Aspartame, marketed in the United States as Equal and NutraSweet, is an artificial sweetener synthesized from aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Controversy related to the sweetener's possible health effects surrounded aspartame long before its formal approval for sale in July 1981. Despite FDA approval, questions about the health safety of aspartame persist. Several U.S. physicians, including Carolyn Dean, Joseph Mercola and H.J. Roberts, have written extensively about the dangers they see in aspartame.
Gastrointestinal Distress
Carolyn Dean, M.D., voices concern about what she sees as the threats that aspartame poses to gastrointestinal health. In her book "IBS for Dummies," Dean, who is also a nutritionist, points out that aspartame is produced by combining aspartate and phenylalanine with methanol, or wood alcohol. That methanol component is released in the small intestine when aspartame comes into contact with an enzyme called chymotrypsin. While low levels of methanol -- 7.8 mg per day at most, according to Dean -- are acceptable, a liter of soda sweetened with aspartame contains roughly 56 mg of the toxin. And excess methanol, says Dean, can trigger a number of unpleasant GI symptoms.
Neurological Symptoms
In "Sweet Deception," authors Joseph Mercola, D.O., and naturopath Kendra Degen Pearsall express concern about aspartame's potential interference with normal brain chemistry. They explain that phenylalanine, one of aspartame's key ingredients, converts in the body to tyrosine, which subsequently gives rise to the neurotransmitters epinephrine, L-dopa and norepinephrine, all of which play a role in regulating brain chemistry. They contend that excess phenylalanine, such as contained in aspartame, can upset the body's delicate balance of neurotransmitter ratios and lead to a variety of neurological symptoms, including anxiety attacks, depression, headaches, seizures and tremors.
Aspartame Disease
A longtime critic of aspartame, H.J. Roberts, M.D., director of the Palm Beach Institute for Medical Research, has led a number of studies on aspartame's effects and has also written a couple of books on the subject. In one, "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic," Roberts suggests that the artificial sweetener has given rise to a syndrome or collection of symptoms that is unique to aspartame. He also claims that aspartame use can initiate or aggravate the symptoms of diabetes mellitus, hypoglycemia, convulsions, headache, depression, hyperthyroidism and hypertension, as well as a simulation of multiple sclerosis.
Official Government Positions
In the face of continuing concerns about the health effects of aspartame, governmental authorities in both the United States and Europe remain steadfast in their insistence that the artificial sweetener is safe when used as directed. When the European Ramazzini Foundation, or ERF, published a report in 2005 suggesting that aspartame was a carcinogen, both European and U.S. food safety agencies scrutinized the foundation's findings and ultimately rejected its conclusions. The European Food Safety Authority, responsible for approving food additives for use in the 27-nation European Union, said in May 2006 that after carefully studying the ERF allegations, it saw no reason to reconsider its guidelines for the safe use of aspartame. In April of 2007, the FDA announced that it saw "no reason to alter its previous conclusion that aspartame is safe as a general purpose sweetener in food."
References
- "IBS for Dummies"; Carolyn Dean, et al.; 2011
- "Sweet Deception"; Joseph Mercola, et al.; 2007
- "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic"; H.J. Roberts; 2001
- European Food Safety Authority; EFSA Assesses New Aspartame Study and Reconfirms Its Safety; May 2006
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration; FDA Statement on European Aspartame Study; April 2007
Member Comments