Position Paper on aspartame and headaches

                   H. J. Roberts, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.C.C.P.
                            6708 Pamela Lane
                        West Palm Beach, FL 33405

                                         Diplomate, American
FAX 561-547-8008                         Board of Internal Medicine
                                         RECERTIFIED

 PROFESSIONAL OPINION OF H. J. ROBERTS,M.D.,F.A.C.P.,F.C.C.P.
 CONCERNING HEADACHES CAUSED BY THE USE OF PRODUCTS CONTAINING
 ASPARTAME (NUTRASWEET R)

Aspartame products should be considered as a causative agent or
aggravating factor in persons having unexplained headache.

Similarly, patients who are subject to migraine and other types of
recurrent headache ought to avoid exposure to ALL products containing
aspartame ... even in small amounts, such as gum.

This corporate-neutral summary statement has been prepared as general
information in response to numerous requests from concerned persons and
consumers.  There is no bias or malice intended against any company,
distributor, researcher or individuals who hold a contrary view.
Medical advice should be obtained by persons with persistent headache.

 STATISTICAL INFORMATION

Headache has been the most frequent adverse reaction to aspartame
products.  It was a major complaint in one out of two persons among the
nearly 1,000 aspartame reactors in my data base.  This is five times
greater than the accepted incidence of headache in the population.

Headache also predominates in the more than 10,000 persons who have
volunteered their severe reactions to the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA.

 CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONS

There is nothing mysterious about the confirmation of aspartame-induced
headache.  First, it generally improves or ceases within several days
after abstaining from these products.  Second, the headache tends to
recur shortly after resuming them - that is, within minutes or several
hours.  This sequence is common after unknowingly ingesting aspartame
(including drugs and vitamins), even while taking medication to prevent
migraine.

The following considerations are pertinent:

*  There is a three-to-one preponderance among women.

*  Close relatives also are more prone to aspartame reactions,
   especially headache.

*  Some reactors emphasized that they had not been previously subject
   to any type of headache.

*  About half of the patients with aspartame-induced epilepsy (seizures)
   in my series -- more than 150 - had experienced severe headache
   before their first convulsion.

*  Numerous patients with aspartame-induced headache were initially
   suspected of having some morbid disease.  Their diagnoses
   included brain tumor, aneurysm of a cerebral artery, and various
   types of neuropathy ("neuralgia") involving the cranial and
   cervical (neck) nerves.  Nearly all had costly CT scans or
   MRI studies of the brain -- especially when there were concomitant
   neurologic and psychiatric complaints (e.g., confusion, memory
   loss, dizziness, visual impairment, personality change) later also
   proved to be due to aspartame products.

*  Aspartame reactors not infrequently develop headaches after
   ingesting other chemicals.  They include monosodium glutamate
   (MSG),nitrites ("hot dog headache"),   and phenylethylamine
   ("chocolate headache").

*  Persons with hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), hypoglycemia
   (low blood sugar reactions), diabetes, hypertension, and MSG
   sensitivity are at greater risk for aspartame-induced headache.

                              CAUSATION

 Each of the three components of aspartame -- phenylalanine; aspartic
acid; the methyl ester, which promptly becomes free methyl alcohol or
methanol -- and their multiple breakdown products after exposure to heat
or during prolonged storage is potentially neurotoxic, especially for
the developing brain.  Accordingly, aspartame products should be avoided
by pregnant or nursing mothers, infants and children because of many
possible adverse developmental and long term brain effects. I have
reviewed the likely mechanisms for aspartame headache in my
publications.

                   PROFESSIONAL AND CORPORATE DENIAL

Persons who suffer aspartame-induced headache are likely to encounter
denial of this association by physicians, the FDA and manufacturers.
This situation is reinforced by corporate-sponsored "negative scientific
studies".  I have repeatedly challenged the nature of such studies,
especially when the aspartame was administered in capsules or as
freshly-prepared cool solutions rather than "real-world"  products --
namely, commercial soft drinks and other products that undergo marked
changes during exposure to high temperature or after one or more months
of storage.

                                REFERENCES

This position paper is based on considerable personal observations and
much research.  They appear in more than a score of articles and in
these books:

*  ASPARTAME (NUTRASWEET@):  IS IT SAFE? (Philadelphia, The Charles
   Press)
*  SWEET'NER DEAREST:  BITTERSWEET VIGNETTES ABOUT ASPARTAME
   (NUTRASWEET@) (West Palm Beach, Sunshine Sentinel Press,
   P.O. Box 17799, 1 800-814-9800)

I also have reviewed Aspartame Disease in a two-cassette talk:  IS
ASPARTAME  (NUTRASWEET@) SAFE?  A MEDICAL,, PUBLIC HEALTH AND LEGAL
OVERVIEW -- 1995 (Sunshine Sentinel Press, address above).

(c)l997 H. J. Roberts, M.D.

These are related books by the writer and can be found on the Internet
at http://www.icanect.net/sunpress