k. Aspartame

So……… how’s that Diet Coke treating you these days? Or that piece of chewing gum? Or those Flintstone vitamins your kids are eating? Or that sugar-free Jell-O? Or that “diet anything” for that matter? Chances are better than not that that anything you are ingesting that is called “diet” or “sugar-free” is loaded with a poisonous compound called aspartame---better known as NutraSweet--and that’s just the stuff that is labeled to tip you off. Most chewing gums these days have aspartame in them and aren’t labeled as “sugar free”, so be vigilant for your kids’ sake. Aspartame is one of if not the most dangerous food additives in existence, and more and more products containing it are rolled out every year in the name of “health”. Aspartame pretty much scrambles your brain so you have to spend extra mental effort just to keep up with life—let alone question it. Mix up a batch of aspartame-loaded sugar free Jell-O with some fluoridated water; feed it to the kids after a trip to the doctor for some mercury-contaminated vaccines and you can see we are literally surrounded by poisons, all by design of the proponents of the Great Plan.

Aspartame was actually discovered by accident in 1965 when James Schlatter, a chemist of G.D. Searle Company, was testing an anti-ulcer drug. Schlatter inadvertently smeared his hand with liquid aspartame from a flask. He licked his thumb clean and was surprised by how sweet it tasted. The compound ended up being 200 times sweeter than sugar per volume. It contained virtually no calories and tasted more like sugar than other sweeteners: ideal for the growing diet consumables market. Sales under the brand name NutraSweet would eventually go on to become worth more than $ 1 billion a year following approval by the good ol’ FDA.

It took 16 years from Schlatter's discovery for his company, US drug giant Searle, to win FDA approval for the sweetener. Searle's safety research was one of the main sticking points that resulted in the 16 year time frame. Doubts over its reliability prompted a special investigation by the FDA, which discovered some of the tests were "seriously flawed". A senior FDA toxicologist told a Congressional committee: "At least one test has established beyond any reasonable doubt that

aspartame is capable of producing brain tumors in animals."

We’re talking about a substance so toxic that even the corrupt FDA was speaking up about it to Congress!

In 1981 an internal memo from three FDA scientists advised against approval of NutraSweet. That year President Reagan fired the FDA commissioner and gave the job to Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes. Three months later aspartame was cleared for consumer use.

It was originally approved for dry goods on July 26, 1974, but objections filed by neuroscience researcher Dr. John W. Olney and consumer attorney James Turner in August 1974 as well as investigations of G.D. Searle's research practices caused the FDA to put approval of aspartame on hold on December 5, 1974. Aspartame was finally approved for dry goods in 1981 and for carbonated beverages in 1983. In 1985, biofood engineering giant Monsanto (remember that name) purchased G.D. Searle. We’re going to discuss Monsanto again here in a couple of chapters.

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According to researchers and physicians studying its adverse effects, aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death. A few of the 90 different documented symptoms and side effects listed in the report as being caused by aspartame include: Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain. The following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame: Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.

Aspartame is a compound made up of three separate chemicals: aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. These compounds individually are poisonous and toxic, let alone combined. It is absolute madness that this is allowed into our foods, foods your kids eat every day. Do you like giving your kids poison to drink in their water and poison to eat in their food? That is exactly what you’re doing. You’ve got to wake up.

Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, a professor of neurosurgery at the Medical University of Mississippi, put together a book thoroughly detailing the damage that is caused by the ingestion of excessive aspartic acid from aspartame. Blaylock makes use of almost 500 scientific references to show how excess free excitatory amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid (about 99 percent of monosodium glutamate (MSG) is glutamic acid) in our food supply are causing serious chronic neurological disorders and a host of other acute symptoms.

Aspartic acid acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. Too much aspartic acid in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartic acid is why it is referred to as an "excitotoxin." It literally "excites" or stimulates the neural cells to death.

Aspartic acid is an amino acid. Taken in its free form (unbound to proteins) it significantly raises the blood plasma level of aspartic acid. The excess aspartic acid in the blood plasma shortly after ingesting aspartame leads to a high level of those neurotransmitters in certain areas of the brain.

The excess aspartic acid slowly begins to destroy neurons. The large majority (75 percent or more) of neural cells in a particular area of the brain are killed before any clinical symptoms of a chronic illness are noticed. A few of the many chronic illnesses that have been shown to be contributed to by longterm exposure to excitatory aspartic acid damage include Multiple Sclerosis, memory loss, hormonal problems, hearing loss, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, hypoglycemia, AIDS, dementia, neuroendocrine disorders, brain lesions, and a host of other problems. And this is just from ONE of the THREE components of aspartame.

The second component of aspartame that attacks your health is Phenylalanine. Phenylalanine is an amino acid normally found in the brain. Persons with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot metabolize phenylalanine. This leads to dangerously high levels of phenylalanine in the brain, sometimes lethal. It has been shown that ingesting aspartame, especially along with carbohydrates, can lead to excess levels of phenylalanine in the brain even in persons who do not have PKU.

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This is not just a theory, as many people who have eaten large amounts of aspartame over a long period of time and do not have PKU have been shown to have excessive levels of phenylalanine in the blood. Excessive levels of phenylalanine in the brain can cause the levels of seratonin in the brain to decrease, leading to emotional disorders such as depression. It was shown in human testing that phenylalanine levels of the blood were increased significantly in human subjects who chronically used aspartame.

Even a single use of aspartame raises the blood phenylalanine levels. In his testimony before the U.S. Congress, Dr. Louis J. Elsas showed that high blood phenylalanine can be concentrated in parts of the brain and is especially dangerous for infants and fetuses. He also showed that phenylalanine is metabolized much more efficiently by the rodents used in the clinical experiments required by the FDA to get approval than by the humans who would end up ingesting it as consumers.

One account of a case of extremely high phenylalanine levels caused by aspartame was recently published in the "Wednesday Journal" in an article titled "An Aspartame Nightmare". A man named John Cook was drinking six to eight diet drinks every day. His symptoms started out as memory loss and frequent headaches. He began to crave more aspartame-sweetened drinks. His condition deteriorated so much that he experienced wide mood swings and violent rages. Even though he did not suffer from PKU, a blood test revealed a phenylalanine level of 80 mg/dl. He also showed abnormal brain function and brain damage. After he kicked his aspartame habit, his symptoms improved dramatically.

The third component of the 3-pronged spear that is aspartame is Methanol. Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, is a deadly poison.

Methanol is created from aspartame when it is heated to above 86 degrees Fahrenheit, which of course happens when it enters your body, which is 98.6 degrees. This also occurs when an aspartame-containing product is heated, such as the preparation calls for in sugar-free, aspartamelaced Jell-O, or when used in cooking of any manner.

Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body---not good stuff in other words. Formaldehyde is the deadly neurotoxin we talked about a little while ago that is in a large number of building materials these days.

An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to

the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to

formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic." The EPA recommends a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter aspartame-sweetened soft drink beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA “safe daily limit”.

Symptoms from methanol poisoning include headaches, ear buzzing, dizziness, nausea, gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness and shooting pains in the extremities, behavioral disturbances, and neuritis. The most well known problems from methanol poisoning are vision problems including misty vision, progressive contraction of visual fields, blurring of vision, obscuration of vision, retinal damage, and blindness. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication and causes birth defects. Due to the lack of a couple of key enzymes, humans are many times more sensitive to the toxic effects of methanol than animals. Therefore, tests of aspartame or methanol on animals do not

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accurately reflect the danger for humans. As pointed out by Dr. Woodrow C. Monte, director of the food science and nutrition laboratory at Arizona State University, "There are no human or

mammalian studies to evaluate the possible mutagenic, teratogenic or carcinogenic effects of chronic administration of methyl alcohol."

He was so concerned about the unresolved safety issues that he filed suit with the FDA requesting a hearing to address these issues. He asked the FDA to "slow down on this soft drink issue long

enough to answer some of the important questions. It's not fair that you are leaving the full burden of proof on the few of us who are concerned and have such limited resources. You must remember that you are the American public's last defense. Once you allow usage (of aspartame) there is literally nothing I or my colleagues can do to reverse the course. Aspartame will then join saccharin, the sulfiting agents, and God knows how many other questionable compounds enjoined to insult the human constitution with governmental approval."

Shortly thereafter, the Commissioner of the FDA, Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr., approved the use of aspartame in carbonated beverages. He then left for a lucrative position with G.D. Searle's

public relations firm.

The troops of Desert Storm were "treated" to large amounts of aspartame-sweetened beverages, which had been heated to over 86 degrees Fahrenheit in the 100+ degree Middle Eastern sun. Many of them returned home with numerous disorders similar to what has been seen in persons who have been chemically poisoned by formaldehyde.

In a 1993 act that can only be described as diabolical, the FDA approved aspartame as an ingredient in numerous food items that would always be heated to above 86 degrees Fahrenheit as part of the preparation process, such as diet or low-cal TV dinners.

These are the three components of aspartame. And now for the icing on the aspartame cake, the byproduct of aspartame metabolism in the body: DKP (diketopiperazine)

The presence of DKP is the end result of the chemical reactions the body goes through while breaking down the poisonous aspartame. DKP has been implicated in the occurrence of brain tumors, among other health concerns.

G.D. Searle conducted animal experiments on the safety of DKP. The FDA found numerous experimental errors occurred, including "clerical errors, mixed-up animals, animals not getting

drugs they were supposed to get, pathological specimens lost because of improper

handling," and many other errors. These sloppy laboratory procedures may explain why both the test and control animals had sixteen times more brain tumors than would be expected in experiments of this length.

Aspartame is a neurotoxin and also classified as an “excitotoxin”, and is addicting on many levels. By the time you have a diet soda and a piece of chewing gum in the morning, another diet soda, gum, and a low-carb processed lunch at noon, you easily may have just ingested five doses of man-made poison, and you’ve still got over half your day to go, not to mention the fact that the diet sodas were probably made with fluoride-spiked water.

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