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When
consuming aspartame instead of sugar you are basically
trading one health risk for another. Here are the hard
facts.
Aspartame is a synthetic sweetener found in diet
beverages and Equal brand sweeteners. Aspartame was not
approved until 1981, in dry foods. For over eight years,
the FDA refused to approve it because of the seizures
and brain tumours this drug produced in lab animals.
The political scandal leading to its approval is a story
well documented on the internet and in several published
books about STEVIA.
Aspartame appears to cause slow, silent damage in those
unfortunate enough to not have immediate reactions. It
may take one year, five years, 10 years, or 40 years,
but it seems to cause some reversible and some
irreversible changes to ones health.
Mathanol (aka wood alcohol/poison) (10% of aspartame) is
a deadly poison. People may recall that methanol was the
poison that caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up
blind or dead. The absorption of methanol into the body
is sped up considerably when free methanol is ingested.
Free methanol is created from aspartame when it is
heated to above 86 Fahrenheit (30 Centigrade). This
would occur when an aspartame-containing product is
improperly stored or when it is heated in baked
products.
In
the body, methanol is oxidized to form the toxins
formaldehyde and formic acid. Formaldehyde is a deadly
neurotoxin. An EPA assessment of methanol states that
methanol is considered a cumulative poison due to the
low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. Methanol’s
recommended limit of consumption is 7.8 mg/day. A
one-litre aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56
mg of methanol.
The
most well known problems from methanol poisoning are
vision problems. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen,
causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication,
and causes birth defects.
It
has been pointed out that fruit juices and alcoholic
beverages contain small amounts of methanol. It is
important to remember, that the methanol in natural
products never appears alone. In every case, ethanol is
present, usually in much higher amounts. Ethanol is an
antidote for methanol toxicity in humans.
The list of symptoms reported by aspartame users are so
many that they cannot be mentioned here. However, a
search on the internet using “aspartame toxicity” should
give you a good idea. It is interesting to note that
among them is blood sugar control problems. Poor sugar
regulation can cause weight gain, the very thing diet
products are suppose to prevent. Aspartame is also
known to worsen Attention Deficit Disorder.
A great alternative to aspartame is STEVIA, available in
all health food stores.
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