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Aspartame
Do you really want to eat it?
Did you know that aspartame was originally classified by the Pentagon as a chemical warfare agent?
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener, whose discovery was heralded as the dieter's dream.
It is almost 200 times sweeter than sugar and contains just a fraction of the calories.
It was discovered, by accident, in the 1960s, by James M. Schlatter, who was actually looking for an anti-ulcer drug. He discovered how sweet his experimental compound was and it was eventually sold to Monsanto (NutraSweet).
What isn't quite so public knowledge is that it took a decade for aspartame to be approved by the USA FDA (Food & Drug Administration), because there was so much evidence that aspartame caused central nervous system disruption and even cancer in rats.
Yet it did get approval in the 1980s.
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Aspartame can be found in:
- Diet drinks
- "No added sugar" products
- Many non-diet fizzy drinks
- Vitamin tablets
- Low calorie yoghurts
- Chewing gum
- Children's drinks, such as SunnyD (they list their ingredients at the bottom of the page)
- "Healthy option" treats
- Jams and jellies
- Diabetic sugar substitutes
It is called:
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All seemed to be rosy in the aspartame camp, until relatively recently, when respected scientists and medical professionals concluded they were seeing evidence of serious health problems caused by regular aspartame consumption.
The side-effects are listed in detail in Pat Thomas's article in The Ecologist.
Have you ever wondered what the caption "contains a source of Phenylalanine" means on a drink can or food packagaing?
Aspartame-containing products are required to post this warning, because the sweetener contains phenylalanine. So what, you might ask?
This is essential for the 1 in 15,000 (higher than nut allergy sufferers) who are born with Phenylketonuria (PKU). This inheritied disorder leaves them unable to process the amino acids in aspartame, which can lead to serious health problems, including mental retardation.
The problem is that the political might of the major food manufacturers seems to be stronger than the power of the scientific experts. The damning reports aren't getting the publicity they need and approval continues to be given for this sweetener to be used in UK foods.
To be honest, there's enough proof out there, even from anecdotal evidence, that this one's a baddie. Do you really want to wait until the politicians finally decide to ban it?
Ask anyone who's regularly drunk diet drinks and chewed sugar free gum what it feels like to go "cold turkey" from the stuff. And how much better they feel afterwards?
It's really important to make sure your kids aren't getting any of this. Yet it's found in squashes and sweets served at nursery schools...
The easiest way to avoid aspartame is to buy organic. It's banned from organically certified foods, so that way you'll know you're safe. |
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