Why don't you run on over and look at this.
Just look at the pictures and captions if you don't have the patience to read the full article.
Please note that she gave the rats aspartame which was proportionally equivalent to a human having one diet soda per day.
The study continued for 2 years 8 months, until the rats died. Meanwhile, the rats suffered from tumors (37% of them!), bleeding eyes, bulging eyes, partial paralysis, balance, issues, birth defects (missing eyes), and low birthweight.
Unsteady gait is #61 on the FDA's list of aspartame symptoms. Change in body weight (obesity) is #53. Changes in skin, hair, or nailes are #65 and 66. Death is #77.
4 comments:
YIKES. Puts all those fears in my head about touching the stuff into a very tangible perspective, doesn't it?
You know what makes me mad? Splenda. I am *extremely* wary of it, have read accounts of bad reactions to it all over the internet, and yet this crap is being put into all sorts of products and only being labeled as "less sugar!" or "fewer calories!". DH and myself have accidentally purchased some juices, etc. with Splenda (sucralose on the ingredients label) snuck into them. It has a really yucky aftertaste, too. I really hate that I have to be so careful of what I buy. In my opinion, it should be required to have a big ol' fat [[[SPLENDA!!!!]]] label in bold, plain sight on the label. Even my beloved Plum Smart juice now comes in a variety with Splenda. At least they haven't replaced the original...but the label differences between the two are minimal. Ugh.
Anyway, thanks for sharing the aspartame link. Scary stuff.
Yet another reason to head back to whole foods.
oh man now that is scary!
I try to avoid all artificial sweeteners but I am sure they are in things I haven't even thought about!
This website is perpetuating false information. Whether it is "myaspartameexperiment.com" or the latest scientific papers by Soffritti et al (2006 or 2007), all these experiments have been done incorrectly. I have just demonstrated at a national meeting serious problems with all aspartame studies, pro or con. But experiments finding no problems are likely correct, while errors in experimental procedures are evident in "myaspartameexperiment.com" or the Soffritti et al papers. These experimental errors will not be discussed, because both contain a critical and fatal error of design, that can be appreciated even by science fair students. Several facts must be made evident first.
FACT: aspartame is hydrolyzed to methanol which is oxidized to formaldehyde.
FACT: Methanol and formaldehyde are natural substances required for proper amounts of formate. Formate is used by the folate vitamin system to make methyl and methylene groups that regulate DNA.
FACT: formaldehyde also reacts with folic acid causing this vitamin to be excreted in the urine; that makes it unavailable to do what it does, convert formate to methyl groups that regulate DNA. Supplemental folate overcomes any such loss, whether the methanol (formaldehyde) originates with aspartame or with apple or tomato juice.
These experiments all used control rats fed 0 aspartame and treated rats fed various doses of aspartame. But the methanol and formaldehyde from the aspartame depleted the folic acid in just the treated group and that led to tumors evident in just the treated group. Leukemia, lymphoma, and mammary tumors are known to result from folic acid deficiency. If the experiments had been done correctly, they would have included a third group: animals supplemented with folate and then treated with aspartame. They did not and hence all these experiments have reached invalid and biased conclusions, because they were simply done incorrectly. But guess what? The same error occurred in the original 1970ish Searle studies; so they are invalid too. Yet their finding of folate deficiency linkable tumors has become the basis for the internet conspiracy that aspartame is bad for you. All are invalid as are claims of aspartame toxicity. "Aspartame is perfectly safe, used as directed in healthy people." But many people are folate deficient, not because they use aspartame, but because they refuse to take multiple vitamins containing folate. All that is required is 400 micrograms/day. Many things deplete folate, including antibiotics, but with out supplements you will be deficient and at risk for tumors, even if you don't use aspartame.
John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Toxicology)
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