http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1083
Steve Burtt, Mississippi reporter, gives up 8-12 daily Diet Cokes: Murray
2004.05.16

http://www.gulflive.com/living/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/news/10847025561\
36620.xml

Going cold turkey on sweetener
Sunday, May 16, 2004 The Mississippi Press

http://www.gulflive.com/mississippipress/
http://www.gulflive.com/contactus/
http://www.gulflive.com/aboutus/?company.html

I frequently get e-mail feedback from this column and often it is helpful
and enlightening.

That was the case after my last column, in which I mentioned a slight Diet
Coke addiction. OK, it's a little more than slight. I drink them all the
time and have been for 20 or 30 years. I've lost track.

It turns out that there are a lot of people out there who believe Aspartame,
the ingredient used to sweeten Diet Coke and many, many other products, is a
poison, capable of killing or producing any of 92 possible health symptoms.

One lady wrote that she, too, was a Diet Coke addict until she went to this
Web site on the Internet: www.dorway.com. She suggested I check it out.

Well, I did and I wish I hadn't. It is a huge Web site with lots and lots of
information, research, case studies, conspiracy theories, FDA directives and
more, all about Aspartame. Being just a little obsessive/compulsive when it
comes to things like this, I can't just let it go. I have to dig.

I had, several years ago, read some of the initial research on Aspartame and
it bothered me, but not enough to get me off diet cola drinks. But this Web
site and others go well beyond some early research.

As I read some of the 92 possibly symptoms of Aspartame poisoning, I became
uncomfortable. One of the symptoms is, ironically, obesity. My main goal in
drinking diet drinks is to keep from consuming the 150 calories in each
regular Coke.

Another symptom listed is hair loss. Oh my gosh, what if I'm losing my hair
because of diet drinks? I always fall back on the science that says male
pattern baldness is caused by excessive testosterone. It's good to believe
that we're bald because we're manly. But could there be another cause? And
if it were caused by diet drinks, could it be reversed?

Then there's another symptom that got my attention: sexual dysfunction. That
was enough for me. So, I have done what the Web site recommends. I am going
60 days without Aspartame. The site recommends that you check your health
problems at the end of 60 days and see if any have gotten better. I have no
serious health problems, so that might be hard to measure, but I am in touch
with my overall well-being, I think. So, we'll just see what happens.

I should point out here that the Internet has a wealth of information within
its seemingly infinite memory, but it is also a place for bad things like
falsehoods, personal opinions and bad science. It would take an independent
investigation to verify all that I have read on this particular site and
that's not something I have done.

I did find the conspiracy part of it interesting and verifiable. Reportedly,
the FDA set up a study commission to decide on the approval of Aspartame and
the agency's own study group recommended that Aspartame NOT be approved for
public consumption. The new sweetener was locked in a bureaucratic deadlock.
But Searle, the company that developed Aspartame, hired a politically
connected man, the current beleaguered Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,
to become its CEO in 1977. Rumsfeld then served on President Reagan's
transition team.

Within just a few years, the FDA, under a new leader appointed by Reagan,
approved Aspartame, rejecting the findings of its own commission.
We just love conspiracies, don't we?

Correspondent Steve Burtt can be reached at (228) 522-6401 or
sburtt@... .

© 2004 The Mississippi Press. Used with permission.Use of this site
constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement. Please read our Privacy
Policy.
©2004 gulflive.com & al.com. All Rights Reserved.
**************************************************************

http://www.gulflive.com/living/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/news/10834929851\
98010.xml

How many is too many?
Sunday, May 02, 2004

As I sit here writing this column, there is, as always, a Diet Coke perched
by my right hand.

I have to confess to having a serious diet cola addiction. I'm not sure I
could actually write this column if there were no diet cola products in the
house.

I didn't realize how bad it was until one day when I went to my doctor for a
once-every-century checkup. He asked about my intake of carbonated
beverages. How many a day?

I thought for a moment, because I had never taken a total before. My guess
was maybe eight, possibly 12 on a bad day.

His mouth dropped open, and I'm thinking, "Is that a lot?"

Well, he asked me to cut back, and Lord knows I've tried. I'm down to about
six and I've switched to decaffeinated beverages at night, because I read
something bad about caffeine. And I'm drinking more water, even though water
is only satisfying when you are really, really hot.

I would say that after more than 20 or 25 years of drinking diet cola
products, I am a walking experiment for the Aspartame industry. Some
research indicated that Aspartame, the artificial sweetener in most diet
drinks today, could cause brain tumors in rats. Well, I'm here from the
human standpoint to say "so far, so good."

In fact, we are all human guinea pigs for the food industry. The way we eat
and what we eat have changed so much, just in my lifetime, that there is no
way to know how it will come out in the long run.

Take for instance, the case of french fries and California's attempt to put
warning labels on them. It turns out that some chemical in french fries has
been linked to cancer cases in rats.

Here in America we have at least three generations who have been raised on
french fries. I dated a girl in high school who, I honestly believe, lived
on french fries. She never ordered the burger, just the fries. Last I heard
of her, she's doing fine. Wouldn't we know if there were harmful effects?

Well, not necessarily. The problem comes in tracing the origins of cancer.
We know the disease is on the increase in this country, but we don't know
why. After all, Americans have not only drastically changed the way they
process their food. We've also polluted our air and our rivers. We've
allowed industrial, toxic waste to be dumped into our atmosphere and our
water supply.

So much to worry about, so little time.

But perhaps the better outlook is: "don't worry, be happy." I frequently
fall back on the wisdom of my grandmother, who lived a long life and seldom
worried about such things. She kept a can of bacon drippings on her stove to
give that little extra Southern something to all her vegetables.

Her idea of good nutrition was, surprisingly, the same one promoted by
trained nutritionists today: Eat a wide variety of foods with a heavy
concentration on fruits and vegetables.

Grandma always snapped her own beans and shelled her own peas. In my memory,
she cooked every day of her life, and we could never predict what she had in
the pot. I saw her drink a Coke at a picnic once, but mostly she preferred
iced tea. It would never have crossed her mind to sweeten something
artificially.

Correspondent Steve Burtt can be reached at (228) 522-6401 or
sburtt@....
**************************************************************

http://www.gulflive.com/aboutus/?company.html

Company Overview
al.com is Alabama's most interactive, comprehensive online source for
up-to-date news, sports, entertainment, travel, business happenings and
classifieds.
al.com is a subsidiary of Advance Internet, which is a unit of Advance
Publications, the country's largest privately held media company.
al.com is developed in cooperation with Alabama's three best newspapers: The
Birmingham News, Mobile Register and The Huntsville Times.

Dee Dee Mathis, Sales Director dmathis@...
phone: 205-380-2450 or 800-701-0898 fax: 205-380-2431

Offices:
Huntsville phone: 256.533.8800 fax: 256.533.9898

2901 2nd Ave. S., Suite 260
Birmingham, AL 35233 phone: 205.322.7780 fax: 205.380.2431

300 Dauphin Street, Suite 201
Mobile, AL 36602 phone: 251.432.0250 fax: 251.432.1755
*************************************************************

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1071
research on aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid) toxicity:
Murray 2004.05.16 rmforall

Rich Murray, MA Room For All rmforall@...
1943 Otowi Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 USA 505-501-2298

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/927
Donald Rumsfeld, 1977 head of Searle Corp., got aspartame FDA approval:
Turner: Murray 2002.12.23 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1039
three-page review: aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde) toxicity:
Murray 2003.11.22 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1026
brief aspartame review: formaldehyde toxicity: Murray 2003.09.11 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1025
aspartame & formaldehyde toxicity: Murray 2003.09.09 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1067
eyelid contact dermatitis by formaldehyde from aspartame, AM Hill & DV
Belsito, Nov 2003: Murray 2004.03.30 rmforall [ 150 KB ]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1070
critique of aspartame review, French Food Safety Agency AFSSA 2002.05.07
aspartamgb.pdf (18 pages, in English), Martin Hirsch:
Murray 2004.04.13

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/957
safety of aspartame Part 1/2 12.4.2: EC HCPD-G SCF:
Murray 2003.01.12 rmforall EU Scientific Committee on Food, a whitewash

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1045
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/scf2002-response.htm
Mark Gold exhaustively critiques European Commission Scientific
Committee on Food re aspartame ( 2002.12.04 ): 59 pages, 230 references

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/989 On 2003.04.10
the European Union Parliament voted 440 to 20 to approve sucralose,
limit cyclamates & reevaluate aspartame & stevia: Murray 2003.04.12 rmforall

http://www.eatright.org/Nutritive(1).pdf
J Am Diet Assoc. 2004 Feb; 104(2): 255-75.
Position of the American Dietetic Association: use of nutritive and
nonnutritive sweeteners. American Dietetic Association.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1068
critique of aspartame review by American Dietetic Association Feb 2004,
Valerie B. Duffy & Madeleine J. Sigman-Grant: Murray 2004.05.14 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
121 members, 1082 posts in a public searchable archive

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartame/messages
792 members, 16,884 posts in a public, searchable archive

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.

Fully 11% of aspartame is methanol-- 1,120 mg aspartame in 2 L diet soda,
almost six 12-oz cans, gives 123 mg methanol (wood alcohol).
The methanol is immediately released into the body after drinking--
unlike the large levels of methanol locked up in complex molecules inside
many fruits and vegetables.
Within hours, the liver turns much of the methanol into formaldehyde, and
then much of that into 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, accumulating in and affecting every tissue.

If only 10% of the methanol is retained daily 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
drinking 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
ATSDR: EPA limit 1 ppm formaldehyde in drinking water July 1999:
Murray 2002.05.30 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, rashes, 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.

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.
"...the 14C in the feces was negligible."

"That fraction not so excreted (about 31%) was converted to body
constituents through the one-carbon metabolic pool."
"All radioactivity measurements were counted to +-1% accuracy..."
This indicates that the results could not be claimed to have a precision of
a tenth of a percent. OK, so this is a nit-pick-- but I believe espousing
spurious accuracy is a sign of scientific insecurity.

The abstract ends, "It was concluded that aspartame was digested to its
three constituents that were then absorbed as natural constituents of the
diet."
Thus, the concept is very subtly insinuated that methanol, as a
constituent of aspartame, is absorbed as a natural constituent of the diet.
"Dietary methanol is derived in large part from fresh fruits and
vegetables."
This is a serious error, since the large amounts of methanol in fresh fruits
and vegetables are not readily released by human digestion. (W. C. Monte,
1984)
Nowhere in this report are mentioned the dread words, "formaldehyde" and
"formic acid".

Of course, methanol and formaldehyde toxicity studies are highly relevant to
the issue of aspartame toxicity. [ Aspartame has to be turned into its
toxic products, formaldehyde and formic acid, in the body, before it is
toxic, so some pro-aspartame reseach studies test aspartame outside the
body, and then proclaim that they have proved that it is not toxic. ]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/915
formaldehyde toxicity: Thrasher & Kilburn: Shaham: EPA: Gold:
Wilson: CIIN: Murray 2002.12.12 rmforall

Thrasher (2001): "The major difference is that the Japanese demonstrated
the incorporation of FA and its metabolites into the placenta and fetus.
The quantity of radioactivity remaining in maternal and fetal tissues
at 48 hours was 26.9% of the administered dose." [ Ref. 14-16 ]

Arch Environ Health 2001 Jul-Aug; 56(4): 300-11.
Embryo toxicity and teratogenicity of formaldehyde. [100 references]
Thrasher JD, Kilburn KH. toxicology@...
Sam-1 Trust, Alto, New Mexico, USA.
http://www.drthrasher.org/formaldehyde_embryo_toxicity.html full text

http://www.drthrasher.org/formaldehyde_1990.html full text Jack Dwayne
Thrasher, Alan Broughton, Roberta Madison. Immune activation and
autoantibodies in humans with long-term inhalation exposure to formaldehyde.
Archives of Environmental Health. 1990; 45: 217-223. "Immune activation,
autoantibodies, and anti-HCHO-HSA antibodies are associated with long-term
formaldehyde inhalation." PMID: 2400243

Confirming evidence and a general theory are given by Pall (2002):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/909
testable theory of MCS type diseases, vicious cycle of nitric oxide &
peroxynitrite: MSG: formaldehyde-methanol-aspartame:
Martin L. Pall: Murray: 2002.12.09 rmforall

Environ Health Perspect. 2003 Sep; 111(12): 1461-4.
Elevated nitric oxide/peroxynitrite theory of multiple chemical sensitivity:
central role of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors in the sensitivity mechanism.
Pall ML.
School of Molecular Biosciences, 301 Abelson Hall, Washington State
University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA. martin_pall@...

The elevated nitric oxide/peroxynitrite and the neural sensitization
theories of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) are extended here to propose
a central mechanism for the exquisite sensitivity to organic solvents
apparently induced by previous chemical exposure in MCS.
This mechanism is centered on the activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)
receptors by organic solvents producing elevated nitric oxide and
peroxynitrite, leading in turn to increased stimulating of and
hypersensitivity of NMDA receptors.
In this way, organic solvent exposure may produce progressive sensitivity to
organic solvents.
Pesticides such as organophosphates and carbamates may act via muscarinic
stimulation to produce a similar biochemical and sensitivity response.

Accessory mechanisms of sensitivity may involve both increased blood-brain
barrier permeability, induced by peroxynitrite, and cytochrome P450
inhibition by nitric oxide.
The NMDA hyperactivity/hypersensitivity and excessive nitric
oxide/peroxynitrite view of MCS provides answers to many of the most
puzzling aspects of MCS while building on previous studies and views of this
condition. PMID: 12948884

Prof. Pall describes processes by which an initial trigger exposure, such as
carbon monoxide or formaldehyde, can generate hypersensitivity to many
substances. He himself had recovered from a sudden, debilitating attack of
multiple chemical sensitity in June/July 1997.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1055
hormesis: possible benefits of low-level aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde)
use: Calabrese: Soffritti: Murray 2004.03.11 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1056
disorders of NMDA glutamate receptors in brain range from high activity
(MCS, CF, PTSD, FM, from carbon monoxide or formaldehyde (methanol,
aspartame)-- Pall)
to low activity (schizophrenia-- Coyle, Goff, Javitts):
Murray 2004.03.13 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/946
Functional Therapeutics in Neurodegenerative Disease Part 1/2:
Perlmutter 1999.07.15: Murray 2003.01.10 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/97
Lancet website aspartame letter 1999.07.29:
Excitotoxins 1999 Part 1/3 Blaylock: Murray 2000.01.14 rmforall
The Medical Sentinel Journal 1999 Fall; (95 references)
http://www.dorway.com/blayenn.html

Russell L. Blaylock, MD 601-982-1175 Madison, Mississippi
"Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills", 1977, 298 p., 493 references.
"Health and Nutrition Secrets that can save your life", 2002, 459 p.,
558 + 30 references, $ 30 http://www.russellblaylockmd.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1034
Brain cell damage from amino acid isolates (aspartame releases
phenylalanine, aspartate, methanol [formaldehyde, formic acid] Bowen &
Evangelista May 6 2002: Murray 2003.11.10 rmforall

http://www.aspartame.ca/Brain%20Cell%20Damage.pdf
Brain cell damage from amino acid isolates 5.6.2 41 references
detailed 22 page review by James D. Bowen, MD and Arthur M. Evangelista,
former FDA Investigator orwilly@...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/628
Professional House Doctors: Singer: EPA: CPSC:
formaldehyde toxicity: Murray 2001.06.10 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1047
Avoiding Hangover Hell 2003.12.31 Mark Sherman, AP writer:
Robert Swift, MD [ formaldehyde from methanol in aspartame ]:
Murray 2004.01.16 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1048
hangovers from formaldehyde from methanol (aspartame?):
Schwarcz: Linsley: Murray 2004.01.18

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1052
DMDC: Dimethyl dicarbonate 200mg/L in drinks adds methanol 98 mg/L
( becomes formaldehyde in body ): EU Scientific Committee on Foods
2001.07.12: Murray 2004.01.22 rmforall

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/782
RTM: Smith, Terpening, Schmidt, Gums:
full text: aspartame, MSG, fibromyalgia 2002.01.17 rmforall
Jerry D Smith, Chris M Terpening, Siegfried OF Schmidt, and John G Gums
Relief of Fibromyalgia Symptoms Following
Discontinuation of Dietary Excitotoxins.
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2001; 35(6): 702-706.
Malcolm Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Gainesville, FL, USA.
BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia is a common rheumatologic disorder that is
often difficult to treat effectively.
CASE SUMMARY: Four patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome
for two to 17 years are described.
All had undergone multiple treatment
modalities with limited success. All had complete, or nearly complete,
resolution of their symptoms within months after eliminating monosodium
glutamate (MSG) or MSG plus aspartame from their diet.
All patients were women with multiple comorbidities
prior to elimination of MSG.
All have had recurrence of symptoms whenever MSG is ingested.

Siegfried O. Schmidt, MD Asst. Clinical Prof. siggy@...
Community Health and Family Medicine, U. Florida, Gainesville, FL
Shands Hospital West Oak Clinic Gainesville, FL 32608-3629
352-376-5071

Debbie J. Hypes painfreeliving@... 304-872-4141 (Case # 1 of 4)
P.O Box 25 Lookout, WV 25868-0025 She has about 1,000 on her local
mailing list, and has been a volunteer activist since 1997. Her guide
first came out in 1997: http://www.Pain-Free-Living.net
"The Food Plan: How To Do It" $ 5 by mail, free by email.
Her sister Darlene, now 47, cured her own severe fibromyalgia in 1995
by using an elimination diet, and then Debbie also cured herself by
1997. Their doctor, Siegfried Schmidt, paying attention, tried it on
two more patients, who got well, and are his third and fourth cases.

http://www.perque.org/Fibromyalgia.pdf
A Novel Treatment for Fibromyalgia Imrpoves Clinical Outcomes in a
Community-Based Study.
Patricia A. Deuster, Russell M. Jaffe. RJaffe@...
Journal of Musculoskeletal Pain. 1998; Vol. 6(2): 133-149.

http://www.perque.com/ info@... 800-525-7372

Using blood tests, the researchers ran a panel of 350 antigens including
environmental chemicals, food additives and preservatives, crustaceans,
diary products, fish, fruits, grains, meats, mollusks, and oils.

Normal, healthy people react to only two or less of this panel. The greatest
offenders were:

MSG 42.5 % (17 out of 40 patients)
Candida albicans 37.5
Caffeine 37
Chocolate/cocoa 37
Food colorings 37
Cola beverages 37
Cow Dairy Products 25
Sulfite/metabisulfite 22.5
Xylene 22.5
Yogurt 22.5
Aspartame 20
BHA 20
Cadmium 20
Lead 20
Tylenol 20
Yeast 20
Sodium benzoate 20
Orange 20
**************************************************************