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In 1987, scientists and aspartame-sensitive seizure patients made the government aware of the link between the consumption of aspartame and the onset of seizures and convulsions, reports Dr. H.J. Roberts in Aspartame (NutraSweet): Is It Safe. On November 3, 1987, the U.S. Senate held a hearing entitled "'NutraSweet' -- Health and Safety Concerns." In this hearing, people from a wide variety of occupations, including an Air Force pilot, told the Senate about their aspartame-induced grand mal seizures. These individuals reported that their seizures disappeared after abstaining from aspartame consumption.
By all ethical standards, the testimonials provided during this 1987 hearing -- combined with the strong scientific evidence demonstrating the health dangers of aspartame -- should have led to the banishment of aspartame-sweetened products from grocery shelves forever; yet, aspartame products are still abundant in our grocery stores and restaurants.
These amino acids can bypass the blood-brain barrier, enabling them both to directly alter your neurological function. Your brain naturally contains phenylalanine, but phenylalanine in its solitary form without its companion amino acids is not normally a part of the human diet. Debra Lynn Dadd, author of Home Safe Home, believes this is where the health problems posed by aspartame begin. Aspartame consumption provides phenylalanine in excess of your brain's normal level. According to James A. May in Miracle of Stevia, this state of excess phenylalanine lowers the seizure threshold, thereby making convulsions more likely.
Researchers know that a raise in brain phenylalanine levels ultimately increases the risk of seizures. This is true even for people without a history of non-aspartame induced seizures, such as the Air Force pilot who testified in the 1987 hearing. However, researchers are still debating the exact role of increased brain phenylalanine levels in inducing seizures. Although many researchers believe that increased brain phenylalanine levels directly cause seizures and convulsions, Dr. Blaylock writes in Excitotoxins that it is "more likely … the direct excitatory effect of the aspartate itself. Phenylalanine may act to potentiate this irritability." Regardless of the precise method, the combined neurological effects of excess phenylalanine and aspartic acid make aspartame a dangerous ingredient.
Advertisements for aspartame commonly portray aspartame as a "healthy" alternative to sugar. Such advertising makes aspartame even more dangerous to consumers who are ignorant of the artificial sweetener's potential side effects. Because of this deceptive advertising, people concerned about their health and the health of their families regularly use aspartame-sweetened products. Rather than switching to a truly healthy diet and exercising more often, people concerned with weight loss may use sugar-free foods sweetened with aspartame to refrain from extra calorie consumption.
True, they're "watching their calories," but they are also putting themselves at risk of suffering from several aspartame-associated health consequences, including insomnia, dehydration, migraines, seizures and brain tumors. Dr. Roberts illustrates with an anecdote about the malignant consequences suffered by consumers because of this deceptive advertising: "A two-year-old with fever suffered seizures within 10 minutes after chewing aspartame-sweetened acetaminophen … This consideration may be significant to health-conscious mothers who elect to give their infants health products containing aspartame rather than sugar (such as vitamins) in an effort to prevent tooth decay."
Imagine the guilt of a poor parent who gives his or her child aspartame-sweetened medication in an effort to make the child healthy or keep the child's teeth free of cavities only to have the child suffer or even die from a grand mal seizure. Aspartame's deceptive advertising is truly inexcusable.
If you've been drinking diet sodas and chewing sugarless gum for decades and you haven't been experiencing convulsions, then consider yourself lucky that you apparently lack the biological tendency that puts you at risk for aspartame-induced convulsions or grand mal seizures. Other individuals have not been so lucky. Seizures aside, however, you may not turn out to be as lucky in avoiding the other health problems commonly associated with aspartame. You can read about these other possible side effects along with stevia, an alternative to both aspartame and natural sugar, at NewsTarget's aspartame and stevia archives. Don't gamble with your body – you're only given one.
Aspartame or Nutrasweet is composed of two
amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. The aspartic acid is as powerful
as an exitotoxin as is glutamate. Phenylalanine is known to produce seizures and
act as a neurotoxin in the brain. … When a sweetener contains high amounts of
these isolated amino acids the brain level may, after ingestion, become high
enough to cause brain cell death, seizures and death.
A Physicians Guide
To Natural Health Products That Work By James Howenstine MD, page 33
A
35-year-old male anesthetist had three grand mal seizures, severe
headaches and visual difficulty while drinking 4-6 diet colas daily, but
none for two years after stopping aspartame. He told the U. S. Senate hearing on
"NutraSweet"—Health and Safety Concerns, held on November 3, 1987:
Aspartame - Is It Safe by H J Roberts MD, page 14
To test this, scientists used chemicals
that are known to precipitate seizures in animals, such as pentylenetetrazol and
flurothyl. Pinto and Maher found that aspartame, when given orally in doses of
1000 to 2000 milligram per kilogram, did potentiate the convulsant action of
these two chemicals.They also found that aspartame decreases the time of onset
of seizures and increases the number of animals showing tonic-clonic convulsions
when exposed to pentylenetetrazol.
Excitotoxins by Russell L Blaylock
MD, page 197
CONVULSIONS ARE AMONG THE most serious
reactions attributable to aspartame products. There are various classifications
of convulsions—also referred to as epilepsy,
seizures and "fits." In this series of 551 persons with adverse reactions to
aspartame products, 80 (14.5 percent) suffered typical generalized (grand mal)
convulsions, and 18 (3.3 percent) experienced so-called temporal lobe seizures.
Aspartame - Is It Safe by H J Roberts MD, page 81
The problem with aspartame lies in
overconsumption and the fact that phenylalanine alone (without its companion
amino acids) is not a normal part of the diet. Large doses of phenylalanine are
toxic to the brain and can cause mental retardation and seizures in people with
phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder...
Home Safe Home by Debra
Lynn Dadd, page 249
Aspartame products may render young
children more vulnerable to seizures. For example, a two-year-old with fever
suffered seizures within ten minutes after chewing aspartame-sweetened
acetaminophen (a commonly used substitute for aspirin). This consideration may
be significant to health-conscious mothers who elect to give their infants
health products containing aspartame rather than sugar (such as vitamins) in an
effort to prevent tooth decay.
Aspartame - Is It Safe by H J Roberts MD,
page 85
Aspartic acid acts as an "excitatory"
neurotransmitter in the brain. It functions as a chemical messenger, stimulating
the neurons in the brain to "fire." Too much aspartic acid, as well as too much
phenylalanine, entering the brain will cause the brain to get out of balance
with the inhibitory amino acids, therefore interfering with normal brain
function and possibly causing severe brain damage. Dr. Julian Whitaker suggests, "This is a likely reason why
aspartame lowers the threshold of seizures, mood disorders, and other
nervous system problems. This altered brain chemistry may also be responsible for the addictive nature of aspartame.
Miracle Of Stevia by James A May, page
160
The unknowing
consumption of aspartame, whether by in-gestion or the chewing of gum,
predictably triggered subsequent grand mal seizures. The amount of aspartame
ingested in some patients was remarkably small. This is illustrated by an infant
who developed convulsions when his nursing mother drank an aspartame soft
drink...
aspartame - Is It Safe by H J Roberts MD, page 83
Aspartame has been proven to cause
seizures in research studies on human subjects. The simultaneous ingestion of
Crystal Light and NutraSweet has often caused seizures. One man who had an
abnormal vein deep in his brain stopped having seizures when he stopped using
aspartame and Crystal Light. The lowering of the seizure threshold seen with
aspartame may permit seizures to appear in persons with small brain scars from a
difficult childbirth or brain injury who would have lived their lives seizure free
without the aspartame usage.
A Physicians Guide To Natural Health
Products That Work By James Howenstine MD, page 34
...In addition, the two amino acids that
comprise aspartame, phenyl-alanine and aspartic acid, can bypass the blood-brain
barrier and enter the brain, upsetting the balance of neurotransmitters and
brain chemistry. High intake of aspartame has been linked with a number of
adverse effects, including headache, vision loss, seizures, mood disorders, and other nervous system problems.
Reversing Diabetes by Julian Whitaker MD, page 126
Those who oppose excitotoxins used as food additives frequently cite that they can either
precipitate seizures in persons known to have a history of seizures, or they can
actually cause seizures. This became especially prevalent with the introduction
of the artificial sweetener aspartame or, as it is better known, NutraSweet(R).
Excitotoxins by Russell L Blaylock MD, page 191
Another physician informed me about a
commercial pilot who had lost his license because of unexplained convulsions.
Deducing they probably were triggered by aspartame beverages,
he abstained from such products... and became seizure-free. In an attempt to
document such specific intolerance and regain his pilot's license, he
purposefully rechallenged himself with an aspartame soft drink. Another seizure
promptly ensued.
Aspartame - Is It Safe by H J Roberts MD, page 90
A study was performed at the University of
Wisconsin on the affects of aspartame on rhesus monkeys Monkeys, being close in
their physiologies to humans, are excellent subjects for study. These monkeys,
treated with aspartame, all experienced grand mal epileptic seizures after day
200 of a 52-week study. Blood samples from these primates revealed extremely
high levels of phenylalanine in their blood serum. The researchers, noting that
50 percent of aspartame consisted of phenylalanine, attributed those seizures to
aspartame ingestion. After the study ended and the aspartame was removed from
the animal's diets, no further seizure activity was observed.
Milk The
Deadly Poison by Robert Cohen, page 264
A
29-year-old businessman sought consultation because of recurrent grand mal
seizures over an 18-month period. He had begun drinking considerable amounts of
diet soft drinks (see related ebook on soft
drinks) and eating
other aspartame products six months before the first convulsion. He suffered
five major attacks even while on relatively large doses of phenytoin and
carbama-zepine. The patient had no further seizures for six months after
stopping all aspartame products.
Aspartame - Is It Safe by H J Roberts
MD, page 87
Seizures occur in 15% of people sensitive
to aspartame, most of whom suffered their first convulsions after consuming a
diet product. A single dose of aspartame can trigger a seizure in susceptible
patients. Children who have unexplained seizures should be questioned regarding
their ingestion of aspartame and glutamates.
The Enzyme Cure by Lita Lee
with Lisa Turner & Burton Goldberg, page 210
A 19-year-old woman had convulsions that
were finally attributed to aspartame. She remained seizure-free for 11 months by
avoiding such products. She then was handed a piece of "sugar-free" gum at a
ball game. Multiple grand mal convulsions recurred within minutes after chewing
it.
Aspartame - Is It Safe by H J Roberts MD, page 77
No other underlying cause could be found
in most of these patients, despite extensive tests such as CT (computerized
tomography, formerly CAT) scan, MRI
(magnetic resonance imaging), EEG (electroencephalogram), and even an angiogram
of the cerebral blood vessels. Aspartame-caused seizures disappear or
dramatically decrease when aspartame is avoided, even without antiepileptic
drugs.
The Enzyme Cure by Lita Lee with Lisa Turner & Burton
Goldberg, page 210
A young Air Force pilot told the
Senate hearing held on November 3, 1987 that he suffered a grand mal seizure
while consuming up to one gallon of an aspartame beverage daily. There had been
no recurrence over the ensuing two years of abstinence.
aspartame - Is
It Safe by H J Roberts MD, page 14
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