Re: aspartame and dopamine

[Kelly Grant <kglw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nancy thanks for the info.  I'm diabetic (& PD) and have been using alot of
aspartame over the years and am now wondering if I should stop
Kelly in Calgary
----- Original Message -----
From: Nancy Burnham <burnham@xxxxxxx>
To: <PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 16, 2000 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: aspartame and dopamine


> Here is some information that is in a book "Surviving the Toxic Crisis"
> written by Dr. Wm Kellas.  Dr Kellas has a PhD in Nutritional
Biochemistry.
>
> Aspartame, a relatively recently introduced artificial sweeterner, is made
> up of the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid.  It tastes more
like
> sugar than either cyclamate or saccharin, and does not have the bitter or
> salty aftertaste associated with saccharin.  It is the most prevalent
> artificial sweeterner in uses today, and is used in a wide variety of diet
> products, esspecially diet sodeas.  It cannot be ued to cooked or baked
> goods since it will decompose with heat.
>
> The manufacturers tout the fact that their product is made of these
natural
> ingredients, the two amino acids.  However, when chemically combined they
> are not the same as they would be individually, and their breakdown
> products, such as methanol and its metabolic byproduct formaldehyde, can
be
> toxic.
>
> There have been a number of health problems associated with aspartame use.
> About 6000 consumers have called the FDA and volunteered information on
side
> effects, including hundreds of cases of convulsions.  Other side effects
> reported include:
>
> Headaches, depression, hyperactivity, nausea, confusion, disiness, rashes,
> insomnia, impaired bision, miuscle weakness, memory loss and diarrhea.
>
> Asparatame can ironically, cause weight gain, the opposite of the reason
> most people use the additive.  The sweet taste, althought not due to
sugar,
> can stimulate the relase of insulin, which increassed the appetite and
leads
> to more food consumption.  The insulin reaction can also cause control
> problems for diabetics and hypoglycemics.
>
> Aspartame caused severe joint pain in 58 of 551 (10.5%) aspartame reactor.
> This pain is sometimes mistaken for arthritis, but goes away when
aspartame
> use is discountinued.  Headaches and particular sensitivity to aspartame
> among those with mood disorders were also linked to aspartame use under
> placebo-controlled clinical conditions.
>
> BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!       I  believe it.
>
> Nancy B  cg for Don 66/17
>