Aspartame

MSG is my issue.  MSG: the toxic cousin of toxic aspartame.  But when the greedy dairy industry proposed to hide aspartame more deeply in “flavored milk” -- not just use aspartame in "flavored milk" -- it was more than I could stomach. 

If you’ve been following the Truth in Labeling Campaign, you know that Jack Samuels had a life-threatening sensitivity of processed free glutamic acid (MSG).  Searching for insight into his problem, he found that the glutamic acid portion of monosodium glutamate kills brain cells in the area of the hypothalamus and causes subsequent endocrine disorders;[1] and he found that aspartic acid, a second neurotoxic amino acid, does exactly the same.[2] 

Over time, Jack found out more about the aspartic acid in aspartame.  Glutamic acid and aspartic acid are structural analogs, they cause the same brain damage in the same regions of the brain, and both are endocrine disruptors.  Subsequently Jack found that with a single exception[3], MSG and aspartame cause the same adverse reactions.[4],[5] 

There is something else you should know about the relationship between glutamic acid and aspartic acid.  What researchers found to be true of glutamic acid was also true of aspartic acid.  They load on the same receptors in the brain and nervous system and cause the same adverse reactions; and since glutamic acid was easier to work with,[6] relatively little research on the toxic effects of aspartic acid per se was done.  Thus when you hear from the aspartame industry (which in my thinking includes the FDA) that there is very little research pointing to the toxic potential of aspartic acid or aspartame, you need to realize that the abundance of research that points to the toxic potential of glutamic acid also points to the toxic potential of aspartic acid and aspartame.

In the blogs that follow, you will find the proposal of the dairy industry to change the standard of identify for “flavored milk” to better hide the use of aspartame from consumers.

In the second blog, we outline the sordid history of aspartame’s approval for use in food. 

In the third blog, we present data that demonstrate that the aspartic acid in aspartame, and aspartame itself, have toxic potential; and we take the opportunity to tell you how Ajinomoto’s International Glutamate Technical Committee used aspartame-laced placebos in their double-blind studies on the safety of monosodium glutamate. 

References

---

[1] http://www.truthinlabeling.org/Proof_BrainLesions_CNS.html

 

[2] Kizer JS, Nemeroff CB, Youngblood WW. Neurotoxic amino acids and structurally related analogs. Pharmacological Reviews. 1978;29(4):301-318.

 

Olney JW. Brain damage and oral intake of certain amino acids. In: Transport Phenomena in the Nervous System: Physiological and Pathological Aspects. Levi G, Battistin L, Lajtha A, Eds. New York: Plenum Press, 1976.

also: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. 1976;69:497-506.

Olney JW, Ho OL. Brain damage in infant mice following oral intake of glutamate, aspartate or cysteine.  Nature. 1970;227:609-611.

Olney JW, Ho OL, Rhee V. Cytotoxic effects of acidic and sulphur containing amino acids on the infant mouse central nervous system.  Exp Brain Res. 1971;14:61-67.

[3] One eyed blindness, possibly caused by the methanol in aspartame

[4] Adverse reactions to MSG  www.truthinlabeling.org/FDA_ARMS_MSG.1997.pdf

[5] Reactions to aspartame  www.truthinlabeling.org/FDA_ARMS_Asp.1997.pdf

[6] Olney JW.  Personal communication