http://www.ironmag.com/insider06_aspartame.html

Aspartame: Cutting Through the Controversy

By Guest Writer Sandra Marshall for Iron Magazine Online - Issue 3 - October
14, 2000.

Perhaps more than any other dietary supplement, aspartame has born the brunt
of more criticism and debauchery than it deserves. Quacks and lunatics from
all walks of society have come out of the woodwork to proclaim its death
causing effects. "Aspartame Disease" is what they call it, and symptoms
include headaches, dizziness, change of mood, vomiting and well pretty much
every other minor thing that could be perceived as wrong with the human
body. In fact according to aspartame naysayers, there are literally
thousands of case studies of aspartame use being linked to numerous
"diseases" and disorders. Some are beginning to believe that just mentioning
the word aspartame is enough to induce a seizure!

Is all of this true? Or is it simply a scare tactic put out by the powerful
arm of the sugar industry who feel they are losing money to aspartame-based
products?

Well, let's take a look at aspartame and see just what it is.

Aspartame is the methyl ester of the dipeptide aspartyl-phenylalanine. This
compound is known by many synonyms and trade names including Equal,
Nutrasweet, L-Phenylalanine, N-L-alpha-aspartyl-1-methyl ester, and L-
Aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester. The molecular weight of the compound
is 294.31g and the empirical formula is C14H18N2O5.

It was discovered in 1965 by G. Searle Laboratories by James Schlatter.
Schlatter is a chemist who was working to find an inhibitor of gastrin with
possible applications as an anti-ulcer agent. The story is well known by
now, but in short Schlatter spilled some of the aspartame solution, and upon
licking his fingers to pick up a piece of paper, he noticed they had a
sweet
taste. He traced the sweetness back to the flask and the rest is history.
Surprisingly aspartame is one of the most studied compounds out there.
Numerous studies were performed throughout the 60's and 70's and by 1981 is
was proclaimed as safe as an alternative to sugar. It was first marketed in
dry goods, but by 1983, it was approved to be used in carbonated beverages.
Now it's used in hundreds more applications and in most diet products.

So what happens to aspartame once it gets ingested?

Aspartame breaks down in the body as diketopiperzaine (DKP), methanol and
aspartyl-phenylalanine. When heated similar breakdowns occur (which is why
it loses sweetness when heated). The controversy surround aspartame concerns
what happens once aspartame is broken down in the body. Methonol is
converted to alcohol dehydrogenase to formaldehyde, which is converted to
formic acid with metabolism taking place largely in the gastrointestinal
tract. This might seem very undesirable, however researchers haven't found
an increase in blood methanol or fomic acid elevations in the bloodstream of
aspartame users. A study done at the Harvard Medical School showed that
subject ingesting aspartame had only higher phenylalanine (which is an
essential amino acid) levels, but no increase in methanol or formaldehyde.

Another claim made by anti-aspartame websites and literature, is that
aspartame has been linked to increases in the risk of seizures and other
impaired brain functions. In a controlled study that tested the effects of
aspartame on neuropsychologic and neurophysiologic function, researchers
sought to determine whether aspartame can disrupt cognitive (learning,
thinking, and knowing), neurophysiologic (relationship between neurological
function and behavior), or behavioral functioning in normal individuals. By
testing these functions, brain dysfunction and central nervous system
disorders can be evaluated. Mood, aggression and selected cognitive
functions were tested during this study in which some of the subjects
consumed doses of aspartame nearly 20 times the daily amount taken by the
majority of the general population. During a four-month period, subjects
received either aspartame, sugar or a placebo and underwent physical and
psychological testing. For aspartame, the people were assigned to either a
high or low dose. The high dose was equal to 45mg per kilogram of body
weight--the equivalent of 17 to 24 12-ounce diet beverages for males and 14
to 19 12-ounce drinks for females. The "low" dose was equal to 15mg per
kilogram of body weight. In the general population, most Americans who
consume aspartame take in 3 milligrams per kilogram of body weight a day,
the equivalent of one or less 12-ounce diet beverage. Despite the high
consumption of aspartame, the 48 normal subjects in this study showed no
changes in mood, memory, behavior, electroencephalograms (which record the
electrical signals of the brain) or physiology that related to aspartame.
Although some subjects reported headaches, fatigue, nausea and acne, the
same number of incidences was reported by subjects taking placebo and sugar
as those taking aspartame. Therefore, even large daily doses of aspartame
had no adverse effect on the subjects' health and well being.

Another major concern regarding aspartame consumption is cancer. Aspartame,
according to some, has carcinogenic effects. They site the fact that there
has been increase in the incidence of brain tumors in human patients since
aspartame was approved for use in the U.S. food supply (1981). Though it
should be noted that the trend of higher occurrences of brain tumors has
been going on since the 1970's, and that the increase in the number of
reported brain tumors could be attributed to the technological advances that
have been made in diagnosis.

Others claim that the FDA in the United States is covering up studies and
knowledge that aspartame is unsafe. However, the U.K. Committee on Toxicity
of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) fully
reviewed aspartame in 1982, when it was classified as acceptable for use in
food. Since 1982, the COT has reviewed issues related to the safety of
aspartame in the scientific literature. The U.K. COT has stated that the
reviews of literature has not caused them to change their advice that
aspartame is safe. The COT has studied the potential effects of high doses
of aspartame on brain neurotransmitters and behavior. They found that
adverse neurochemical or neurobehavioral effects have only been seen in
animal studies using exposures to aspartame, which far exceed extreme intake
figures for the U.K. They attest that "at current intake levels no
neurotoxic effects have been observed or would be expected." They also
reviewed results of the extensive tolerance and pharmacokinetic (the action
of drugs in the body over a long period of time) studies on aspartame in
humans. The data indicates no adverse effects in various human
subpopulations following exposure to aspartame at doses up to 75mg/kg body
weight each day for 24 weeks or up to 135mg/kg body weight a day for a
shorter period. Pharmacokinetic studies have established that both large
doses and repeated doses of aspartame result in plasma levels of its
components, which are considered safe.

So is there anything wrong at all with aspartame? Well the most common
complaint with aspartame is reported headaches, which accounted for
approximately 20% of all complaints in the U.S. The results of two studies
that have investigated the relationship between aspartame and headache
differed markedly from each other. The conclusions from one were that the
incidence of headache from aspartame and placebo was equivalent. In the
second study only 11 of 25 subjects, all who reportedly suffered from
migraine, and all of who presupposed that they were adversely affected by
aspartame, finished the study. Because of the high dropout rate, the
conclusions of this study are tentative. However, it was considered that the
ingestion of aspartame by migraine sufferers might cause a statistical
increase in the frequency of migraines in some subjects. It might be
advisable for migraine sufferers to avoid aspartame or at least lower your
daily intake.

A note on daily intake. Americans consume an average daily intake less than
2 percent of the FDA guideline. The most frequent consumers of aspartame are
consuming only 4 percent to 7 percent of the allowable daily intake.
Children consume larger amounts of all food ingredients than adults in
relation to their body weight. Therefore, since children are smaller in size
they consume slightly more per kilogram of weight. The average consumption
of aspartame in children between the ages of 2 and 5 is 3 percent of the
ADI. Children who consume aspartame most frequently have been found to
consume from 4 percent to 16 percent of the ADI. Quite simply, aspartame
consumption simply isn't high enough to cause any adverse reactions, at
least not the thousands that it is portrayed to have caused.

Unbiased information on aspartame is very hard to find. There are many
sources which are anti-aspartame, which have their standard-issued
propaganda, and similarly, many pro-Nutra Sweet organizations which have the
standard form on aspartame as well. However based on all the unbiased
information I came across, I could find no studies that confirmed that
aspartame had any adverse reactions in healthy people. This leads me to
conclude that the bad press on aspartame has a more sinister goal, one other
than the safety of people potentially consuming it.

Consult your medical library anytime you are unsure about a compound or
dietary supplement. Doing research will give you the "heads up" and allow
you to be an informed consumer, capable of making smart purchases.

Sandra is a certified personal trainer from Sacramento, California, and has
a background in Exercise Science. If you have any questions for Sandra,
please visit our message board.

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