Believe it or Not – Aspartame Defended!
Is aspartame bad for you? Of course it is in high enough amounts.
Yet an article; being little more than thinly veiled advertisement for Pepsi, points out all the reasons why aspartame has been demonised by us on the ‘other side’ of the pro-aspartame fence.
What is known is that there are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption. Additionally there is a plethora of research to indicate its negative impact on health.
Aspartame which is up to 200 times sweeter than sugar, has been the subject of controversy since it was approved for use in 1980. It can be found in some cereals, yoghurts, soft drinks and other sugar free products.
Aspartame tricks your body into thinking it’s getting something sweet, so your body constantly craves more.
Aspartame makes it difficult to know when you’re getting full; it’s the ultimate sinister additive to foods. If you don’t see the word aspartame, this doesn’t mean that you’re free and clear of the body-harming ingredient.
Aspartame may be disguised under its changed name, “AminoSweet,” which combines amino acids with a sweet taste. It’s not uncommon to find this in many meal replacements.
In early may 2015, aspartame was removed from the Diet Pepsi recipe in the US as a response to consumer concerns over its safety and a steady decline in sales.
Diet Pepsi has instead replaced aspartame with sucralose and acesulfame potassium. These products have not caused nearly as much fear as aspartame.
However as was briefly explored in Toxic Weight Loss Shakes – Available at Your Pharmacy Now! the chemical process to make sucralose (also known as Splenda) alters the chemical composition of the original sugar molecule so that it is converted to a fructo-galactose molecule.
This type of sugar molecule does not occur in nature, consequently our bodies are unable to properly metabolise it. As a result of this “unique” biochemical make-up, manufacturers can claim that Splenda is not digested or metabolised by the body, allowing it to have zero calories.
Acesulfame potassium also known as Acesulfame K is often blended with other sweeteners (usually sucralose or aspartame).
The evil stepchild of aspartame, Acesulfame potassium has been linked to causing cancer and mutating DNA. It also disrupts the central nervous system and throw hormones off balance.
These blends are reputed to give a more sucrose-like taste whereby each sweetener masks the other’s aftertaste, and/or exhibits a synergistic effect by which the blend is sweeter than its components.
However it is aspartame that gets the lions share of media attention. As stated by the vice president of Pepsi Seth Kaufman “Aspartame is the number one reason consumers are dropping diet soda.”
The commentator of the article Emma Reynolds is at great pains to highlight that repeated tests have shown aspartame to not be harmful to humans at levels typically consumed.
What Reynolds doesn’t mention or refer to is a survey of the studies of aspartame in peer-reviewed medical literature. Of the 166 studies felt to have relevance for questions of human safety, 74 had Nutra-sweet industry (those who make aspartame) related funding and 92 were independently funded.
One hundred percent of the research performed by the company who makes aspartame confirmed aspartame’s safety, whereas 92% of the independently funded research found problems with consuming aspartame.
According to Reynolds aspartame has become the new gluten and vilified as a deadly risk to our health by “wellness bloggers” and conspiracy theorists across the internet.
This comparison conveniently ignores the very real figures that indicate 7% of the population are gluten sensitive, and more than 20% are avoiding gluten and now buying gluten-free products. Signs and symptoms ranging from brain fog, low immunity, gut issues such as bloating and diarrhoea, to ADHD and auto immune conditions are a reality for many individuals of all ages.
We have been tarred by the Belle Gibson brush it would seem and put firmly in our place!
This is an incredibly dangerous point of attack.
Yes Belle Gibson has been judged as a fraud.
However there are a considerable number of health commentators that are qualified and provide useful and science based advice to improve health outcomes for patients and the wider community.
By all of us being lumped under the same umbrella as other spurious individuals, practical information is being ignored and/ or belittled to a point where it is completely undermined in legitimacy.
Not afraid in bringing emotion into her argument, Reynolds states that these faddy trends (such as gluten free, GMO free) are an ‘expensive, pointless and sometimes hysterical distraction from the simple ways we can be healthier’.
To flippantly compare gluten to aspartame is insulting to sufferers, their family and practitioners. To state that gluten intolerance is merely a fad is at best ignorant and at worse dangerous.
In this scenario the rhetoric surrounding aspartame and its insidious impact on health is well and truly justified.
A misleading article and an unqualified journalist in the health area from news.com.au cannot tell us otherwise.
Further Reading
- Demonised sweetener aspartame is the new gluten
- Five of the Worst Foods You Can Eat
- The Dangers of Artificial Sweeteners
- What Hidden Nasties Are Lurking in Your Food?
- Toxic Weight Loss Shakes – Available at Your Pharmacy Now!
- Gluten-Digesting Enzymes: A Breakthrough For The Gluten Sensitive
- Tasty Gluten Free Recipes
- Gluten – Irritates the Gut, Drugs the Brain
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