What are the advantages of Aspartame?

Answer 1

There are no advantages. The disadvantages are increased cancer risk, neuro-toxicity, and it leads to craving other carbohydrates.

ASPARTAME LAWSUITS ACCUSE MANY COMPANIES OF POISONING THE PUBLIC

By Roberta Bellon

National Justice League

06 April 2004

SACRAMENTO-- April 6th, Lawsuits were filed in three separate California courts against twelve companies who either produce or use the artificial sweetener aspartame as a sugar substitute in their products. The suits were filed in Shasta, Sonoma and Butte County, California.

The suits allege that the food companies committed fraud and breach of warranty by marketing products to the public such as diet Coke, diet Pepsi, sugar free gum, Flintstone's vitamins, yogurt and children's aspirin with the full knowledge that aspartame, the sweetener in them, is neurotoxic.

Aspartame is a drug masquerading as an additive. It interacts with other drugs, has a synergistic and additive effect with MSG, and is a chemical hyper-sensitization agent. As far back as 1970, Dr. John Olney founded the field of neuroscience called excitotoxicity when he did studies on aspartic acid, which makes up 40% of aspartame, and found it caused lesions in the brains of mice. He made world news on the aspartame/brain tumor connection in 1996. Dr. Ralph Walton, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine has written of the behavioral and psychiatric problems triggered by aspartame-caused depletion of serotonin.

Aspartame causes headache, memory loss, seizures, vision loss, coma and cancer. It worsens or mimics the symptoms of such diseases and conditions as fibromyalgia, MS, lupus, ADD, diabetes, Alzheimer's, chronic fatigue and depression.

Aspartame liberates free methyl alcohol. The resulting chronic methanol poisoning affects the dopamine system of the brain causing addiction. Methanol, or wood alcohol, constitutes one-third of the aspartame molecule and is classified as a severe metabolic poison and narcotic.

Recent news is full of reports of world-class athletes and other healthy consumers of aspartame suddenly dropping dead. Sudden death can occur from aspartame use because it damages the cardiac conduction system.

Dr. Woodrow Monte in the peer reviewed Journal of Applied Nutrition, Aspartame: Methanol and the Public Health, wrote: "When diet sodas and soft drinks, sweetened with aspartame, are used to replace fluid loss during exercise and physical exertion in hot climates, the intake of methanol can exceed 250 mg/day or 32 times the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended limit of consumption for this cumulative poison."

The effects of aspartame are documented by the FDA's own data. In 1995 the agency was forced, under the Freedom Of Information Act, to release a list of ninety-two aspartame symptoms reported by thousands of victims. This is only the tip of the iceberg. H. J. Roberts, MD, published the medical text "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic" -- 1,000 pages of symptoms and diseases triggered by this neurotoxin including the sordid history of its approval.

Since its discovery in 1965, controversy has raged over the health risks associated with the sugar substitute. From laboratory testing of the chemical on rats, researchers have discovered that the drug induces brain tumors. On Sept 30, l980 the Board of Inquiry of the FDA concurred and denied the petition for approval. In 1981, the newly appointed FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes, ignored the negative ruling and approved aspartame for dry goods. As recorded in the Congressional Record of 1985, then CEO of Searle Laboratories Donald Rumsfeld said that he would call in his markers to get aspartame approved. Rumsfeld was on President Reagan's transition team and a day after taking office appointed Hayes. No FDA Commissioner in the previous sixteen years had allowed Aspartame on the market.

In 1983, aspartame was approved for use in Carbonated Beverages. Today it is found in over 5000 foods, drinks and medicines.

Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, MD, author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills" (http://www.russellblaylockmd.com) wrote about the relationship between aspartame and macular degeneration, diabetic blindness and glaucoma (all known to result from excitotoxin accumulation in the retina).

All of these neurodegenerative diseases are worsened by aspartame. In addition, we now have evidence that excitotoxins play a major role in exacerbation of MS and other demyelinating disorders including trigeminal neuraliga. Blaylock says that new studies show excitotoxins trigger significant elevation of free radicals in the lining (endothelial cells) of arteries, which means that aspartame will increase the incidence of heart attacks and strokes (atherosclerosis).

In original studies, aspartame has triggered brain, mammary, uterine, ovarian, testicular, thyroid and pancreatic tumors.

Defendants in the lawsuits include Coca-cola, PepsiCo, Bayer Corp., the Dannon Company, William Wrigley Jr. Company, ConAgra Foods, Wyeth, Inc., The NutraSweet Company, and Altria Corp. (parent company of Kraft Foods and Philip Morris).

Plaintiffs have asked for an injunction to stop companies from producing, manufacturing, processing, selling or using aspartame.

Plaintiffs in all three cases are seeking a jury trial.

Answer 2

Health risks associated with Aspartame

Department of Health and Human Services - Symptoms attributed to Aspartame in complaints submitted to the FDA

• Headache
• Dizziness/poor equilibrium
• Change of mood
• Vomiting/nausea
• Abdominal pain/cramps
• Change in vision
• Diarrhoea
• Seizures and convulsions
• Memory loss
• Fatigue/weariness
• Other neurological problems
• Rash
• Sleep problems
• Hives
• Change in heart rate
• Itching
• Grand mal seizures
• Numbness/tingling
• Local swelling
• Change in activity level
• Difficulty breathing
• Oral sensory changes
• Change in menstruation pattern

  (Source www.presidiotex.com/Aspartame/Facts/92_symptoms.html.)

  Health dangers posed by Aspartame according to independent research:
• Palpitations
• Blindness in one or both eyes
• Pain in one or both eyes
• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
• Decreased tears
• Migraines
• Pain when swallowing
• Lip and mouth reactions
• Itching without a rash
• Restless legs
• Fluid retention
• Slurring of speech
• Confusion or memory loss
• Depression
• Aggression
• Anxiety
• Personality changes
• Severe PMS
• Aggravated responses to Allergies such as asthma and eczema
• Loss of control of diabetes
• Marked weight gain or loss
• Aggravated low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia)
• Frequency of voiding
• Excessive thirst
• Peptic ulcers
• Birth defects
• Hyperactivity in children
• Irreversible brain damage
• Suicidal tendencies
• Death In addition Aspartame has been linked to triggering or mimicking the following illnesses:
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Epstein Barr Syndrome
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Lyme disease
• Grave's disease
• Meniere's disease
• Alzheimer's disease
• Epilepsy
• Lupus
• Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Fibromyalgia
• Hypothyroidism
• Mercury Sensitivity from Amalgam Fillings
• Parkinson's disease

http://www.healthdangers.com/drugs/aspertame/aspartame-health-risks.htm

Answer 3

None. It's highly toxic. The list of side effects reaches from here to China.