You Aren’t Safe with Refined Sugar, But Neither with Aspartame

If you think you’re eating healthily because you’ve replaced your sugar with aspartame, you may want to think again! Although it is true that refined sugar is a killer, aspartame on the other hand, doesn’t do better. But what is aspartame and where do you get it? You may not be very aware, but your alternative sweeteners like Equal-Measure, NutraSweet, Spoonful and Equal are made of aspartame. In fact, it is their technical name.

Aspartame may have gained approval in the 80’s to be used as sweeteners for dry goods and beverages, BUT the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has put its approval on hold following the accounts of over 75 per cent of adverse reactions reported after consuming aspartame. These adverse reactions include seizures and death, which are far more fatal than the adverse effects brought by consuming refined sugar.

The Dangers of Consuming Aspartame

The consumption of aspartame may result to the following neurological and other adverse reactions:

• Headaches and migraines
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Seizures
• Numbness
• Muscle spasms
• Rashes
• Weight gain
• Fatigue
• Depression
• Irritability
• Tachycardia
• Vision problems
• Insomnia
• Hearing loss
• Heart palpitations
• Breathing difficulties
• Slurred speech
• Loss of taste
• Anxiety attacks
• Vertigo
• Tinnitus
• Joint pain
• Memory loss.

According to research, some chronic illnesses can easily be triggered by feeding on aspartame and these include:

• Brain tumours
• Epilepsy
• Multiple sclerosis
• Parkinson’s disease
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Mental retardation
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Birth defects
• Lymphoma
• Fibromyalgia
• Diabetes.

What Makes Aspartame the Most Dangerous Food Additive in the 21^st Century?

When diet sodas were first introduced in the market, they were advertised as diet friendly that support weight loss. However, the truth behind it is that you are killing yourself in the process and it doesn’t ever help with weight loss at all. Now, aspartame is a neurotoxin and those women who drink diet soda thinking it helps them lose weight have a 50 per cent increase in death risk.

Aspartame is a chemical compound manufactured in industrial laboratories. It is made from the feces of genetically engineered bacteria and when used in diet sodas, it disintegrates into a few chemical compounds such as methanol and formaldehyde among many others. Aspartame is made of many toxic chemicals including:

• Aspartic Acid and Glutamic acid (40 per cent of aspartame is made of this) – these cause fatal chronic neurological problems and numerous other acute symptoms. Both aspartate and glutamate serve as brain neurotransmitters by assisting information transmission from one neuron to another. When there’s too much aspartate or glutamate in the brain, the neurons die due to the influx of excessive calcium into the cells. This influx elicits large amounts of free radicals that kill the cells.
• Phenylalaine (50 per cent of aspartame) – an amino acid usually found in the brain. People suffering from genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot digest phenylalanine, which leads to precariously high levels of phenylalanine in the brain. Studies found out that ingesting too much aspartame, particularly alongside carbohydrates, can lead to lavish amounts of phenylalanine in the brain, affecting even those who do not have PKU. People who have high levels of phenylalanine in their brain are observed to be suffering from emotional disorders like depression and this makes complete sense as the presence of phenylalanine causes the levels of serotonin in the brain to plummet.
• Methanol (also known as wood alcohol – 10 per cent of aspartame) – well, this is obviously a lethal poison. It is slowly released in the small intestine and it breaks down into formaldehyde – a noxious neurotoxin – in the body. According to an EPA assessment, methanol “is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde.”
• Diketopiperazine (DKP) – is a by-product of aspartame metabolism and is linked to the occurrence of brain tumours. Some authors and researchers mentioned that DKP is created after aspartame consumption. Dr. Jacqueline Verrett, FDA Toxicologist said in her testimony in the U.S. Senate that DKP is also implicated as a cause of changes in blood cholesterol and in uterine polyps.

Natural Alternative to Aspartame and Refined Sugar

There’s no other direct or indirect way of avoiding aspartame, but to stop consuming foods that have it. You have to stop using Splenda or Equal or anything aspartame. You have to stop chewing gums with aspartame in it, or drinking diet sodas that are obviously sweetened with aspartame. If you need an alternative to refined sugar, aspartame is not the answer. In fact, you can use natural sweeteners like coconut sugar, date sugar, and muscovado (unrefined brown sugar). Or, you can buy Xylitol – a naturally-occurring carbohydrate found in fibrous fruits and vegetables. It looks like sugar; it tastes like sugar minus the unpleasant aftertaste.