>From ElaineHF@aol.comSun Jan  7 14:05:26 1996
Date: Wed, 3 Jan 1996 22:10:34 -0500
From: ElaineHF@aol.com
To: bettym19@mindspring.com
Subject: Our Toxic Times Article

OUR TOXIC TIMES - A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE CHEMICAL INJURY
INFORMATION NETWORK November 1995 - Volume 6, No. 11

Neurotoxic Potential of Aspartame - by Adell V. Newman and Barbara
Alexander Mullarkey

     Some medical studies have demonstrated that aspartame (NutraSweet,
Equal, etc.), the highest selling chemical artificial sweetener world-
wide, can be neurotoxic (poisonous to nerve cells), has lowered the
threshold for chemically induced convulsions in children, has triggered
seizures in previously non-convulsive adults, can increase the risk of
human systemic damage when heated, and has induced neurophsychiatric
symptoms like panic attacks.(1-9)

     A review by the NutraSweet Company of more than 150 recent medical
research papers offers an opposite view of the safety of aspartame.  In
“Aspartame:  Review of Recent Research,” by Harriett H. Butchko, M.D.,
an employee of the NutraSweet Company, the review  concludes that “an
overwhelming body of scientific evidence, including both animal and
human studies conducted prior to and since the marketing of aspartame,
indicates that aspartame is not associated with adverse health effects
in the general population.”  Butchko also suggests, “Although some case
reports might represent isolated instances of sensitivity to aspartame,
they fail to provide reasonable certainty that the symptoms reported
were the result of aspartame ingestion.”

     However, other documented medical literature - including case
reports and controlled studies - continues to suggest that some people
in the general population do have a problem with aspartame ingestion.
The presence of such studies signal that firm conclusions about the
safety of aspartame have not been reached.  During the period of
aspartame’s approval process, former FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt
cautioned against food additives that have not been completely proven
safe:  “If you’re approving a food additive that will be taken by
children around the world, you will accept absolutely no risk,
particularly if it is a non-nutritive sweetener.”

     Aspartame is often touted as a no-risk sweetener for the general
public. Is there a health risk associated with aspartame?  Even if a
health risk can be shown for only certain sub-sets of the general
population, can the sweetener truly be called safe?  Shouldn’t people be
warned if there is any risk at all?  All debates warned about the
validity and relative merits of varying research protocols aside, a
search of the medical literature shows that in general, for every study
showing health problems associated with aspartame, there are other
studies finding no risk.  It’s the latter studies that are often held up
to prove aspartame’s “safety.”  Yet all they show is the people in those
particular studies appeared not to have the problems that were looked
for.  If there is no risk, then why are there so many studies indicating
problems for some people?  The following studies referred to in this
article represent the flip side of the coin which, as a rule, the public
has not had access to in order to make informed choices.  In the very
least, they indicated the need for further research.

     Some migraine headache sufferers may be especially susceptible to
ingestion of aspartame as a precursor of headache, but aspartame has
also been linked to the onset of severe headaches in persons without a
medical history of migraine.(10-14)  Brain damage and brain cancer in
animals have been associated with aspartame ingestion.(15-18)

     Researchers Daniel Potenza, MD, Chief Resident, Department of
Psychiatry, Hartford Hospital, and Rif S. ElMallakh, MD, Chief Resident,
Consultation Liaison Service, Department of Psychiatry, University of
Connecticut Health Center, warn of serious disorders like blindness,
seizures, cognitive, and behavioral changes related to long-term, high-
dose aspartame use.(19)

     While a number of studies have concluded that aspartame use poses
no harm to diabetics, researchers at Wayne State University School of
Medicine who studied the effects of aspartame on normal and diabetic
rats warn otherwise.  Their findings indicated that aspartame may
adversely affect the capacity to control glucose metabolism in the
already compromised diabetic.(20)  H.J. Roberts, M.D., F.A.C.P.,
F.C.C.P., boardcertified internist and endocrinologist, states “I have
treated many patients with diabetes mellitus and hypoglycemia (low blood
sugar).  Since both groups should abstain from sugar, I initially
rejoiced that these persons had an acceptable and presumably safe sugar
substitute in aspartame.  Unfortunately, many patients in my practice,
and others seen in consultation, develop serious metabolic, neurologic,
and other complications that could be specifically attributed to using
aspartame products.  This was evidenced by: the loss of diabetic
control, the intensification of hypoglycemia, the occurrence of presumed
insulin reactions, including convulsions, that proved to be aspartame
reactions, and the precipitation, aggravation, or simulation of diabetic
complications - especially impaired vision and neuropathy - while using
these products.”  The clincher for Roberts in his evidence against
aspartame was when he saw “dramatic improvement of such features after
avoiding aspartame, and the prompt, predictable recurrence of these
problems when the patient resumed aspartame products, knowingly or
inadvertently.”

     Roberts regrets the “failure of other physicians and the American
Diabetes Association (ADA) to sound appropriate warnings to patients and
consumers based on these repeated findings which have been described in
my corporate-neutral studies and publication.”  Roberts has been a
member of the ADA for over three decades and has found it “virtually
impossible” to get on the programs for national meetings of
diabetologists and other professional groups in order to describe his
observations.  “Indeed, the ADA even refused to print an abstract of
adverse reactions I encountered in 58 diabetic patients that was
submitted for its 1987 annual meeting.  This abstract subsequently
appeared in Clinical Research, Volume Three, page 589A in 1988 -six
years ago,” states Roberts.

     Aspartame can clearly be a problem for people afflicted with the
genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU), and Federal Drug Administration
regulations order manufacturers of aspartame to post warning labels on
the product for the presence of phenylalanine (an amino acid component
in the structure of aspartame that PKU victims cannot oxidize to
tyrosine because of a defective enzyme).  Numerous medical studies cite
evidence of the danger of aspartame poses for PKU victims because of its
phenylalanine content.  Phenylalanine can result in brain damage,
convulsions, and other symptoms for those with the hereditary PKU
condition.(21-27)  At least one study suggested that aspartame ingestion
increases similar risks for non-PKU individuals by inducing higher than
normal ranges for phenylalanine, and researchers advised that
manufacturers indicate the amount of aspartame in their products.(28)

  In a July 1973 study, two researchers found a correlation between
phenylalanine passing in utero and the presentation of cleft lip and
cleft palate.(29)

     Perhaps most ironic of all, the artificial sweetener intended to
aid dieters in their quest for weight loss may actually work in reverse,
causing a weight gain.  S. D. Stellman and L. Garfinkel write in
Preventive Medicine that “(aspartame) users were more likely to gain
weight.”(30)  An article that appeared in The Lancet in 1986 echoed the
same finding.  J.E. Blundell and A.H. Hill wrote that “aspartame
increased (the) rated motivation to eat and decreased ratings of
fullness...these data indicate that aspartame, in some circumstances,
has appetite-stimulating properties in comparison with the ingestion of
water.  After ingestion of aspartame, the volunteers were left with a
residual hunger compared with what they reported after glucose...this
residual hunger leads to increased food consumption...this may
contribute to disordered patterns of eating prevalent among certain
groups of normal weight individuals.”(31)

     Aspartame was originally slated to be approved for human
consumption in 1974, but problems with original G.D. Searle Company (the
first manufacturer of aspartame) studies stayed that decision when the
company’s research was proven to be flawed.  Other concerns over the
product’s safety soon followed, alleging that aspartame was unsafe,
causing mental retardation and endocrine dysfunction.  A Public Board of
Inquiry (PBOI), appointed by the FDA, evaluated the safety of aspartame
and concluded in 1980 that aspartame was not safe as a food additive.
In 1981 the FDA overturned the PBOI’s decision and reapproved aspartame
as a food additive. (32)

     Concerns about aspartame centered at first on its possible
contribution to mental retardation, brain damage, and undesirable
effects on the neuroendocrine system.  This was followed by questions of
increased incidence of brain tumors in laboratory rats fed
aspartame.(33,34)  Other complaints of medical disorders associated with
aspartame use quickly surfaced as the product gained popularity and
latitude as a food additive for dry, carbonated and heated products.

     Adverse reactions reported by consumers since the approval of
aspartame include five major areas:  neurologic/behavioral,
gastrointestinal, allergic, menstrual, and others.  Complaints include
symptoms like headache, mood alterations, anxiety, irritability or
depression, dizziness, insomnia, fatigue, and seizures.  Drs. Margarity
Garriga and Dean Metcalfe, Laboratory of Clinical Investigation,
National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases, Bethesda,
Maryland,  recommend that investigation of adverse reactions from
aspartame should continue.(32)

     Donald R. Johns, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, wrote a 1986
letter the New England Journal of Medicine describing a case study of a
woman who suffered recurring migraine headaches during heavy consumption
of aspartame-sweetened soft drinks.(35)  He also said that “a number of
adverse reactions to aspartame have now been reported, including
granulomatous and lobular panniculitis (fat tumors), (36,37) urticaria
(severe itching), (38) and the possible association between aspartame
and seizures.” (39)  Dr. Johns wrote that there are “potential
mechanisms for central nervous system effects of aspartame (that)
include an immunologic mechanism and a change in the levels of brain
neuro-chemicals.  Considering the widespread distribution of aspartame
in food products and the relatively high prevalence of migraine and
seizures, it is prudent to include inquiries about aspartame consumption
in the evaluation of patients with these disorders.”(35)

     Dr. John Olney, psychiatrist, neuropathologist, and professor at
Washington University in St. Louis, has written extensively on the
dangers of aspartame after he found a higher than normal rate of brain
tumors in laboratory rats fed aspartame.  He also noted in his research
that retinal and hypothalamic lesions as well as brain damage occurred
in mice fed glutamate and aspartate.(15,16,40)  The connection between
both brain damage and weight gain after aspartame ingestion has been
reinforced by other animal studies.(17,41,42)

     Some members of the medical community have been alarmed by the
methanol content of aspartame.  Aspartame contains methanol as 10
percent by weight. Methanol is a poisonous substance associated with
blindness.  Researchers have noted high concentrations of methanol in
the blood of aspartame users.(43-47)  Woodrow Monte, R.D., Ph.D.,
director of the Arizona State University Food Sciences and Nutrition
Laboratory, has warned that “aspartame...releases into the human
bloodstream one molecule of methanol for each molecule of aspartame
consumed..  When diet sodas and soft drinks sweetened with aspartame are
used to replace fluids lost during exercise...the intake of methanol can
exceed 250 mg/kg/day or 32 times the (EPA’) recommended limit of
consumption for this cumulative toxin.  Methanol, a poisonous substance,
is added as a component during the manufacturer of
aspartame...absorption in primates is hastened considerably if the
methanol is ingested as free methanol as it occurs in soft drinks after
decomposition of aspartame during storage or in other foods after being
heated.”(44)

       Other unusual disorders have been medically attributed to
aspartame ingestion, like development of coma in patients with liver
disease, (48) blockage of normal increase in brain serotonin (a brain
chemical necessary for sleep and neural transmissions),(49,50) toxicity
to the human brain, (51,52) Alzheimer’s Disease,(53) depression.(54)
Some researchers point to aspartame’s excitotoxic activity and suggest
it may contribute to a number of neurological disorders, including
epilepsy, chronic neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington’s Chorea,
and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehriig’s Disease). (55)

     Another study showed that aspartame exposure during the gestation
period of guinea pigs resulted in disrupted odor-associative learning in
the newborns, a condition that could affect human newborns.(56) To date,
studies have not adequately addressed the insidious issue of cumulative
effects of aspartame combined with similar chemicals and food additives
like monosodium glutamate.  (See Informed Consent, Nov\Dec, book review,
“Excitotoxins:  The Taste That Kills”.)

     Erik Millstone, MD, Science Policy Research Unit, University of
Sussex, summed up the continuing aspartame:  “The public cannot be
confident that aspartame is safe.”(57)