http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1049
let us examine an aspartame reactor: Schwarcz: Murray 1.18.4 rmforall

Jan 18 2004 Well, Joe Schwarcz,

The only research that I've heard about that could have studied the actual
biochemical residuals of aspartame in humans only used three humans and did
not attempt using C-14 labelled methanol, although they did test both C-14
labelled phenylalanine and aspartic acid separately in their aspartame.
Would you like me to airmail you the zerox?

Their report in 1976 included only three human subjects, who were tested
with aspartame made with C-14 phenylalanine and then C-14 aspartate--
but never the methanol component! Instead of mentioning the dreaded word
"formaldehyde" anywhere in the text and citations, they only showed, on
Figure 1, Metabolic pathways followed by aspartame, using arrows to show
reaction paths,

Asp-Phe-Me --> intestinal esterases ---> Asp-Phe + MeOH -->
one-carbon metabolic pool --> CO2 + formyl metabolites

J Toxicol Environ Health. 1976 Nov; 2(2): 441-51.
Comparative metabolism of aspartame in experimental animals and humans.
Ranney RE, Oppermann JA, Muldoon E, McMahon FG.

Aspartame [SC-18862; 3-amino-N-(alpha-carboxyphenethyl) succinamic acid,
methyl ester, the methyl ester of aspartylphenylalanine] is a sweetening
agent that organoleptically has about 180 times the sweetness of sugar.
The metabolism of aspartame has been studied in mice, rats, rabbits, dogs,
monkeys, and humans.
The compound was digested in all species in the same way as are natural
constituents of the diet.
Hydrolysis of the methyl group by intestinal esterases yielded methanol,
which was oxidized in the one-carbon metabolic pool to CO2.
The resultant dipeptide was split at the mucosal surface by dipeptidases and
the free amino acids were absorbed.
The aspartic acid moiety was transformed in large part to CO2 through its
entry into the tricarboxylic acid cycle.
Phenylalanine was primarily incorporated into body protein either unchanged
or as its major metabolite, tyrosine. PMID: 827618

Their 1973 report clearly showed that 30% of C-14 labelled methanol in oral
aspartame was no longer being excreted from small monkeys after 8 hours.
What could this possibly be except toxic residuals in all body tissues of
the only possible biochemical products, formaldehyde and formic acid, both
cumulative?

J. Nutrition 1973 Oct; 103(10): 1454-1459.
Metabolism of aspartame in monkeys.
Oppermann JA, Muldoon E, Ranney RE.
Dept. of Biochemistry, Searle Laboratories,
Division of G.D. Searle and Co. Box 5110, Chicago, IL 60680
They found that about 70% of the radioactive methanol in aspartame put
into the stomachs of 3 to 7 kg monkeys was eliminated within 8 hours,
with little additional elimination, as carbon dioxide in exhaled air
and as water in the urine. They did not mention
that this meant that about 30% of the methanol must transform
into formaldehyde and then into formic acid, both of which must remain
as toxic products in all parts of the body. They did not report any
studies on the distribution of radioactivity in body tissues, except
that blood plasma proteins after 4 days held 4% of the initial
methanol. This study did not monitor long-term use of aspartame.

The low oral dose of aspartame and for methanol was 0.068 mmol/kg,
about 1 part per million [ppm] of the acute toxicity level of 2,000
mg/kg, 67,000 mmol/kg, used by McMartin (1979). Two L daily use of
diet soda provides 123 mg methanol, 2 mg/kg for a 60 kg person, a dose
of 67 mmole/kg, a thousand times more than the dose in this study.

By eight hours excretion of the dose in air and urine had leveled off
at 67.1 +-2.1% as CO2 in the exhaled air and 1.57+-0.32% in the urine,
so 68.7 % was excreted, and 31.3% was retained. [This data is the
average of 4 monkeys.]

These dire possibilities were confirmed in rats by the Trocho study in 1998.

The hundreds of case reports by aspartame reactors are entirely consistent
with chronic long-term, low-level toxicity from methanol or formaldehyde.

Doesn't this excite your curiosity? Why not seize this obvious golden
opportunity to advance a sure-thing line of simple, easy research that can
quickly attain clear-cut results with immediate immense benefits to people--
benefits that are safe and inexpensive?

Why not question a few heavy users of aspartame, above 6 cans daily for
years?
If you find one with the typical symptoms, arrange to test his white blood
cells for DNA damage with the Comet assay, for $ 200. Have him abstain,
monitor his symptoms, and retest the blood every month for six months.
Publish the results real-time on the Net, and invite discussion and
replications.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/934
24 recent formaldehyde toxicity [Comet assay] reports:
Murray 12.31.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/935
Comet assay finds DNA damage from sucralose, cyclamate, saccharin in
mice: Sasaki YF & Tsuda S Aug 2002: Murray 1.1.3 rmforall
[Also borderline evidence, in this pilot study of 39 food additives,
using test groups of 4 mice, for DNA damage from for stomach, colon,
liver, bladder, and lung 3 hr after oral dose of 2000 mg/kg aspartame--
a very high dose.]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/961
genotoxins, Comet assay in mice: Ace-K, stevia fine; aspartame poor;
sucralose, cyclamate, saccharin bad: Y.F. Sasaki Aug 2002:
Murray 1.27.3 rmforall [A detailed look at the data]

In mutual support, Rich

Rich Murray, MA Room For All rmforall@...
1943 Otowi Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 USA 505-986-9103

It is certain that high levels of aspartame use, above 2 liters daily
for months and years, must lead to chronic formaldehyde-formic acid
toxicity, since 11% of aspartame (1,120 mg in 2L diet soda, 5.6 12-oz
cans) is 123 mg methanol (wood alcohol), immediately released into the
body after drinking (unlike the large levels of methanol locked up in
molecules inside many fruits), then quickly transformed into
formaldehyde, which in turn becomes formic acid, both of which in
time are partially eliminated as carbon dioxide and water.

However, about 30% of the methanol remains in the body as cumulative
durable toxic metabolites of formaldehyde and formic acid-- 37 mg daily,
a gram every month. [Metabolism of aspartame in monkeys.
Oppermann JA, Muldoon E, Ranney RE.
J. Nutrition 1973 Oct; 103(10): 1454-1459.]
If 10% of the methanol is retained as formaldehyde, that would give 12
mg daily formaldehyde accumulation, about 60 times more than the 0.2 mg
from 10% retention of the 2 mg EPA daily limit for formaldehyde in water.

Bear in mind that the EPA limit for formaldehyde in drinking water is
1 ppm, or 2 mg daily for a typical daily consumption of 2 L of water.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/835
RTM: ATSDR: EPA limit 1 ppm formaldehyde in drinking water July 1999
5.30.2 rmforall

This long-term low-level chronic toxic exposure leads to typical
patterns of increasingly severe complex symptoms, starting with
headache, fatigue, joint pain, irritability, memory loss, and
leading to vision and eye problems, and even seizures. In many cases
there is addiction. Probably there are immune system disorders, with a
hypersensitivity to these toxins and other chemicals.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/872
immune system reactions due to formaldehyde from the 11% methanol in
aspartame: Thrasher: Tephly: Monte: Murray 9.27.2 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1045
aspartame and formaldehyde toxicity discussion:
Schwarcz: Murray 12.13.3 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1047
Avoiding Hangover Hell 12.31.3 Mark Sherman, AP writer: Robert Swift, MD:
[formaldehyde from methanol in aspartame]: Murray 1.16.4 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1048
hangovers from formaldehyde from methanol (aspartame?):
Schwarcz: Linsley: Murray 1.18.4
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From: "joe.schwarcz" <joe.schwarcz@...>
To: "Rich Murray" <rmforall@...>
Subject: RE: hangovers from formaldehyde from methanol (aspartame?):
Schwarcz: Murray 1.18.4
Date: Sunday, January 18, 2004 7:27 AM

Here is the way science works:
It is up to those making an allegation to prove it. It is completely
naïve to expect scientists to prove a negative, i.e. that aspartame does
not cause "aspartame disease." I can't prove to you that we are not
being visited by little green men from Mars even though I am convinced
this is not the case. It is up to those who make the claim to come up
with the physical evidence.
There is a big difference between methanol toxicity and "aspartame disease."

Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director McGill Office for Science and Society
McGill University 801 Sherbrooke St. West Montreal, QC. Canada H3A 2K6
514-398-6238
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