I have scanned this article from today's Daily Mirror Magazine in the UK.

Have your cake and eat it
By Frances Ive. (c)Daily Mirror Magazine Saturday 16th February 20022


Replacing sugary snacks and juices with 'low-cal' foods and 'diet' drinks
seems like the healthy option. But there's increasing concern about an
artificial sweetener called Aspartame, found in most of these 'light'
alternatives, which has been linked with over 90 ailments. . .

Aspartame appears in thousands of everyday brands including children's
vitamins and medicines. It is in most products bearing the words 'low
sugar', 'reduced sugar', 'low calorie', 'no sugar', 'diet' or 'light'. It is
sometimes found under its trade name, NutraSweet(r) , or simply as E951.
Reports have linked excessive Aspartame intake with headaches, dizziness,
rashes, aching joints, migraines, fatigue, depression and hyperactivity in
children. It has also been cited as a possible factor in cases of brain
damage, Alzheimer's, impaired eyesight, epilepsy, Parkinson's Disease and
multiple sclerosis. But the company that markets NutraSweet(r) denies there
is any proof to support these claims: 'Allegations continue to arise from a
relatively small number of individuals, based on anecdotes and personal
opinion. Such misinformation... may have resulted in individuals wrongly
attributing symptoms to Aspartame.'

So, why is Aspartame thought to be harmful?

Developed in the laboratory, Aspartame is a chemical containing
phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol (or wood alcohol). It breaks down
into formaldehyde, a known poison, which accumulates in the cells of the
body and could damage DNA. Some people are believed to be more at risk than
others because their bodies are not as efficient at preventing toxins going
into the brain. They include diabetics, smokers, and people with high blood
pressure.

Diabetes UK (the charity for people with diabetes) actually recommends that
diabetics drink diet drinks because they must not have sugar, and they
currently refute suggestions that Aspartame is harmful. Together with the
government's food watchdog, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), they do,
however, acknowledge that people with the inherited disease,
phenylketonuria, whose bodies cannot metabolise phenylalanine, must not
consume Aspartame. Therefore all products containing the sweetener must
carry the warning: 'Contains a source of phenylalanine.'

Should I be worried about it?

So far there is no independent scientific evidence that Aspartame is unsafe.
Safety fears are refuted by manufacturers, and regulatory authorities
worldwide as well as the World Health Organisation accept all existing
studies.
But many scientists have doubts about trials back in the '80s which passed
Aspartame as safe. And their fears are borne out by a number of GPs we have
contacted who now ask their patients about their Aspartame consumption. Last
year the FSA sent some 500 documents claiming that Aspartame is unsafe to
the Scientific Committee on Food Secretariat in Brussels and their findings
are awaited. If it can be proven to be harmful an EU ban could follow.

Are manufacturers and supermarkets taking any action?

Two years ago Iceland Stores banned Aspartame in all their own-label
products, and Virgin Group reduced its content in all its diet drinks by
30%. But a survey of the supermarket shelves reveals that there are still
many products containing Aspartame (see list below).

Is there a 'safe' level of consumption per day?

The FSA recommends an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for Aspartame - 40mg per
kilo of body weight which equals 2,800mg per day for the average British
adult who weighs 70 kilos (about 11st). The FSA claims that to reach the ADI
an adult needs to drink 14 cans of diet drink containing Aspartame each day,
and even then they can reach the limit only if the drink has its maximum
permitted level of the chemical. However, an average three-year-old would be
over the ADI with more than three cans of Diet Coke (600mg of Aspartame)
and a typical 11-year-old would be over with seven cans.

'Aspartame in my vitamins made me ill'

Joanna Clarke, 50, of Glasgow, believes that Aspartame was the cause of her
health problems.

'I kept having giddy spells after drinking diet drinks and flavoured spring
waters, and I realised it might be the Aspartame, so I stopped drinking
them. Then, a few years later I switched brands of Vitamin C tablets. I was
taking four a day because I thought they'd be good for me. I began to have
pains in my joints, a stiff neck and a bad hip. Despite seeing a
physiotherapist, an orthopaedic specialist, a sports clinic doctor and an
osteopath, no one could find anything wrong with me. After three years of
suffering I noticed that my Vitamin C contained Aspartame. I stopped taking
it as I suspected it didn't agree with me but I didn't connect it with my
pains. Gradually the pain and stiffness went. Later on, I took some medicine
which also contained . Aspartame. I needed to take it to get better but was
worried about getting giddy again. The day after I started taking it I woke
up with a sore neck and it felt like the same pain I'd had when I was taking
Vitamin C with Aspartame.'

Joanna is now the Scottish coordinator for the Additive Survivors Network

Just some of the products containing Aspartame

If you are concerned, always check the list of ingredients, especially on
reduced or no-sugar drinks and food, and on vitamin supplements.

* Boots Children's Complete Chewable Multivitamins & Minerals
* Boots Vitamin C Tablets
* Cadbury Highlights
* Canderel
* Colgate Dental Gum
* Diet Coke
* Diet Pepsi
* Fybogel (laxative)
* Haliborange Multivitamins Plus Calcium and Iron
* Hermasetas Gold
* Lemsip
* Lilt Light
* Lucozade Sport
* Options
* Müller Light Yogurts
* Orbit Chewing Gum
* Ovaltine Light
* Pepsi Max
* Ribena Light
* Robinson's No Added Sugar Orange and Original Whole Orange
* Rowntrees Sugar Free Jelly
* Sanatogen Chewable High Strength Vitamin C
* Silver Spoon Half Spoon Granulated Sugar and Low Calorie Granulated
Sweetener
* Walkers Prawn Cocktail Crisps
* Wrigleys Air Waves and Extra Sugar Free Gum.

Where can I get more info?

* See http://www.food.gov.uk, the FSA's website.

* For details of the Additive Survivors Network (ASN) send an SAE plus a £5
cheque made payable to The Green Network Charitable Trust to: Geoff Brewer,
National Coordinator, ASN (UK), 63 Downlands Road,
Devizes, Wiltshire SNl0 5EF or see http://www.additivesout.org.uk.
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