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From: [email protected] (Rich Young)
Subject: Re: what are the problems with nutrasweet (aspartame)

In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (*Heather*) writes:
>Nutrasweet is a synthetic sweetener a couple thousand times sweeter than
>sugar.  Some people are concerned about the chemicals that the  body produces 
>when it degrades nutrasweet.  It is thought to form formaldehyde and known to
>for methanol in the degredation pathway that the body uses to eliminate 
>substances.  The real issue is whether the levels of methanol and formaldehyde
>produced are high enough to cause significant damage, as both are toxic to
>living cells.  All I can say is that I will not consume it.  

[...]

   In the September 1992 issue of THE TUFTS UNIVERSITY DIET AND NUTRITION
   LETTER, there is a three page article about artificial sweeteners.  What
   follows are those excerpts which deal specifically with Nutrasweet.

   [Reproduced without permission]

	   The controversy [over aspartame] began six years ago in England,
	where a group of researchers found that aspartame, marketed under
	the tradename Nutrasweet, appears to stimulate appetite and,
	presumably, the eating of more calories in the long run than if
	a person simply consumed sugar.  When researchers asked a group
	of 95 people to drink plain water, aspartame-sweetened water, and
	sugared water, they said that overall they felt hungriest after
	drinking the artificially sweetened beverage.
	   The study received widespread media attention and stirred a
	good deal of concern among the artificial-sweetener-using public.
	However, its results were questionable at best, since the researchers
	did not go on to measure whether the increase in appetite did
	actually translate into an increase in eating.  The two do not
	necessarily go hand in hand.
	   In the years that followed, more than a dozen studies examining
	the effect of aspartame on appetite -- and eating -- were conducted.
	And after reviewing every one of them, the director of the
	Laboratory of the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior at Johns Hopkins
	University, Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., concluded that consuming aspartame-
	sweetened foods and drinks is not associated with any increase in
	the amount of food eaten afterward.

	   One artificial sweetener that is not typically accused of causing
	cancer is aspartame.  But it most certainly has been blamed for a
	host of other ills.  Since its introduction in 1981, the government
	has received thousands of complaints accusing it of causing
	everything from headaches to nausea to mood swings to anxiety.
	Still, years of careful scientific study conducted both before and
	after the sweetener's entering the market have failed to confirm
	that it can bring about adverse health effects.  That's why the
	Centers for Disease Control (the government agency charged with
	monitoring public health), the American Medical Association's
	Council on Scientific Affairs, and the Food and Drug Administration
	have given aspartame, one of the most studied food additives, a
	clean bill of health.
	   Granted, the FDA has set forth an "acceptable daily intake" of
	50 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight.  To exceed
	the limit, however, a 120-pound (55 kg.) woman would have to take
	in 2,750 milligrams of aspartame -- the amount in 15 cans of
	aspartame-sweetened soda pop, 14 cups of gelatin, 22 cups of yogurt,
	or 55 six-ounce servings of aspartame-containing hot cocoa,...
	A 175-pound (80 kg.) man would have to consume some 4,000 milligrams
	of the sweetener -- the amount in 22 cans of soda pop or 32 cups
	of yogurt -- to go over the limit.  [chart with aspartame content
	of selected foods omitted]
	   Only one small group of people must be certain to stay away
	from aspartame: those born with a rare metabolic disorder called
	phenylketonuria, or PKU.  The estimated one person in every 12,000
	to 15,000 who has it is unable to properly metabolize an essential
	amino acid in aspartame called phenylalanine.  Once a child
	consumes it, it builds up in the body and can ultimately cause
	such severe problems as mental retardation.  To help people with
	PKU avoid the substance, labels on cans of soda pop and other
	aspartame-sweetened foods must carry the warning "Phenylketonurics:
	Contains Phenylalanine."


-Rich Young (These are not Kodak's opinions.)