Rich Murray: Aspartame: Methanol-Formaldehyde Toxicity 5.31.1 rmforall

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

M.I.T. (physics and history, BA, 1964), Boston U. Graduate School
(psychology, MA, 1967): As a concerned layman, I want to clarify the
aspartame toxicity debate.

Excellent 5-page review by H.J. Roberts in "Townsend Letter",
Jan 2000, "Aspartame (NutraSweet) Addiction"
http://www.dorway.com/tldaddic.html http://www.sunsentpress.com/
H.J. Roberts, M.D. HJRobertsmd@... sunsentpress@...
Sunshine Sentinel Press 6708 Pamela Lane West Palm Beach, FL 33405
800-814-9800 561-588-7628 561-547-8008 fax
1038 page text "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic"
released May 30 2001 $ 85.00 postpaid data from 1200 cases
http://www.aspartameispoison.com/contents.html 34 chapters

http://www.mbschachter.com/aspartame.htm
"How Safe is the Artificial Sweetener, Aspartame?"
Michael B. Schachter, M.D., F.A.C.A.M.
Schachter Center for Complementary Medicine
Michael B. Schachter, M.D., F.A.C.A.M.
2 Executive Boulevard, Suite 202
Suffern, NY 10901. http://www.mbschachter.com/
914-368-4600 office@...

Many long, referenced posts by Rich Murray are in the archive at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages

Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel, Benevia) is reported by
scientific studies and case histories to be toxic: headaches; many
body and joint pains (or burning, tingling, tremors, twitching,
spasms, cramps, or numbness); "mind fog", "feel unreal", poor memory,
confusion, anxiety, irritability, depression, mania, insomnia,
dizziness, slurred speech, ringing in ears, sexual problems, nausea,
seizures, poor vision, hearing, or taste; fever, fatigue; red face,
itching, rashes, burning eyes or throat, dry mouth or eyes, mouth
sores; hair loss; obesity, bloating, edema, poor or excessive hunger
or thirst, anorexia; coldness; diarrhea or constipation; breathing
problems; racing heart, high blood pressure, erratic blood sugar
levels; sweating; birth defects; brain cancers; addiction;
aggravates autism, ADHD, and interstitial cystitis (bladder pain).

Almost all are typical of chronic methanol-formaldehyde toxicity:
for detailed review http://www.dorway.com/barua.html
Journal Of The Diabetic Association Of India
1995 Vol. 35, No. 4. Emerging Facts About Aspartame
Dr. J. Barua (ophthalmic surgeon) Dr. Arun Bal (surgeon)
(79 references) barua@...
"...the total amount of methanol absorbed will be approximately
10% of aspartame ingested. An EPA assessment of methanol states
that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate
of excretion once it is absorbed." The absorbed methanol is then
slowly converted to formaldehyde..."
"Reaction of formaldehyde with DNA has been observed,
by spectrophotometry and electron microscopy, to result in
irreversible denaturation."
"DKP has been implicated in the occurance of brain tumors."
.
Two teams find hot aspartame releases DKP:
Food Addit Contam 2000 Oct; 17(10): 821-7
Simultaneous formation and detection of the reaction product of
solid-state aspartame sweetener by FT-IR/DSC microscopic system.
Lin SY, Cheng YD
Biopharmaceutics Laboratory,
Department of Medical Research & Education
Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, Shih-Pai, Taiwan,
Republic of China. sylin@...
and
J Pharm Sci 1998 Apr; 87(4): 508-13
Hydration and dehydration behavior of aspartame hemihydrate.
Leung SS, Padden BE, Munson EJ, Grant DJ
Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455-0343, USA.
Sophie S. Leung, PhD
Dolores J. Grant, PhD grant1@...

A radioactive tracer study proves that the methanol from a low dose of
of aspartame binds formaldehyde, a deadly cumulative poison, into
tissues: Trocho C et al, June 26 1998, Life Sci, 63(5), 337-349.
http://ww.presidiotex.com/barcelona/index.html (full abstract below)

Dr. Woodrow C. Monte, "Aspartame: Methanol, and the Public Health,"
Journal of Applied Nutrition, Volume 36, No. 1, pages 42-54, 1984.
(62 references) Professsor of Food Science
Director of the Food Science and Nutrition Laboratory
Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287
6411 South River Drive #61 Tempe, Arizona 85283-3337
602-965-6938 woody.monte@...
The methanol from 2 L of diet soda, 5.6 12-oz cans, 20 mg/can, is
112 mg, 10% of the aspartame. The EPA limit for water is 7.8 mg daily
for methanol (wood alcohol), a deadly cumulative poison. Many users
drink 1-2 L daily. The reported symptoms are entirely consistent
with chronic methanol toxicity. (Fresh orange juice has 34 mg/L, but,
like all juices, has 16 times more ethanol, which strongly protects
against methanol.) http://www.dorway.com/wmonte.txt

What many informed doctors are saying/have said about aspartame:
http://www.dorway.com/doctors.txt

http://www.dorway.com/blayenn.html dodd@...
Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. russell@... 601-982-1175
"Excitotoxins, Neurodegeneration and Neurodevelopment"
The Medical Sentinel Journal Fall, 1999 , (95 references)

Aspartame Victims Support Group [>250] and also Spanish translations
and Spanish egroup http://www.presidiotex.com/aspartame/

"The Dangers of Aspartame" discussion forum: many long reports by
Rich Murray: http://www.bevnet.com/bevboard/

Lennart Hardell, M.D., PhD, in 1999 reported in Sweden that both
cell phone use and heavy aspartame use correlate with increased
brain cancers http://www.medscape.com/MedGenMed/braintumors
lennart.hardell@... +46 19 602 15 46

Users who quit often experience much immediate healing, but some
symptoms may last for weeks. Heavy users may suffer weeks of painful
withdrawal symptoms. Also avoid all forms of MSG (glutamate),
legally mislabeled as "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" or even
"natural flavoring". Actually, all artificial sweeteners lack proof of
safety. It's fun to mix club soda with juices.
A long-used herbal sweetener, stevia, is entirely safe and
widely available. A corrupt FDA has refused to attest its safety:
www.holisticmed.com/sweet/stv-alert.txt
http://www.dorway.com/stevia.html stevia, splenda, others

Read all labels!-- aspartame is in almost all diet sodas, many drink
mixes, instant breakfasts, cereals, cake mixes, cookies, yogurts,
puddings, jellos, chewing gums, breath mints, candies, toothpastes,
laxatives, even vitamins and medicines. Absorption through the skin in
the mouth may be especially strong, close to the brain.

In the USA alone, about 200 million use this ubiquitous product of a
billion-dollar industry, first approved by a corrupt FDA in 1974 and
1981. In 1985, Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle, and made Searle
Pharmaceuticals and The NutraSweet Company separate subsidiaries.
In 2000 Monsanto sold off all its aspartame units.

If 1% of users have a problem with aspartame, that is two million in
the USA alone. Thousands of people complained to the FDA since 1981,
and in recent years on the Internet.

Ralph G. Walton, MD, Prof. of Clinical Psychology, Northeastern Ohio
Universities, College of Medicine, Dept. of Psychiatry, Youngstown,
OH 44501, Chairman, The Center for Behavioral Medicine,
Northside Medical Center, 500 Gypsy Lane, P.O. Box 240 Youngstown,
OH 44501 330-740-3621 rwalton193@...
http://www.neoucom.edu/DEPTS/Psychiatry/walton.htm

"Seizure and mania after high intake of aspartame," 1986,
Psychosomatics, 27: 218-20:

An age 54 woman with 20 years of depression had been stable for 11
years with medication. She had a grand mal seizure, followed by
mania, insomnia, flight of ideas, and irritability. A brief
hospitalization and CT scan found no apparent cause. After three
weeks, this led to psychiatric hospitalization. Two days later,
it was found that during the several weeks before the seizure and
onset of mania, she had started using aspartame in place of sugar
in her iced tea, a gallon daily. Four days later, the mania subsided,
and 13 months later she continued to function well, and enjoying her
large amounts of iced tea, with sugar, not aspartame.

"The possible role of aspartame in seizure induction," 1987,
Proceedings of the First International Conference on Phenylalanine
and the Brain, Wurtman, RJ, Walker E (eds.), Center for Brain
Sciences and Metabolism Charitable Trust, Cambridge, England:

Nine cases, ages 19 to 91, briefly summarized: "Case 4: A 61
year-old woman had been in excellent health until she began consuming
an average of half a gallon per day of sugar-free beverages prepared
with "Crystal Light" mixes. She experienced the onset of headaches,
in the absence of a previous headache history. After three months of
daily headaches, she experienced a generalized seizure and was
hospitalized. CAT scan and EEG were normal. After discontinuing
the use of all aspartame-containing products, she has been
headache- and seizure-free."

These two reports are clinical anecdotes, hospital observations, not
controlled scientific experiments. The necessary next step is a
double-blind study, in which neither the researcher nor the subjects
know when there is an inert placebo or the active drug. However, it
is very easily to conduct misleading double-blind studies. For
instance, several studies on the safety of MSG used aspartame as
the "neutral" placebo control drug! Susan S. Schiffman used only a
single dose of aspartame in her otherwise impressive study, industry
funded, often cited as proving the safety of aspartame:
Schiffman, SS. Buckley, CE. Sampson, HA. Massey, EW. Baraniuk, JN.
Follett, JV. Warwick, ZS. Aspartame and susceptibility to headache.
N Engl J.Med 317(19):1181-1885, 1987. sss@...

Here are three more realistic double-blind studies:

Koehler SM, Glaros A., 1988. "The Effect of Aspartame on Migraine
Headache," Headache, Volume 28 (1) , 10-14.
Shirley M. Koehler, PhD 904-858-7651 skoehler@...
http://www.med.umich.edu/abcn/alpha/alpha-K.html#Koehler
Alan Glaros glarosa@... 816-235-2074

They conducted a double-blind study of patients who had a medical
diagnosis of migraines, who were not on medications (other than
analgesics), and who suspected that aspartame had a negative effect
on their migraine headaches. The subjects were given 1200 mg daily,
aspartame or placebo, for four weeks, about 17 mg/kg. The placebo
group had no increase in headaches. Approximately half of the
subjects who took aspartame had a large increase in headaches.

Walton, RG, "Adverse reactions to aspartame: double-blind challenge
in patients from a vulnerable population," 1993, with Robert Hudak
and Ruth J. Green-Waite, Biological Psychiatry, 34 (1), 13-17:

Eight depressed patients and five non-depressed controls were given
for 7 days either aspartame or a placebo, and then after a 3 day
break, given the opposite. Each got 2100 mg aspartame daily,
30 mg/kg bodyweight, equal to 10-12 cans of diet soda daily,
about a gallon. Despite the very small number of subjects, the
results were dramatic and statistically significant. The eight
depressed patients reported with aspartame, compared to placebo,
much higher levels of nervousness, trouble remembering, nausea,
depression, temper, and malaise. The five normals did not report
strong enough differences between aspartame and placebo to be
significant.

Stephen K. Van Den Eeden, T.D. Koepsell, W.T. Longstreth, Jr,
G. van Belle, J.R. Daling, B. McKnight, "Aspartame ingestion and
headaches: a randomized crossover trial,"
1994, Neurology, 44, 1787-93: Division of Research,
Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program
3505 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611-5714
skv@... 510-450-2202
http://www.dor.kaiser.org/dorhtml/investigators/Stephen_Van_Den_Eeden.html

In their introduction, they commented,

"In addition, the FDA had received over 5,000 complaints as of July,
1991 in a passive surveillance system to monitor adverse side effects.
(17) Neurologic problems constitute the primary complaints in these
and several other case series, with headaches accounting for
18 to 45%, depending on the case series reported. (17-19)"

Subjects were recruited who believed they got headaches from
aspartame, but were otherwise mentally and physically healthy. Of the
32 subjects, 18 completed the 38-day trials: a week of inert placebo,
a week of either aspartame or placebo, followed by a week of the
opposite, and then this two-week cycle repeated. The daily dose
was 900 mg, about 30 mg/kg. "The proportion of days subjects
reported having a headache was higher during aspartame treatment
compared with placebo treatment
(aspartame = 0.33, placebo = 0.24; p = 0.04) (table 5)".
The methanol dose in 2 L of diet soda, 5.6 12-oz cans, 20 mg/12-oz can
methanol, is 112 mg methanol, 10% of the aspartame. [The EPA limit is
7.8 mg/day in water for this cumulative poison.]

Dr. Woodrow C. Monte, "Aspartame: Methanol, and the Public Health,"
Journal of Applied Nutrition, Volume 36, No. 1, pages 42-54, 1984.
This study is available at http://www.dorway.com/wmonte.txt .

Abstract: Aspartame (L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester), a new
sweetener marketed under the trade name NutraSweet, releases into the
human bloodstream one molecule of methanol for each molecule of
aspartame consumed.

This new methanol source is being added to foods that have considerably
reduced caloric content and, thus, may be consumed in large amounts.
Generally, none of these foods could be considered dietary methanol
sources prior to addition of aspartame. When diet sodas and soft
drinks, sweetened with aspartame, are used to replace fluid loss
during exercise and physical exertion in hot climates, the intake of
methanol can exceed 250 mg/day or 32 times the Environmental
Protection Agency's recommended limit of consumption for this
cumulative toxin (8).
[EPA limit: 7.8 mg/day in water. A 12-oz can of diet soda gives 20 mg
methanol.]

There is extreme variation in the human response to acute methanol
poisoning, the lowest recorded lethal oral dose being 100 mg/kg
[6,000 mg for a 60 kg person] with one individual surviving a dose
over ninety times this level (55). Humans, due perhaps to the loss of
two enzymes during evolution, are more sensitive to methanol than any
laboratory animal; even the monkey is not generally accepted as a
suitable animal model (42). There are no human or mammalian studies to
evaluate the possible mutagenic, teratogenic, or carcinogenic effects
of chronic administration of methyl alcohol (55).

The average intake of methanol from natural sources varies but limited
data suggests an average intake of considerably less than 10 mg/day (8).

[A 12-oz can of diet soda has 20 mg methanol.] Alcoholics may average
much more, with a potential range of between 0 and 600 mg/day,
depending on the source and in some cases the quality of their
beverages(15).

Ethanol, the classic antidote for methanol toxicity, is found in
natural food sources of methanol at concentrations 5 to 500,000 times
that of the toxin (Table 1). Ethanol inhibits metabolism of methanol
and allows the body time for clearance of the toxin through the lungs
and kidneys (40, 46).

The question asked is whether uncontrolled consumption of this new
sweetener might increase the methanol intake of certain individuals to
a point beyond which our limited knowledge of acute and chronic human
methanol toxicity can be extrapolated to predict safety. [end of
Abstract]

Monte's study explains:

"Methanol (methyl alcohol, wood alcohol), a poisonous substance (60),
is added as a component during the manufacture of aspartame (47). This
methanol is subsequently released within hours of consumption (51)
after hydrolysis of the methyl group of the dipeptide by chymotrypsin
in the small intestine (40) as it occurs in soft drinks after
decomposition of aspartame during storage or in other foods
after being heated (48). Regardless of whether the aspartame-derived
methanol exists in food in its free form or still esterified to
phenylalanine, 10% of the weight of aspartame intake of an individual
will be absorbed by the bloodstream as methanol within hours after
consumption (51).
[So, a daily dose of 2100 mg aspartame, used in some experimental
tests, gives 210 mg of methanol.]

"Methanol has no therapeutic properties and is considered only as a
toxicant (20).
The ingestion of two teaspoons is considered lethal in humans (19).

"An average aspartame-sweetened beverage would have a conservative
aspartame content of about 555 mg/liter (48, 51) and therefore, a
methanol equivalent of 56 mg/liter (56 ppm). For example, if a
25 kg child consumed on a warm day, after exercising, two-thirds of a
two-liter bottle of soft drink sweetened with aspartame, that child
would be consuming over 732 mg of aspartame (29 mg/kg). This alone
exceeds what the Food and Drug Administration considers the 99 +
percentile daily consumption level of aspartame (48). The child would
also absorb over 70 mg of methanol from that soft drink. This is almost
ten times the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended daily limit
of consumption for methanol.

"To look at the issue from another perspective, the literature reveals
death from consumption of the equivalent of 6 gm of methanol (55, 59).
It would take 200 12 oz. cans of soda to yield the lethal equivalent of
6 gm of methanol. [Monte's point is that the methanol dose from 2 L of
diet soda, 5.6 12-oz cans, 20 mg/12-oz can methanol, 112 mg methanol,
is too close to the lethal dose, 6000 mg, according to the usual
standards for other toxins. The EPA limit is 7.8 mg/day in water for
this cumulative poison.]

"A striking feature of methyl alcohol syndrome is the asymptomatic
interval (latent period), which usually lasts 12 to 18 hours after
consumption.

"Patients may complain of lethargy, confusion, and impairment of
articulation, all frequently encountered signs in moderate central
nervous system (CNS) intoxications resulting from other toxic
compounds (20). Patients may also suffer leg cramps, back pain,
severe headache, abdominal pain, labored breathing, vertigo and
visual loss, the latter being a very important clue to making a
diagnosis of methanol poisoning (20).

"Many of the signs and symptoms of intoxication due to methanol
ingestion are not specific to methyl alcohol. For example, headaches,
ear buzzing, dizziness, nausea and unsteady gait (inebriation),
gastrointestinal disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory
lapses, numbness and shooting pains in the lower extremities hands
and forearms, behavioral disturbances, and neuritis (55). The most
characteristic signs and symptoms of methyl alcohol poisoning in humans
are the various visual disturbances which can occur without acidosis
(55), although they unfortunately do not always appear (20). Some of
these symptoms are the following: misty vision, progressive
contraction of visual fields (vision tunneling), mist before the eyes,
blurring of vision, and obscuration of vision (20, 55)."
[End of quotes from Monte study]

Here is research in 1998 by C. Trocho et al, using a very low level of
aspartame ingestion, 10 mg/kg, for rats, which have a much greater
tolerance for aspartame than humans. So, the corresponding level for
humans would be about 1 or 2 mg/kg. (Many headache studies in humans
used doses of about 30 mg/kg daily.) This proves that aspartame causes
binding of methanol's product, formaldehyde, a potent, cumulative
toxin, into tissues. Life Sci June 26 1998; 63(5): 337-49 ["Trok-ho"]
Full report http://www.presidiotex.com/barcelona/index.html

Formaldehyde derived from dietary aspartame binds to tissue components
in vivo. Departament de Bioquimica i Biologia Molecular,
Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
http://www.bq.ub.es/cindex.html
Línies de Recerca: Toxicitat de l'aspartame
http://www.bq.ub.es/grupno/grup-no.html
Sra. Carme Trocho, Sra. Rosario Pardo, Dra. Immaculada Rafecas,
Sr. Jordi Virgili, Dr. Xavier Remesar,
Dr. Jose Antonio Fernandez-Lopez,
Dr. Marià Alemany Fac. Biologia Tel.: (93)4021521, FAX: (93)4021559
alemany@... bioq@...
josefer@...
rafecas@... remesar@...
Sra. Carme Trocho Fac. Biologia Tel.: (93)4021544, FAX: (93)4021559

Abstract:
Adult male rats were given an oral dose of 10 mg/kg aspartame,
14C-labeled in the methanol carbon. At timed intervals of up to 6
hours, the radioactivity in plasma and several organs was investigated.
Most of the radioactivity found (>98% in plasma, >75% in liver) was
bound to protein. Label present in liver, plasma and kidney was in the
range of 1-2% of total radioactivity administered per g or mL, changing
little with time. Other organs (brown and white adipose tissues,
muscle, brain, cornea and retina) contained levels of label in the
range of 1/12th to 1/10th of that of liver. In all ,the rats retained,
6 hours after administration, about 5% of the label, half of it in
the liver.

The specific radioactivity of tissue protein, RNA and DNA was quite
uniform. The protein label was concentrated in amino acids, different
from methionine, and largely coincident with the result of protein
exposure to labeled formaldehyde. DNA radioactivity was essentially in
a single different adduct base, different from the normal bases present
in DNA. The nature of the tissue label accumulated was, thus, a direct
consequence of formaldehyde binding to tissue structures.

The administration of labeled aspartame to a group of cirrhotic rats
resulted in comparable label retention by tissue components, which
suggests that liver function (or its defect) has little effect on
formaldehyde formation from aspartame and binding to biological
components. The chronic treatment of a series of rats with 200 mg/kg
of non-labeled aspartame during 10 days results in the accumulation of
even more label when given the radioactive bolus, suggesting that the
amount of formaldehyde adducts coming from aspartame in tissue proteins
and nucleic acids may be cumulative.

It is concluded that aspartame consumption may constitute a hazard
because of its contribution to the formation of formaldehyde adducts.
PMID: 9714421, UI: 98378223

Mark D. Gold has a fine, detailed analysis, "Scientific Abuse in
Methanol / Formaldehyde Research Related to Aspartame" at:
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/methanol.html#discussion

In short, biochemical evidence exists to motivate us to seriously and
respectfully consider anecdotal evidence of aspartame toxicity.

Monte's prescient warning was published sixteen years ago. Many
symptoms of methanol toxicity are present in the many case reports.
One would hope that all experts involved would focus on identifying
all vulnerable populations and the exact toxic biochemistry, and,
of course, act to eliminate aspartame, but, sadly enough, entrenched
financial interests, just as in the case of tobacco, lead to corruption
of the scientific process, as Walton elucidates in this 66-page report:

"Survey of aspartame studies: correlation of outcome and funding
sources," 1998, unpublished as yet:
This study is available at http://www.dorway.com/peerrev.html
Al Raetz has justly criticized bias in both sides of the debate:
www.aspartametruth.freeservers.com/personal.html

Walton found 166 separate published studies in the peer reviewed
medical literature, which had relevance for questions of human safety.
The 74 studies funded by industry all (100%) attested to aspartame's
safety, whereas of the 92 non-industry funded studies, 84 (91%)
identified a problem. Six of the seven non-industry funded studies
that were favorable to aspartame safety were from the FDA, which
has a public record that shows a strong pro-industry bias.

Moreover, 33 pro-aspartame studies were, with slight changes,
published repeatedly in different journals from 2 to 6 times each.
Walton comments, "Virtually all journals require that an affidavit be
signed by all authors to the effect that neither the manuscript nor
the data it contains have been previously published or concurrently
submitted elsewhere for publication. Violation of this policy may have
a detrimental impact on scientific progress and ethics."

Thus, the aspartame industry has funded many biased studies, and by
unfairly publishing them again and again, created a false scientific
image that aspartame is widely proven safe in laboratories. For a
typical example of this disinformation, no author given:
http://aspartame.findfacts.net/11-11.phtml ,
The Aspartame Homepage (pro-aspartame) http://www.aspartame.org/
"A Dozen Staight Answers about Aspartame Safety" , linked to
http://www.nutrasweet.com/asp/lscmail.asp . To their credit,
http://www.aspartame.org/critics.html Sites by Aspartame's Critics

http://www.truthinlabeling.org/ Truth in Labeling Campaign [MSG]
Adrienne Samuels, PhD P.O. Box 2532 Darien, Illinois 60561
858-481-9333 adandjack@... "The Toxicity/Safety of Processed
Free Glutamic Acid (MSG): A Study in Suppression of Information"
Accountability in Research (1999) Vol 6, pp. 259-310

Health Press hlthprs@... 505-474-0303
http://www.healthpress.com/in-bad-taste.html
George R. Schwartz, M.D. drgschwartz@...
"In Bad Taste: The MSG Symptom Complex"
http://www.healingresearch.org/

UPI reporter Gregory Gordon: 96K 3-part expose Oct 1987:
http://www.dorway.com/upipart1.txt

You may search among 11 million medical citations on PubMed for any
topic or author, and for many studies get an abstract summary:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/
http://www.google.com accurate searches on anything and anyone
http://deja.com search millions of posts on news groups

The great health advantages of a no-fat vegetarian diet are well
described by Dr. John A. McDougall at http:www.drmcdougall.com ,
which has copious scientific references and Net links, and at
http://www.vegsource.com

Robert Cohen i4crob@... milk toxicity facts
http://www.notmilk.com

Aspartame Toxicity Information Center Mark D. Gold
www.HolisticMed.com/aspartame 603-225-2100
"Scientific Abuse in Aspartame Research"
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/methanol.html
mgold@... 12 East Side Drive #2-18 Concord, NH 03301

Mission-Possible-USA Betty Martini 770-242-2599
http://www.dorway.com David O. Rietz dorietz@...
Bettym19@...
http://www.dorway.com/asprlink.html many links
http://www.dorway.com/nslawsuit.txt Jeff Martin, Attorney

Aspartame Consumer Safety Network and Pilot Hotline [1987-2001]
Mary Nash Stoddard, Founder & President
P.O. Box 780634 Dallas, TX 75378 .
214-352-4268 marystod@...
http://web2.airmail.net/marystod/index.html
http://web2.airmail.net/marystod/espanol.htm
Toxicology Sourcebook: "Deadly Deception Story of Aspartame"
Mary Nash Stoddard, author [Odenwald Press 1998]

Geoff.Brewer@... United Kingdom Mission Possible International
63 Downlands Road DEVIZES SN10 5EF Tel: 01380 728059
http://www.connectotel.com/missionpossible/

http://www.readthelabel.org.uk/ arthur@...
outstanding site by Arthur McBryan

http://www.aspartame.ca/ John T. Linnell admin@...
http://www.aspartame.ca/page_a10.html
Canadian Class Action Law Suit

http://allergies.about.com/health/allergies/library/weekly/aa012901a.htm

Adverse Reactions to Aspartame
Judy Tidwell allergies.guide@...

http://members.tripod.com/~mission_possible/scotland_branch.html
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/4578/ Canada
http://www.aspartame.ca/ John T. Linnell admin@...
http://www.cybernaute.com/earthconcert2000/AspartaMalcache.htm
http://www.reseauproteus.net/therapies/nutritio/aspartame.htm
http://ww2.grn.es/avalls/aspa1.htm Spain
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Falls/8669/ Brazil
http://www.phd.com.br/aspartame.htm
http://hem.passagen.se/mission.possible.sweden/
http://home.online.no/~dusan/foods/aspartame.html Norway
http://www.ostara.org/aspartam/#anfang Germany
http://www.laleva.org/ Italy
http://www.laleva.org/alimenti/dorwayaspartame.html
http://users.westnet.gr/~cgian/aspartame.htm Greece
**********************************************************

http://www.msnbc.com/local/kprc/A257844.asp
http://www.click2houston.com/hou/news/stories/news-20001127-153529.html
KPRC-TV Health@...

Aspartame Might Be More Sour Than Sweet
HOUSTON, 11:28 p.m. CST November 27, 2000 -
Do you love diet soda or hot chocolate? What
about fat-free yogurt or sugar-free gelatin?
While those products might taste good and be less filling -- in the
calorie department -- one M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
neurologist is warning that some of them may not be good for you. Why?
Because among the dozens of ingredients in
these products is one called aspartame.
"I think there's enough evidence to suggest this is not a good thing
for folks," Dr. Arthur Forman told News2Houston.
Forman believes that aspartame may cause several serious
problems, such as headaches to
seizures and irritability to birth defects.
The doctor said that some studies, including one by Dr. John
Olney from Washington University, shows that aspartame may be
linked to brain tumors.
But one of the least known side effects, an ironic one, is that
aspartame, which is found in many diet foods,
may increase your appetite.
"Many patients find it stimulates the appetite," Forman said.
Forman says that aspartame contains an amino acid called
phenylalanine, which causes insulin to be released, triggering hunger.
Some people are allergic to phenylalanine and can suffer brain
damage and other complications if they take it.
Aspartame also contains aspartic acid and methanol, which breaks
down to formaldehyde in the body.
Forman believes that pregnant women
and children should not consume aspartame.
"There are mechanisms to see this is causing serious problems for
some folks," Forman said. "I don't recommend it for anyone, frankly."
But FDA spokeswoman Sheryl Baylor says consuming aspartame is OK.
"The FDA does believe it's safe," Baylor said.
Baylor said that after the agency conducted studies on aspartame,
it approved it, except for people who are allergic to phenylalanine.
She acknowledged, however, that any substance can cause side effects.
"We continue to look at the product and review complaints," Baylor said.

For those concerned, Baylor and Forman suggest checking labels
closely, because many products containing aspartame could surprise you,
like some laxatives and children's vitamins. The FDA says that it is
the law that if a product contains aspartame,
it must be listed on the label.
Aspartame Toxicity Info Center http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/
Sugar Substitutes: Americans Opt for Sweetness and Lite
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fdsugar.html
*********************************************************

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
HOUSTON HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER
M. D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030
1-800-392-1611 (USA) / 1-713-792-6161
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Program in Pharmacology
Department of Integrative Biology, Pharmacology, and Physiology
The University of Texas Medical School
P.O. Box 20708 Houston, Texas 77225-0708
Telephone: 713-500-7502 Fax: 713-500-7455
Arthur D Forman adforman@...
Associate Professor, Clinical Neuro-Oncology 713/794-1286
1515 Holcombe Blvd Box 0100 Houston, TX 77030

Medical School: Hahnemann University School Of Medicine
Internship: Hahnemann University School Of Medicine
Residency: Brigham & Women's Hospital (Boston, MA, )
Radcliffe Infirmary (Oxford, , England )
Fellowship: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Degrees: MD, BA
Board Certification: Neurology
Clinical Interests: Neurologic effects of systemic cancer:
I have interests in toxic effects of therapy,
treatment of metastatic disease, stroke in cancer patients,
migraines in cancer patients.
Director, Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory
Clinical and research interests: Toxicity of therapy
to the central nervous system
******************************************************

WebMD: Barclay: Barth:
survey shows aspartame hurts memory in students 11.9.00

Thursday, November 09, 2000
What's Put in Your Mouth Could Go to Your Head
Diet Can Affect the Brain -- for Better or Worse
By Laurie Barclay, MD WebMD Medical News
Reviewed by Dr. Jacqueline Brooks

Nov. 8, 2000 -- There's good news and bad news when it comes to diet
and memory. The bad news is that the artificial sweetener aspartame
may make memory worse, but the good news is that eating breakfast,
fruits, and vegetables may help make it better. That's according to
research presented at a Society for Neuroscience meeting this week in
New Orleans.

Since NutraSweet, or aspartame, became popular as a sugar substitute
for the weight conscious, some users have complained of memory
problems and headaches that disappear when they cut back on how much
they use. Previous studies couldn't confirm this link, suggesting that
the types of memory impairments studied were different from those
reported by the patients, explains researcher Timothy M. Barth, PhD,
chairman of psychology at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Or, aspartame users might be dieting because of low self-esteem and
anxiety over their body image. If they also were anxious about their
intellectual function, they might be more prone to report perceived
memory problems.

To help sort out the possibilities, Barth's group gave 90 college
students a nutrition survey and a memory questionnaire. Aspartame
users reported more memory problems than nonusers, especially
forgetting that a task was completed until it was started again,
forgetting to perform a task at a certain time, or forgetting a
regular routine.

Although these findings suggest that aspartame users as a whole
believe they have memory problems, they performed about the same as
nonusers on short-term memory tests, like remembering a word list, a
phone number, or a series of faces. While these tests measure memory
for something that just happened, they may not reflect memory problems
these people have in their lives outside of the study...

Aspartame is broken down into substances that are unhealthy for the
brain, but the body may be able to protect the brain from limited
amounts. "Maybe the normal safeguards break down with time, with
stress, and with heavy exposure," Barth says. People with brain injury
may be especially vulnerable to the effects of aspartame, as are the
elderly and young children. And future studies might need to look at
long-term memory problems after years of heavy aspartame use.

Many students in Barth's study drank four to six diet sodas -- or more
each day. "Occasional use might be OK, but no one in my lab drinks
diet soda," Barth says.

Timothy M. Barth has 16 studies listed in PubMed, 1982-2000.
http://www.psy.tcu.edu/psy/barth.htm
Tmothy M. Barth Department of Psychology t.barth@...
Texas Christian University TCU Box 298920 Fort Worth, TX 76129
Chairman, Physiological Psychology 817-921-7410
*********************************************************

Edelberg: WholeHealthMD.com: aspartame, methanol, formaldehyde 2.23.00

WholeHealthMD LLC
632 Broadway, 5th floor
New York, NY 10012 212-651-8500
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/contactus/0,1562,,00.html
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/askexperts/
askexperts_viewt/0,1327,12,00.html

My husband and I have been using Equal instead of regular sugar on
cereals, in drinks, and even in recipes. We're recently hearing
comments like "aspartame causes Alzheimer's" and "you're ingesting
formaldehyde if you use those sugar substitutes." Is any of this true?

According to chief medical consultant David Edelberg, M.D.,
FDA approval is no guarantee that a substance is risk-free. For
example, the artificial sweetener cyclamate was approved for years
until studies showed that in high doses it could cause cancer in
laboratory animals. Possible cancer links, based on animal studies,
have also been reported with saccharin (Sweet 'n Low).
Though there have not been any direct links between the use of
artificial sweeteners and cancer in people, some health experts
remain concerned.

Dr. Edelberg notes that both NutraSweet and Equal contain
aspartame, a compound that is made from amino acids and
methyl alcohol. Once it is absorbed, aspartame can decrease
the availability of the amino acid tryptophan and reduce the
brain level of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Because these
changes are associated with sleep disturbances and mood
disorders, patients with high blood pressure, Parkinson's
disease, attention deficit disorder, and probably mood
disorders should be careful about using aspartame. However,
such changes do not result in Alzheimer's disease, the cause
of which remains unknown.

Most people probably don't notice a thing when using these
sweeteners. However, Dr. Edelberg comments that "some
people who use lots of aspartame might discover that their
headaches, memory loss, mood swings, or fainting spells clear
up when they sweeten with a little honey instead. In my
practice, which covers a lot of people who just don't feel well, I
routinely take patients off aspartame if they tell me they're
using it."

Actually, you're not ingesting formaldehyde when you use
aspartame, but rather methyl alcohol, which is converted into
formaldehyde by the liver. Methyl alcohol is, of course, used
in antifreeze, and it's the formaldehyde conversion that causes
all the unpleasantness associated with drinking the stuff. Dr.
Edelberg notes, however, that the amount of methyl alcohol
contained in Equal is very small, so using it is not the same as
sipping antifreeze!

Instead of aspartame and other artificial sweeteners, Dr.
Edelberg usually recommends that his patients use stevia (a
natural sweetener that is extracted from a South American
plant), honey, molasses, maple syrup, or Sucanat, an organic
granulated sweetener evaporated from freshly squeezed
sugarcane juice.
Date Posted: 02/23/2000
*********************************************

http://www.wholehealthmd.com/about/biofull/0,1302,4,00.html
Special interests
Dr. Edelberg has a long-standing interest in chronic illnesses that
have eluded conventional treatment, especially those prevalent in
people under age 60, such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome,
migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia and back pain.

Board certified Internal medicine and gerontology
Medical degree University of Illinois
Internship Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago
Residencies Vanderbilt and Northwestern University Hospitals
Academic appointments Assistant Professor of Medicine,
Rush Medical College, Chicago;
Section Chief, Holistic & Internal Medicine,
Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Other Founder, American WholeHealth

As a practicing physician for more than 25 years, Dr. Edelberg
brings a wealth of clinical expertise to WholeHealthMD. From the
mid-1970s to the early 1990s, Dr. Edelberg was medical director of
Health First, Chicago's largest privately held group of primary-care
clinics.

In 1993, he founded American WholeHealth, a national network of
health-care centers specializing in integrative care (an approach
that combines the best of conventional and alternative medicine.)

Dr. Edelberg is chief medical advisor of WholeHealthMD and the
WholeHealthMD Advisor newsletter. He has written many articles,
consulted on numerous books, and often speaks to mainstream
physicians about alternative and integrative medicine. He lives
with his wife and two sons in Chicago.

"One morning recently, it came to me that on virtually every
working day for the past 30 years I have been taking care of
patients one-on-one, listening as people revealed their lives and
pains, their anxieties and worst fears. 'Boy!' I thought, 'What a
long time!'

"Then, it also occurred to me that I'm lucky to still immensely
enjoy what I do and that I was actually looking forward to the
patients I'd be seeing later that afternoon. And, looking back over
those three decades, I decided that the five finest words any
doctor can ever hear are: 'I think I'm feeling better.'"
***************************************************

Rush Medical College Chicago, Illinois 60612
http://www.rushu.ush.edu/medcol/
medcol@... 312-942-6913

American Whole Health, Inc. http://www.AmericanWholeHealth.com
Corporate Headquarters
11150 Sunset Hills Road
Reston, Virginia 20190 (703) 437-6336 FinchC@...
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