The Death of Reason: Aspartame

The death of reason descends on ordinarily reasonable folk like a thick fog. When once they had the power of reason and logic it abandons them the moment they read a word they do not understand: aspartame.

I have been inspired to write this post after seeing this link shared by a Facebook friend.

This concerned me for a number of reasons.

'Just like fluoridated water, aspartame is literally a poison in almost ALL of our food.'
Fluoridated water. What?

'...feeding fossil fuel OIL to ecoli that are genetically modified to DEFECATE aspartame as feces.'
Wait, what??

As an advocate for accurate nutritional advice, I had to bring attention to the blatant scaremongering being shared by David Icke, not altogether known for his accurate scientific information. Much to my dismay the conversation followed as such.

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener made up of aspartic acid and phenylalanine: two naturally occurring amino acids. If we remember our biology lessons, amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, both required by and produced by the body.

Aspartic acid is found naturally in proteins such as meat, chicken, fish, dairy products, eggs, seeds, legumes, oats, and avocado. Phenylalanine is found naturally in the breast milk of mammals as well as other protein sources such as meat, chicken, fish, eggs, nuts, legumes, and dairy products.

Despite hoax claims that aspartame is deadly and causes any number of illnesses (note the date of publication on that article), no evidence of this has been found in humans. Studies that concluded rats developed cancer from artificial sweeteners were fed quantities many times greater than it is possible to eat or drink.

Artificial sweeteners are 200 times sweeter than sugar and therefore can be used in much smaller amounts. As the kilojoule content is negligible, artificial sweeteners are commonly used as a way to control energy intake. There are several artificial sweeteners that have Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) approval including aspartame.

Aspartame is only deadly to individuals suffering from the genetic condition phenylketonuria (PKU), whereby individuals are unable to break down the amino acid phenylalanine. This can cause problems with brain development, seizures, and mental retardation and is the reason most babies are screened for the condition at birth. Remember all the protein foods phenylalanine occurs in naturally? Patients must adhere to a strict diet low in these foods as well as pay close attention to food labels.

So while this artificial sweetener does pose serious health risks for PKU sufferers, it has no adverse affects for the majority of the population.

Now, sugar, that's a whole other issue.