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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1336
a mom and her kids in the trenches for 20 years with aspartame:
B. Isbell: Murray 2006.05.07

"Over the next two days, I chewed several pieces of gum.
My depression and anxiety were back with a vengeance,
and I made the connection."

[ Murray: 6-8 mg aspartame per stick of gum,
37 mg per packet of Equal,
200 mg per 12-oz can diet soda,
while methanol is 11% of the aspartame ]

From: <bisbell6@...>
To: <aspartame@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Aspartame Support] Aspartame nearly killed me
Date: Sunday, May 07, 2006 12:31 PM

I am a 45 year old mother of three who has been battling long term
severe depression and anxiety for approximately 20 years.
About that time I was trying to lose pregnancy weight gain
and began drinking diet soda, eating other diet products
and chewing a lot of gum.

I had no idea that aspartame was in many of these products
because in general a layperson doesn't have the knowledge
of the many disguises(labels) it hides behind.
I wouldn't have cared if I did know,
because I had no clue what aspartame really was.
It was "safe" and that was all that mattered to me.

My depression and anxiety were always easily explained
by a stressful childhood, or a stressful marriage, or later by
the stress of being a parent of two special needs children
(who consumed "safe" diet products as well).

One of my daughters has juvenile diabetes and depression,
the other had a childhood seizure disorder and is autistic.

After my husband and I divorced, I was raising the children alone
and I blamed that and finances for my depression and anxiety.
It got worse and I became less and less functional.
I lost weight initially, but have regained that amount
and more and am now obese.

I craved products with aspartame in them, even though I didn't really
know that it was the aspartame that they all had in common.
I consumed large amounts of diet soda, ate all the "sweetened with
aspartame" products and chewed gum constantly.
I thought the generalized body pain
I felt so frequently must mean that I was just not aging well.

8 months ago I decided to try another diet.
This is harsh, and it is crazy, but I had decided that since my plan
was to commit suicide after the holidays, that I might
as well go on a diet in hopes I'd leave a better looking corpse.
I apologize, I know how offensive, irresponsible and sick that is, now.
But I'm admitting it, because when you feel that bad,
you cannot think properly!

This diet was different in that it was unbelievably restrictive.
I'd tried all the "healthy" diets with little success.
On this diet, sugar and salt were omitted
and foods were to be organic and free of additives and chemicals.

Because of the sodium content, I was forced to give up diet soda.
After 2 weeks on the diet, odd and unexpected things begin to happen.

I felt better. Not just physically -- I noticed I wasn't ruminating
on negative thoughts and the
suicidal impulses that had been so prevalent were disappearing.
I decided it was probably just a coincidental reprieve
and that my depression and anxiety would likely come back
with a vengeance as they always had before.

One day, I was craving something sweet (other than fruit),
and as this diet allowed virtually nothing sweet,
I decided to chew some gum.
Over the next two days, I chewed several pieces of gum.
My depression and anxiety were back with a vengeance,
and I made the connection.

I looked up all the ingredients of the gum on the Internet
and made the shocking realization that I had been poisoning
not only myself,
but my own precious children with aspartame all those years.
I wasn't able to stick to that diet, but I did stop consuming aspartame.

It's hard for me to believe this, but since I quit using aspartame things
are considerably better.
I would never have believed it had it not happened to me personally.
I am a die hard skeptic.
Everyone I know has commented on the change in me.

They tell me how easy I am to be with, how fun and
lighthearted I am now. They tell me I look healthier.
I used to loathe everything about myself --
now I am my own best friend.
I am still obese,
but how I feel about my body has been a positive change.
I want to lose weight for my health, and I am working on that.
It's a lot easier to do, since now if I mess up
I don't equate it with a need to kill myself.

I even applied for a job, after 25 years of being a stay at home mother
(something the anxiety and depression
had always prevented me from doing) and I got it!

I am still prone to becoming depressed,
I am still more high strung than some,
but I am able to do things I never dreamed I would ever be capable of.
I actually get out in the world, interact and have a life,
in contrast to the horribly shut in and dysfunctional
closer-to-dying-than-living I was experiencing.

Things aren't perfect in my life -- I'm still a single mother
of two special needs young adults
trying to make it on minimum wage,
but the difference is, now I know we will.

Some people don't seem as susceptible to aspartame reactions
or to reactions to other ingested products as others are,
and I think it is truly hard for them to imagine that something
that their body seems to tolerate well can be toxic to someone else.

I am curious about predisposition.
It is also incredibly difficult and frightening to allow yourself
to consider that those who regulate this aren't doing their jobs,
for whatever reason.

Thank you for sharing my story
and for working so hard to increase awareness
and expose the risks of consuming aspartame.

Sincerely, B. Isbell

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartame/

http://www.ojinaga.com/aspartame/

to subscribe to this list, send a blank e-mail to:
aspartame-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1328
migraine from sucralose, Bigal ME & Krymchantowski AV,
Headache 2006 March; formaldehyde from 11% methanol part of
aspartame or from red wine causes same toxicity (hangover) harm:
Murray 2006.05.04

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1329
aspartame or MSG affects circadian rhythms in rats, two studies,
P. Subramanian, T. Manivasagam et al 2004:
Murray 2006.04.27


"Of course, everyone chooses, as a natural priority,
to actively find, quickly share, and positively act upon the facts
about healthy and safe food, drink, and environment."

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

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
group with 73 members, 1,336 posts in a public, searchable archive
http://RMForAll.blogspot.com http://AspartameNM.blogspot.com

Dark wines and liquors, as well as aspartame, provide
similar levels of methanol, above 120 mg daily, for
long-term heavy users, 2 L daily, about 6 cans.

Within hours, methanol is inevitably largely turned into formaldehyde,
and thence largely into formic acid -- the major causes of the dreaded
symptoms of "next morning" hangover.

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). If 30% of the methanol is turned
into formaldehyde, the amount of formaldehyde, 37 mg,
is 18.5 times the USA EPA limit for daily formaldehyde in
drinking water, 2.0 mg in 2 L average daily drinking water.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1143
methanol (formaldehyde, formic acid) disposition: Bouchard M
et al, full plain text, 2001: substantial sources are
degradation of fruit pectins, liquors, aspartame, smoke:
Murray 2005.04.02

Any unsuspected source of methanol, which the body always quickly
and largely turns into formaldehyde and then formic acid, must be
monitored, especially for high responsibility occupations, often with
night shifts, such as pilots and nuclear reactor operators.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1291
European Food Safety Authority to decide aspartame safety by May:
caffeine diet drinks cause female hypertension, WC Winkelmayer et al,
JAMA 2005.11.09: PubMed lists 50 items for "diet soft drinks" since
2004 Oct.: Murray 2006.01.24

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1279
all three aspartame metabolites harm human erythrocyte [red blood cell]
membrane enzyme activity, KH Schulpis et al, two studies in 2005,
Athens, Greece, 2005.12.14: 2004 research review, RL Blaylock:
Murray 2006.01.14

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/939
aspartame (aspartic acid, phenylalanine) binding to DNA:
Karikas July 1998: Murray 2003.01.05 rmforall
Karikas GA, Schulpis KH, Reclos GJ, Kokotos G
Measurement of molecular interaction of aspartame and
its metabolites with DNA. Clin Biochem 1998 Jul; 31(5): 405-7.
Dept. of Chemistry, University of Athens, Greece
http://www.chem.uoa.gr gkokotos@...;
K.H. Schulpis inchildh@...; G.J. Reclos reklos@...;

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1271
combining aspartame and quinoline yellow, or MSG and brilliant blue,
harms nerve cells, eminent C. Vyvyan Howard et al, 2005
education.guardian.co.uk, Felicity Lawrence: Murray 2005.12.21

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/925
aspartame puts formaldehyde adducts into tissues, Part 1/2
full text Trocho & Alemany 1998.06.26
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona : Murray 2002.12.22

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1250
aspartame causes cancer in rats at levels approved for humans,
Morando Soffritti et al, Ramazzini Foundation, Italy &
National Toxicology Program
of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
2005.11.17 Env. Health Pers. 35 pages: Murray

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1106
hangover research relevant to toxicity of 11% methanol in aspartame
(formaldehyde, formic acid): Calder I (full text): Jones AW:
Murray 2004.08.05 rmforall

Since no adaquate data has ever been published on the exact
disposition of toxic metabolites in specific tissues in humans of the
11% methanol component of aspartame, the many studies on
morning-after hangover from the methanol impurity in alcohol drinks
are the main available resource to date.

Jones AW (1987) found next-morning hangover from red wine with
100 to 150 mg methanol
(9.5% w/v ethanol, 100 mg/l methanol, 0.01%,
one part in ten thousand).

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1100
research on aspartame (methanol, formaldehyde, formic acid) toxicity:
Murray 2004.07.19 rmforall
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1286
methanol products (formaldehyde and formic acid) are main cause of
alcohol hangover symptoms [same as from similar amounts of
methanol, the 11% part of aspartame]: YS Woo et al, 2005 Dec:
Murray 2006.01.20

Addict Biol. 2005 Dec;10(4): 351-5.
Concentration changes of methanol in blood samples during
an experimentally induced alcohol hangover state.
Woo YS, Yoon SJ, Lee HK, Lee CU, Chae JH, Lee CT, Kim DJ.
Chuncheon National Hospital, Department of Psychiatry,
The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
http://www.cuk.ac.kr/eng/ sysop@...
Songsin Campus: 02-740-9714 Songsim Campus: 02-2164-4116
Songeui Campus: 02-2164-4114
http://www.cuk.ac.kr/eng/sub055.htm eight hospitals

[ Han-Kyu Lee ]

A hangover is characterized by the unpleasant physical and mental
symptoms that occur between 8 and 16 hours after drinking alcohol.
After inducing experimental hangover in normal individuals,
we measured the methanol concentration prior to
and after alcohol consumption
and we assessed the association between the hangover condition
and the blood methanol level.

A total of 18 normal adult males participated in this study.
They did not have any previous histories of psychiatric
or medical disorders.

The blood ethanol concentration prior to the alcohol intake
(2.26+/-2.08) was not significantly different from that
13 hours after the alcohol consumption (3.12+/-2.38).

However, the difference of methanol concentration
between the day of experiment (prior to the alcohol intake)
and the next day (13 hours after the alcohol intake)
was significant (2.62+/-1.33/l vs. 3.88+/-2.10/l, respectively).

[ So, the normal methanol level was 2.62 mg per liter,
and increasing that by 50% = 1.3 mg per liter to 3.88 mg per liter
caused hangover symptoms. The human body has about
5.6 liters blood, so adding 1.3 mg per liter gives an estimate
of 7.3 mg added methanol, as much as 4 oz diet soda.

Diet soda is about 200 mg aspartame per 12 oz can,
which is 22 mg (11% methanol), 1.83 mg methnol per ounce.

This suggests that alcohol drinkers are more sensitive to methanol
than the average diet soda drinker, some of whom find symptoms
from a third of a diet soda.]

A significant positive correlation was observed
between the changes of blood methanol concentration
and hangover subjective scale score increment when covarying
for the changes of blood ethanol level (r=0.498, p<0.05).

This result suggests the possible correlation of methanol
as well as its toxic metabolite to hangover. PMID: 16318957
[ The "toxic metabolite" of methanol is formaldehyde, which in turn
partially becomes formic acid -- both potent cumulative toxins
that are the actual cause of the toxicity of methanol.]
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1143
methanol [formaldehyde, formic acid] disposition: Bouchard M et al,
full plain text, 2001: substantial sources are degradation of fruit pectins,
liquors, aspartame, smoke: Murray 2005.05.30 2005.07.24 rmforall

"Exposure to methanol also results from the consumption of certain
foodstuffs [fruits, fruit juices, certain vegetables, aspartame sweetener,
roasted coffee, honey] and alcoholic beverages [Health Effects Institute,
1987; Jacobsen et al., 1988]."

"However, the severe toxic effects are usually associated with the
production and accumulation of formic acid, which causes metabolic
acidosis that can lead to blindness and death at blood
concentrations of methanol above 31 mmol/l
[Røe, 1982; Tephly and McMartin, 1984; U.S. DHHS, 1993].

Although the acute toxic effects of methanol in humans are well
documented, little is known about the chronic effects of low exposure
doses, which are of interest in view of the potential use of methanol
as an engine fuel and current use as a solvent and chemical intermediate.

Gestational exposure studies in pregnant rodents [mice and rats] have
also shown that high methanol inhalation exposures
[5000 or 10,000 ppm and more, 7 h/day during days 6 or 7 to 15
of gestation] can induce birth defects
[Bolon et al., 1993; IPCS, 1997; Nelson et al., 1985]."

"The corresponding average elimination half-life of absorbed methanol
through metabolism to formaldehyde was estimated to be
1.3, 0.7-3.2, and 1.7 h."

"Inversely, in monkeys and in humans, a larger fraction of body burden
of formaldehyde is rapidly transferred to a long-term component.
The latter represents the formaldehyde that [directly or after oxidation to
formate) binds to various endogenous molecules..."

"Animal studies have reported that systemic methanol is eliminated
mainly by metabolism [70 to 97% of absorbed dose]
and only a small fraction is eliminated as unchanged methanol in urine
and in the expired air (< 3-4%)
[Dorman et al., 1994; Horton et al., 1992].

Systemic methanol is extensively metabolized by liver alcohol
dehydrogenase and catalase-peroxidase enzymes to formaldehyde,
which is in turn rapidly oxidized to formic acid by formaldehyde
dehydrogenase enzymes
[Goodman and Tephly, 1968; Heck et al., 1983; Røe, 1982;
Tephly and McMartin, 1984].

Under physiological conditions, formic acid dissociates to formate and
hydrogen ions.

Current evidence indicates that, in rodents, methanol is converted mainly
by the catalase-peroxidase system whereas monkeys and humans
metabolize methanol mainly through the alcohol dehydrogenase system
[Goodman and Tephly, 1968; Tephly and McMartin, 1984].

Formaldehyde, as it is highly reactive, forms relatively stable adducts
with cellular constituents [Heck et al., 1983; Røe, 1982]."

"The whole body loads of methanol, formaldehyde, formate,
and unobserved by-products of formaldehyde metabolism were followed.

Since methanol distributes quite evenly in the total body water,
detailed compartmental representation of body tissue loads
was not deemed necessary."

"According to model predictions, congruent with the data in the literature
[Dorman et al., 1994; Horton et al., 1992], a certain fraction of
formaldehyde is readily oxidized to formate, a major fraction of which
is rapidly converted to CO2 and exhaled, whereas a small fraction
is excreted as formic acid in urine.

However, fits to the available data in rats and monkeys of Horton et al.
[1992] and Dorman et al. [1994] show that, once formed, a substantial
fraction of formaldehyde is converted to unobserved forms.

This pathway contributes to a long-term unobserved compartment.

The latter, most plausibly, represents either the formaldehyde that
[directly or after oxidation to formate] binds to various endogenous
molecules [Heck et al., 1983; Røe, 1982]
or is incorporated in the tetrahydrofolic-acid-dependent one-carbon
pathway to become the building block of a number of synthetic
pathways [Røe, 1982; Tephly and McMartin, 1984].

That substantial amounts of methanol metabolites or by-products are
retained for a long time is verified by Horton et al. [1992] who estimated
that 18 h following an iv injection of 100 mg/kg of 14C-methanol
in male Fischer-344 rats,
only 57% of the dose was eliminated from the body.

From the data of Dorman et al. [1994] and Medinsky et al. [1997],
it can further be calculated that 48 h following the start
of a 2-h inhalation exposure to 900 ppm of 14C-methanol vapors
in female cynomolgus monkeys,
only 23% of the absorbed 14C-methanol was eliminated from the body.

These findings are corroborated by the data of Heck et al. [1983]
showing that 40% of a 14C-formaldehyde inhalation dose remained
in the body 70 h postexposure.

In the present study, the model proposed rests on acute exposure
data, where the time profiles of methanol and its metabolites were
determined only over short time periods
[a maximum of 6 h of exposure and a maximum of 48 h postexposure].

This does not allow observation of the slow release from the long-term
components.

It is to be noted that most of the published studies on the detailed
disposition kinetics of methanol regard controlled short-term
[iv injection or continuous inhalation exposure over a few hours]
methanol exposures in rats, primates, and humans
[Batterman et al., 1998; Damian and Raabe, 1996;
Dorman et al., 1994; Ferry et al., 1980; Fisher et al., 2000;
Franzblau et al., 1995; Horton et al., 1992; Jacobsen et al., 1988;
Osterloh et al., 1996; Pollack et al., 1993; Sedivec et al., 1981;
Ward et al., 1995; Ward and Pollack, 1996].

Experimental studies on the detailed time profiles following controlled
repeated exposures to methanol are lacking."

"Thus, in monkeys and plausibly humans, a much larger fraction of body
formaldehyde is rapidly converted to unobserved forms
rather than passed on to formate and eventually CO2."

"However, the volume of distribution of formate was larger than that of
methanol, which strongly suggests that formate distributes in body
constituents other than water, such as proteins.

The closeness of our simulations to the available experimental data on
the time course of formate blood concentrations is consistent with the
volume of distribution concept [i.e., rapid exchanges between the
nonblood pool of formate and blood formate]."

"Also, background concentrations of formate are subject to wide
interindividual variations
[Baumann and Angerer, 1979; D'Alessandro et al.,
1994; Franzblau et al., 1995; Heinrich and Angerer, 1982;
Lee et al., 1992; Osterloh et al., 1996; Sedivec et al., 1981]."

http://www.toxsci.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/64/2/169 full text

Toxicological Sciences 64, 169-184 [2001]
Copyright © 2001 by the Society of Toxicology

BIOTRANSFORMATION AND TOXICOKINETIC

A Biologically Based Dynamic Model for Predicting the Disposition of
Methanol and Its Metabolites in Animals and Humans

Michèle Bouchard *, #, bouchmic@...

Robert C. Brunet, # brunet@...

Pierre-Olivier Droz, #

and Gaétan Carrier* gaetan.carrier@...

* Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine,
Université de Montréal, P.O. Box 6128, Main Station, Montréal, Québec,
Canada, H3C 3J7 Fax: (514) 343-2200.

# Institut Universitaire romand de Santé au Travail, rue du Bugnon 19,
CH-1005, Lausanne, Switzerland, and

# Département de Mathématiques et de Statistique and Centre de Recherches
Mathématiques, Faculté des arts et des sciences, Université de Montréal,
P.O. Box 6128, Main Station,
Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3C 3J7
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/934
24 recent formaldehyde toxicity [Comet assay] reports:
Murray 2002.12.31 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 2003.01.01 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. Methanol is the only component of aspartame that can
lead to DNA damage. ]

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 2003.01.27 rmforall [A detailed look at the data] ]

J Toxicol Sci. 2002 Dec; 27 Suppl 1: 1-8.
[Genotoxicity studies of stevia extract and steviol by the comet assay]
[Article in Japanese]
Sekihashi K, Saitoh H, Sasaki Y. yfsasaki-c@...
Safety Research Institute for Chemical Compounds Co., Ltd.,
363-24 Shin-ei, Kiyota-ku, Sapporo 004-0839, Japan.

The genotoxicity of steviol, a metabolite of stevia extract, was evaluated
for its genotoxic potential using the comet assay.
In an in vitro study, steviol at 62.5, 125, 250, and 500 micrograms/ml
did not damage the nuclear DNA of TK6 and WTK1 cells in the
presence and absence of S9 mix.
In vivo studies of steviol were conducted by two independent organizations.
Mice were sacrificed 3 and 24 hr after one oral administration of steviol
at 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg.
DNA damage in multiple mouse organs was measured by the comet
assay as modified by us.
After oral treatment, stomach, colon, liver, kidney and testis DNA were
not demaged.
The in vivo genotoxicity of stevia extract was also evaluated for its
genotoxic potential using the comet assay.
Mice were sacrificed 3 and 24 hr after oral administration of stevia
extract at 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg.
Stomach, colon and liver DNA were not damaged.
As all studies showed negative responses, stevia extract and steviol are
concluded to not have DNA-damaging activity in cultured cells and
mouse organs. PMID: 12533916
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