A conspiracy that really hit home - Aspartame Poisoning

I recently found that my Ni-Quitin lozenges has aspartame in it. I was supposed to be on them for around 6 months to fully give up smoking, but I'm still sucking on them for 14 months now. I guess it's addictive because of the sweet taste of aspartame.

I haven't got ill or anything, other than maybe an increase in frequency of headaches (once or twice a week?) and some very slight weight gain. I would like to try getting off them completely after reading how it's a poison and see if I notice any change in my health.

reply to post by TechVampyre


A Johnny Walker drinker, is only a JW drinker, because the store was out of Makers Mark! Period!

Originally posted by kelldog1541
reply to post by Macabees

 

Aspartame is created by replacing a carbon molecule with a chlorine molecule which your body cannot digest and will reject as poison...this is one of the reasons for the problems people are facing...research it your self it is true.

The chemical formula for Aspartame is C14 H18 N2 O5, i.e. it contains Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Oxygen, all of which are abundant in the human body. So you are incorrect. Aspartame does not contain chlorine.

Sucralose contains a chlorine atom. Of course so do olives, lettuce, tomatoes, celery and of course common table salt.

Aspartame is poisonous to people who have phenylketonuria, which is very rare. It may also be poisonous in excessive quantities due to the fact that the body cannot break down the biproducts quickly enough. Of course methanol (and even ethanol) are also present in fruits. Actually aspartame has less methanol than some other common "natural" drinks.

As for your lab rats with brain cancer, we can quickly dismiss this one. Please show a graph of the incidence of brain cancer in the American population and please show where it increases at the time aspartame entered widespread use.

In fact, the overall incidence of brain cancer is decreasing. It actually increased until 1987 then went into decline. Aspartame was approved for sodas in 1983.

There has been a small increase in the incidence of glioblastoma multiforme and a few other specific kinds of brain cancer. However, the biggest increase in incidence has come about because of the aging of the population. So, people are living longer, and older people are more susceptible to cancer (at least twice as susceptible). The percentage increase is tiny.

If there was any sense to this aspartame scare there'd be a corresponding decrease in the average lifespan of the population. Instead, every year, people live on average 0.3 years longer than the year before. Given that there are millions of people taking this stuff, where is your evidence in the general population that it is harmful?

Badly prepared or poorly stored or out-of-date peanut butter can give you cancer. Food poisoning at your local take-away can kill you. Aspartame? Not so much.

As for "feeling better", make *any* lifestyle change you like. If you believe it will make you feel better and it's not obviously detrimental, it probably will make you feel better. And I don't just mean "feel" better, as in it is all in your head. You will likely actually be quantitatively better in a way that can be precisely measured. So go ahead, pick one, any one, and I can tell you it is a solid established scientific fact that it'll make you feel better unless you happen to pick something really stupid that kills you instead.

Here is an interesting observation about a family member:

Every person over the age of 40 in my father's family has Diabetes including both of his parents before they passed. His father was Type 1 and his mother was diagnosed Type 2 about a decade ago. Well before that she was the typical Southern cook..lots of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, home-cooking, etc..yet she somehow always managed to keep a managable weight and her blood sugar never had a problem. She always drank 7-Up and so in her seventies a doctor told her that even though she was pretty healthy, to watch out for Type 2 Diabetes and told her to cut out all the soda and certain foods and sugars and to replace all sugar with fake sweeteners. I have ALWAYS been wary of Diet Sodas and fake sweeteners and told her I just felt it was not a good idea. Poor thing tho she was just following doctor's orders.
Within literally 6 months she had FULL BLOWN TYPE 2 Diabetes and required a LOT of medication. She went from not even having to wear anything stronger than reading glasses in her seventies to (by the time she passed) blind in one eye and almost in the other. She was super skinny and frail and constantly sick..had four surgeries in just six years, then diagnosed with stomach cancer..she ended up passing away a year ago still eating her artificial sweeteners. It just sickens me. I am positive it was from using aspartame because the change was so abrupt.

Also wanted to point out it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to find chewing gum now without aspartame. Even children's chewing gum. If I'm lucky, I get chicklets from the dollar store. If it doesn't have aspartame, then it has HFCS.
Nice.

Also, was in Target looking for yogurt for my husband. I normally buy all organic yogurt for my kids and I but he doesn't like the organic. Well picked up a normal looking yogurt without thinking..got home and my husband almost spit it out..he thought it had turned bad..looking at the ingredients, I was disgusted to find it was sweetened with aspartame. YOGURT, for godssakes.

reply to post by fairytale


Actually, I read a while ago that it was originally developed for military applications as a chemical NERVE agent. I don't know if that is true, though. Here's a link to an article from 2001 that talks about the military link.

Here is a link that explains the history of it if you're interested. Although the author does not mention the military application, the information she does supply is pretty chilling.

From the article:

There is actual proof from recent records released by the Freedom of Information Act that aspartame caused dozens of mammary tumors in animals tested from 1971 to 1974 by G.D. Searle, the pharmaceutical company, responsible for aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet).

The author of the article calls it a "compilation of relevant research".

She says aspartame (Equal, Aspartame) is linked to breast cancer and Gulf War Syndrome.

There is also an interesting list comparing symptoms of aspartame poisoning to the symptoms of Gulf War Syndrome in the article.

Pretty enlightening reading. I guess things like this, of which there seem to be many, is the reason for that old saying.......Money is the Root of all EVIL!!!
Enjoy!

That doesn't surprise me, its good your wife is better. I'll have to keep on the lookout.

reply to post by Macabees


Here`s a list of Diseases from aspertame

Adverse reactions and side effects of aspartame include: Eye blindness in one or both eyes decreased vision and/or other eye problems such as: blurring, bright flashes, squiggly lines, tunnel vision, decreased night vision pain in one or both eyes decreased tears trouble with contact lenses bulging eyes Ear tinnitus - ringing or buzzing sound severe intolerance of noise marked hearing impairment Neurologic epileptic seizures headaches, migraines and (some severe) dizziness, unsteadiness, both confusion, memory loss, both severe drowsiness and sleepiness paresthesia or numbness of the limbs severe slurring of speech severe hyperactivity and restless legs atypical facial pain severe tremors Psychological/Psychiatric severe depression irritability aggression anxiety personality changes insomnia phobias Chest palpitations, tachycardia shortness of breath recent high blood pressure Gastrointestinal nausea diarrhea, sometimes with blood in stools abdominal pain pain when swallowing Skin and Allergies itching without a rash lip and mouth reactions hives aggravated respiratory allergies such as asthma Endocrine and Metabolic loss of control of diabetes menstrual changes marked thinning or loss of hair marked weight loss gradual weight gain aggravated low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) severe PMS Other frequency of voiding and burning during urination excessive thirst, fluid retention, leg swelling, and bloating increased susceptibility to infection Additional Symptoms of Aspartame Toxicity include the most critical symptoms of all death irreversible brain damage birth defects, including mental retardation peptic ulcers aspartame addiction and increased craving for sweets hyperactivity in children severe depression aggressive behavior suicidal tendencies Aspartame may trigger, mimic, or cause the following illnesses: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epstein-Barr Post-Polio Syndrome Lyme Disease Grave’s Disease Meniere’s Disease Alzheimer’s Disease ALS Epilepsy Multiple Sclerosis (MS) EMS Hypothyroidism Mercury sensitivity from Amalgam fillings Fibromyalgia Lupus non-Hodgkins Lymphoma Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

The History Of The Aspartame Controversy From the website of Jim Turner,the first attorney to pursue the FDA over clearing it for human consumption...

So earlier someone stated that caffiene and aspartame increased insulin which makes it impossible to burn fat. Lets pretend that you arent eating any food with calories, just zero calorie caffiene aspartame soda, and you do this for two days straight. Your body MUST take calories from somewhere, its not the zero calorie soda!!! Your body is forced to break down its own fat. If you run around the block a bit and end up burning 3500 calories each day, then by the end of the two days you will have lost two pounds. 3500 calories is 1 pound. Don't believe me? I've trained over 500 clients and i allowed all of them to drink diet sodas. Most all of them lost the weight they needed to lose, and the ones who didnt lose the weight just happened to be the laziest ones that never showed up for sessions.
Still dont believe me? Anybody out there that wants to lose weight just follow what i said above and watch the pounds drop off!

reply to post by Macabees

thank you for sharing that..
can't the use of aspartame be banned?

Just out of curiosity, when you said you stopped with the tap water , what kind of water did you replace it with? I have a water distiller with the charcoal filter and my god , what a difference it has made in my life !!! I see some of the weirdest residues left behind in this water distiller , that it chills me sometimes(like rainbow oily substance , or greenish blobs...) Of course , I cut soda and everything but coffee and tea that I make with my distilled water , out of the diet long ago but the water supply really made a difference. I am never sick anymore , nor is my daughter .

reply to post by XtraTL

Find me a better drink and I'll drink it.

Water.

We have well water and I drink about a gallon a day in the summer since I live in the south and work outside. Otherwise I drink green tea (morning) or herbal teas. I try to limit my caffeine intake as well as my carb/sugar intake.

It is only in the last 50 - 75 years that soda became available as an every day beverage kept in the home. Both my husband and I remember when you drank milk or water and those were your only choices except perhaps a small 4 oz glass of fruit juice in the morning. Soda was banned from schools. The vending machines when they were finally introduced (high school) had FRUIT. Now we have candy and soda machines in our local school and up to 20% of our kids are on Ritalin.

reply to post by gilgamesh12

So earlier someone stated that caffiene and aspartame increased insulin which makes it impossible to burn fat. Lets pretend that you arent eating any food with calories...

You forgot the body can also "burn" protein - that is muscle.

From U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: Insulin response to stevia and aspartame and sucrose. I notice they left out Fructose, the real baddie.

....Stevia preloads significantly reduced postprandial glucose levels compared to sucrose preloads (p

i have heard all of that and more about aspartame. but i wonder how it could affect a pregnant woman, and for that matter how it could affect the fetus, giving the unborn child defects in the process.
maybe someone will start a food store franchise that does not carry anything with aspartame or high fructose corn syrup.

reply to post by paleorchid13

I have a water distiller with the charcoal filter and my god , what a difference it has made in my life !!! I see some of the weirdest residues left behind in this water distiller , that it chills me sometimes(like rainbow oily substance , or greenish blobs...)

Yes I will not drink the town water after I was put in charge of changing my plant's De-ionized water filters. Think waist high filters covered in swamp smelling gunk... YUCK

If that was not bad enough. One plant I worked for had major problems with the DI water system. We could not get the PH regulated. I finally called in an outside expert to analyse the water. It was full of long chain organic acids that the filters were not removing....

(And yes I am a chemist)

I carry my own water with me in a cooler now.

reply to post by thesercher

i wonder how it could affect a pregnant woman,

I would be very careful of any drug and that is what artificial sweeteners are over the counter drugs.

I saw one report that stated the birth weight of American children has dropped. There was also this study:

Pesticides in pregnant women: some cumulative exposures exceed safe levels

...This month, Rosemary Castorina of the Center for Children's Environmental Health Research at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues report on one of the first case studies using the new guidelines [EHP 111:1640-1648]. Their results indicate that approximately 15% of the pregnant women they studied may have experienced cumulative organophosphate (OP) pesticide exposures exceeding a health-protective value....

Abundant data indicate that low-level exposure to OP pesticides, prenatally and postnatally, affects the growth and neurodevelopment of young animals. These chemicals' mechanism of toxicity is inhibition of cholinesterase, an enzyme that helps control nerve transmission....

...Urine samples were collected twice during pregnancy and once after delivery, and were analyzed for 6 OP metabolites. Complete data were available for 446 women...

The results using the first method suggested that between 0% and 36% of the study population may have exceeded safe levels of exposure, depending on the pesticide analyzed. The results using the second method indicated that 14.8% of the women had excessive exposure, but due to uncertainty about the actual mixture, the range spanned from 1% to 34%.

The researchers note that each method introduces its own uncertainty. However, they believe that they have proposed a reasonable approximation of exposures, and future studies will incorporate chemical-specific biomonitoring data to counter some of this uncertainty. These preliminary results indicate a need for further research, especially as the fetal dose from maternal exposure is unknown.

Op, wow, that's bad stuff. I'm glad that she's better now. As of interest I have a small reaction when I drink Diet drinks. I was at a restaurant and ordered a Coke. I drank it and it made my gut hurt. (that's what Diet does to me) I said that's Diet. He apologized and brought me another one. I said, that's Diet too. He said he got it from the regular Coke. I said well, it's not, that's Diet. Asked him if he could just bring me some tea. After my meal was nearly finished a manager came up and apologized for the mix up. After my second insistence that it was Diet the waiter checked and found that somebody had switched Diet with regular Coke. It just gives me an immediate gut ache. I don't eat anything with artificial sweeteners in it.

I wanted to read an article someone posted in this thread. But it's only available for members, or when you buy the article for 20 bucks..

Ridiculous! This kind of information should be open for everyone, and yet, they block you from reading it.

(It's this one btw.)

reply to post by Alex505


Well, the abstract is availible for free and it seems to cover the important stuff:

To examine whether ingestion of aspartame is associated with headaches, we conducted a double-blind crossover study using volunteers with self-identified headaches after using aspartame. Of the 32 subjects randomized to receive aspartame (approximately 30 mg/kg/d) and placebo in a two-treatment, four-period crossover design, 18 completed the full protocol, seven completed part of the protocol before withdrawing due to adverse effects, three withdrew for other reasons, two were lost to follow-up, one was withdrawn due to noncompliance, and one withdrew and gave no reason. Each experimental period was 7 days long. Subjects reported headaches on 33% of the days during aspartame treatment, compared with 24% on placebo treatment (p = 0.04). Subjects who were “very sure” prior to the study that aspartame triggered some of their headaches reported larger treatment differences (aspartame = 0.37 headache-days, placebo = 0.18 headache-days; p < 0.001) than subjects who were “somewhat sure” (aspartame = 0.29 headache-days, placebo = 0.22 headache-days; p = 0.51) or "not sure" (aspartame = 0.33 headache-days, placebo = 0.39 headache-days; p = 0.51). There was no significant treatment difference in the length or intensity of headaches or in the occurrence of side effects associated with the headaches. This experiment provides evidence that, among individuals with self-reported headaches after ingestion of aspartame, a subset of this group report more headaches when tested under controlled conditions. It appears that some people are particularly susceptible to headaches caused by aspartame and may want to limit their consumption.

You can find countless abstracts and quite a few full text articles on PubMed. Other useful resources are Google Scholar, PLoS One, and DOAJ.