Aspartame Free Gum

Some people who are concerned their your weight, think that substitutes, such as aspartame, are better than sugar for your health. Serious error…

At first sight, it is brilliant: to sweeten the product without undergoing the disadvantages of the added calories! However, the list of the complaints connected to this substitute of sugar does not is very long, particularly in the United States, where people have a large consumption of “diet” products. Some reports and complaints suggest now that the consumption of aspartame involves side effects ranging from the simple headache to brain tumours.

Indeed, the American statistics coming from the National Institute of Cancer reveal an alarming rise of the number of brain tumours: in 1983,2,1% of cancers at the men were located at the brain; in 1987, rate had gone up to 8,1% for men, climbing even to 11,7% among women! By asking many questions ,the researchers noted that this big rise precisely coincides with the appearance, in 1983, of fizzy drinks made with aspartame. The debate for its withdrawal of the market has not cease since.

Additive or drug?
Aspartame was discovered by chance in 1965 at the Searle laboratory, in the United States, by a scientist who sought to develop a drug against the ulcers. While tasting a pinch of its powder ,he realized that it had a surprisingly sweetened taste. This discovery was a blessing for the food industry, which sought an alternative with the cyclamates and saccharin, prohibited in food by the government since studies in animals show that they cause cancers. Aspartame was authorized in dry food in 1981, then in fizzy drinks and pop in 1983.

Marketed under the name of NutraSweet and Equal, aspartame is a sweetening synthetic modified genetically and composed of two amino-acids (component of proteins), phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Its sweetening capacity is 200 times higher than that of the sucrose. It has even elements of conspiracy linked to it, since the Pentagon already named aspartame in an inventory of chemical weapons! In fact, as well G.D. Searle, the chemical company previously mentioned , Monsato, now owner and manufacturer of aspartame, have tangible bonds with the manufacture of chemical weapons.

Expensive studies:
In 1974 aspartame is approved for the first time. Following two studies showing that this substance causes tumours in the animals in the laboratory, the authorization is repealed. These studies were never refuted since. In September 1980, after deliberation, a committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decides against aspartame. Four months later, G.D. Searle subjects ten new studies, which will tip the scales on the side of aspartame by a vote. According to Dr. Adrian Large, former toxicologist of the FDA, these studies are rubbish. He noted that deaths of animals were hidden, that tumours were not reported and, in certain cases, that they were even extracted from the animal which, was given to him in the study!

In 1996, doctor and professor Ralph G. Walton, college of medicine of Northeastern Ohio University, decided to analyze the whole of the scientific studies connected to the consumption of aspartame. His observations speak for themselves: among the 174 analyzed studies, 74 were financed by the industry of aspartame, and 100% of them concluded that there was no problem with this product! However, on 90 independent studies (not financed), 83 (92%) rather raised one or more problems connected to the use of this sweetening substance. Aspartame is the object of controversy since its appearance; even its approval concerns a decision more political than scientific.

Disconcerting side effects:
The list of the side effects related to consumption of aspartame is very long. Moreover, according to the Headache review of November 1997, particularly sensitive people can feel effects with a very low dose: chewing gum, for example, can cause an headache. In 1994, the FDA had already accumulated nearly 7000 complaints of side effects connected to aspartame.