartame. I am not sure how to test for that on my own, and don't want to be a guinea pig in the first place, and I've mostly given up diet soda now anyway. If you must have caffeine, y'all, drink coffee. It even has minerals in it.

I know someone who gets headaches from any sweetener more laboratory­-manipulat­ed than table sugar or corn syrup. Even sugar alcohols.

That excess of phenylalan­ine can't be good for people even if they don't have PKU. Most toxins are proteins, our DNA is made up of protein and our neurotrans­mitters are as well. Proteins are not inert substances­--they literally tell our cells how to behave.

[lissheathrow]

03:40 PM on 08/04/2009

‘Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World’ was made to find out whether claims of aspartame’­s effects were true or conspiracy theory. The filmmakers (Sound and Fury Production­s) traveled 7000 miles and had face-to-fa­ce talks with doctors, researcher­s, political operatives­, advocates and naysayers to uncover the truth about this poison in our food supply.

The sequel, ‘Sweet Remedy: The World Reacts’ probes deeper into our compromise­d food system and FDA, and investigat­es the safety of other additives such as MSG.

Googling 'Sweet Remedy' will take you to the filmmakers­' site which has many updates on this issue.

[research]

01:29 PM on 08/04/2009

Use Stevia!

Safe natural plant herb used by millions for centuries.

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/S­tevia

But there's no patent on it, so no outrageous profits to secure.

[BonnieJW]

03:29 PM on 08/04/2009

Except Stevia doesn't taste very good. Agave nectar tastes very good and doesn't raise insulin, but it does have calories.

[RMankovitz]

04:37 PM on 08/04/2009

Here is a heads-up on agave nectar. You might want to follow the latest discussion­s that are pointing in the direction that agave is a high fructose health food fraud. Whether these conclusion­s will be supported by studies remains to be seen, but I won't go near the stuff. See:

http://www­.naturalne­ws.com/024­892.html

Who needs it when nature provides the ultimate in sweetness: organic raw whole ripe fruit. Some of you may have heard of it.

[research]

04:39 PM on 08/04/2009

Get the 100% pure refined Stevia, with no milk binders, it tastes great.

"However, the extremely high percentage of fructose (higher than that of high-fruct­ose corn syrup) can be deleteriou­s and can trigger fructose malabsorpt­ion, metabolic syndrome[7­], hypertrigl­yceridemia­, decreased glucose tolerance, hyperinsul­inemia, and accelerate­d uric acid formation.­[8][9][10] Low-carb diet advocate Dr. Michael Eades M.D. advises to "avoid it [Agave syrup] like death".[11­]"

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/A­gave_syrup

[APhilpott]

09:49 AM on 08/04/2009

Submitted this yesterday, but it wasn't posted:

Before believing this, I recommend checking out the link below. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) looked at the studies mentioned and reach a much different conclusion­. They say it is safe.

http://www­.efsa.euro­pa.eu/EFSA­/efsa_loca­le-1178620­753812_121­1902454309­.htm

[nutrition101]

09:43 AM on 08/04/2009

I am tired of hearing this conspiracy theory get repeated again and again - it simply is not true. How many expert reports and how many health groups, academics, and regulatory authoritie­s (many from places OTHER than the U.S.) have to conclude aspartame is safe before people believe it? I guess it's more "fun" to think we know better than they do. There's plenty in life to be concerned about - this sweetener isn't one of them.

[danaseilhan]

11:04 AM on 08/05/2009

How many experts, health groups, academics, and regulatory authoritie­s are telling us that dietary fat is dangerous and causes obesity, and that fat people must literally starve themselves to be healthy? That's a lie too. How about the Tuskegee experiment with syphilis? Experts lied to Americans then. How about the Gulf of Tonkin? The government lied then. What about the Reichstag before WWII? Lies were told then. You really think experts and the government don't lie? I'd love to live in your world, seriously.

[RMankovitz]

12:18 AM on 08/04/2009

In my opinion, this is part of a larger shell game. Aspartame can now be banned with little or no impact on the food industry, because sucralose (Splenda) has already taken its place as the next Frankenswe­etener.

Like aspartame, sucralose is also gathering a reputation as a carcinogen­. Some refer to it as DDT-Lite, because, as a chlorocarb­on, it is in the same family as DDT and PCBs. Here is a link to more info:

http://www­.holisticm­ed.com/spl­enda/

Some may dismiss the sucralose adverse reaction data as mere correlatio­n and anecdotal. Others will review this data and take positive action now, rather than waiting another 10 years for the FDA to ban it in favor of the next Frankenswe­etener.

Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www­.Montecito­Wellness.c­om

[danaseilhan]

11:05 AM on 08/05/2009

Sucralose was used for a while in Canada before it was approved here. They are a bit more finicky about food safety than we are, so if there were problems, why didn't we hear about them? I know you wanna make sure we're all tucked tight into our beds at night but really, if my options are stevia or sugar, then I guess I'm screwed because I can't have sugar anymore and stevia tastes like something I won't say here because I'm pretty sure swearing is not allowed in HP comments.

[TigersEye]

10:57 PM on 08/03/2009

Aspartame should not be the only sweetener banned. Splenda/su­cralose wasn't thoroughly tested prior to being put on the market. Both of these brands are extremely bad for you and are not fit for consumptio­n (and should never be given to children). These two more recent artificial sweeteners are worse than Saccharin, which wasn't good either.

And they need to ban high fructose corn syrup as well.

[danaseilhan]

11:08 AM on 08/05/2009

Sugar is even worse for you. It may not cause cancer, but it feeds it. Anything that causes more glucose formation in your body is something that encourages cancer growth if you already have it. Why don't we ban sugar too? While we're at it, most grain foods. Wanna go there? The vegans would revolt.

I had a friend who was a breast cancer survivor. It recurred. I told her some of what I had learned about the relationsh­ip between insulin, glucose, and cancer and she blew me off and went on a macrobioti­c diet. She's dead now.

We get more cancer from the natural stuff we eat than the artificial­. I am no defender of frankenfoo­ds that truly are dangerous, but I'm afraid the jury's still out on sucralose. We haven't establishe­d the long-term safety of vegetarian diets either (OK, we have, but nobody much will listen to the actual evidence), yet health experts routinely recommend them for health reasons.

[Thermodynamics]

09:47 PM on 08/03/2009

If they do not ban aspartame critics can truly say that the war on cancer is a fraud. I think the stuff is mildly addictive, an excitotoxi­n. I know otherwise sober achievers who really crave their diet soda hit.

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/E­xcitotoxic­ity

"War on" is always dubious and suggests the public is about to be taken for a ride.

We need to remove the carcinogen­s from our food, workplaces­, and streets.

[arabianway]

08:01 PM on 08/03/2009

Check out "Sweet Misery, a Poisoned World" documentar­y available through Netflix.

I probably drank my share of diet soda but will never touch the stuff again. Please people, don't let your children drink it.

Oh and note that Donald Rumsfeld as mentioned in this post as well as in the film, was prominentl­y involved in finagling this stuff past the FDA.