Artificial Sweeteners and Their Serious Side Effects

After reading the information about what aspartame does to the body and how it is in some gum, I was shocked. I like eating Doublemint gum from Wrigley and while I was reading the information I decided to look at the ingredients in it. Sure enough it has aspartame in it. I was wondering why I was feeling sick and having headaches and kept getting sores in my mouth when I would never get them before. I immediately called my daughter and told her we will not eat this gum again and I threw it away. Thank you so much for the information. It has definitely saved my life.

What are the reasons for a "Fatty Liver"? I was recently diagnosed with Fatty infiltration of the liver, and my doctor said " just watch what you eat". There were no suggestions for diet and it didn't answer the question of why my stomach area hurts off and on. I did get some other answers with your web site regarding Splenda and that it can create major problems! Amazing, I have used Splenda or other sweeteners for years and have just come to realize they could be the cause of several of my problems. Stiffness, headaches, fatigue and a rash that at first was diagnosed as being shingles, but then the doctor told me he didn't know what the problem was. Could these sweeteners also contribute to my stomach issues and or "fatty infiltrations"? Thank you for your input.

I had been using splenda as an artificial sweetener I had no idea that it could cause you to break out in a rash until reading it on your site. I broke out in a rash on my elbow, but I never linked it to splenda. But I did use splenda in my tea for about 3 days. It has happened before, on occasion, but when a rash appeared, I thought it came from something else. Thanks! no more splenda!

I just received an e-mail from a friend who is a PHD in Nutrition stating that everyone should avoid artificial sweeteners but especially Aspartame. It seem that if aspartame reaches 112 degrees F it converts to formaldehyde. This can easily happen during shipping.

I started drinking this energy drink with aspartame, the very next day i got a major throbbing headache and ear infection. One week later i stopped drinking it and it went away.

I found out that SPLENDA was discovered by accident by a chemist trying to create a PESTICIDE by adding a chlorine to sucralose...

it accidentally got tasted and found to be super sweet... 600 times that of white sugar. It does not get broken down by the body. Also, the small packets of Splenda are 99% sugar!!! that's right diabetics... splenda is not good for you! or ANYONE! look it up on www.mercola.com i wish you all be healthy and happy.

Aspartame MSG Sucralose Splenda Nutrasweet : When accidentally taking any of the above sweeteners I experience a cold sweat the taste eliminates in my mouth and a severe headache and sometimes seizures.. I have Lupus and it also flares up rash outbreaks... Hope this information is helpful in one way or the other.

For about the last ten years I have had a pinched nerve in my neck. I am 40 and very active (yoga, lift weights, run, etc) It flared up on occasion when I would work out hard and I would injure my shoulder or neck, putting additional pressure on the nerve. About 18 months ago the pain got so severe that I was seriously considering surgery which would have fused some discs in my neck together (among other things). A business associate had mentioned that he had problems with his knees hurting when he drank diet coke, which i drank. As a last resort I quit drinking diet coke and about 4 weeks later the pain in my neck was down to manageable levels again. This lasted about until recently when it flared up again, I had recently started taking a new weightlifting supplement (powder) and upon closer inspection it contained aspartame. I talked to my doctor who had not heard anything about his particular side effect of aspartame, but we theorized that the additive caused small swelling to muscles which impinged my already narrow nerve openings. needles to say, I have cut aspartame back out of my diet.

Is there any way to help alleviate the side effects while quitting aspartame? I quit drinking Diet soda about 4 days ago and it is harder than I imagined it would be. I have had headaches, muscle twitches, anger, depression and just overall been a different person. My husband is a smoker and I think the comparison of side effects from quitting diet soda is just as severe as quitting smoking. Please help if you have any ideas for me. By the way, I have continued my caffeine intake through drinking tea so the side effects are not from the lack of caffeine

Since I stopped using sugar and started using Splenda I am currently experiencing acid reflux and esophageal spasms. Now, according to further researching on the side effects of aspartame,i.e., Splenda et al, I've discovered that this "low fat" sweetener is highly toxic and will disrupt the nervous system besides the natural functions of the bodies organs. I've found that Splenda is made from wood alcohol and at 86 degrees F turns to formaldehyde during cooking. My remedy seems quite obvious- quit using products that contain aspartame !

Undoubtedly you have heard that Aspartame is a safe sweetener and people use it to loose weight. Unfortunately that information is criminally false and misleading. You can find out more about how public relations firms shape and manipulate the public's beliefs on the "Why you believe what you believe" page.

Aspartame is made of 3 components, 50% phenylalanine, 40% aspartic acid and 10% methanol (wood alcohol). In the body methanol breaks down into formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and formic acid.

Aspartame banned in Europe for children's products On the European Common Market, Aspartame is banned for all children's products. Why is this not the case in Canada and the U.S.? Because Monsanto - which owns the NutraSweet Company which manufactures Aspartame - pays off the FDA, the American Medical Association, The American Dietetic and Diabetic Associations, Congressmen and Senators and virtually anyone who gets in the way, and in other countries too. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation caught them red handed and aired a program where Monsanto was trying to bribe Canadian Doctors at Health Canada.

More on the Monsanto company: Monsanto is the world's largest manufacturer of poisons, not only of the citizens of the world but also of the environment. In 1995, Monsanto ranked 5th among US corporations in the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, having discharged 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water and underground.

Responsible for mass poisoning of the world. How Robert B. Shapiro, President and CEO of Monsanto and the other members of the board, many of whom call themselves "Doctors" can live with themselves, knowing what they and the company are responsible for is incomprehensible. The entire lot should be prosecuted for mass genocide. Their track record of plain lying, falsifying and concealing data, bribery of officials, and the list goes on, is truly astonishing.

To quote the Toronto Globe and Mail reporting on the outcome of a three year trial, "The evidence of Monsanto's executives at the trial portrayed a corporate culture where sales and profits were given a higher priority than the safety of products and its workers..... They just didn't care about the health and safety of their workers. Instead of trying to make things safer, they relied on intimidation and threatened layoffs to keep their employees working".

Aspartame contains 10% methanol NutraSweet (Aspartame) is composed of linkages of aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. The aspartic acid acts as a neuroexcitatory agent. When NutraSweet is digested, it yields 10% methanol (wood alcohol). The wood alcohol (methanol) is widely distributed throughout the body including brain, muscle, fat and nervous tissue. It is then metabolized to FORMALDEHYDE which enters the cells and binds to the proteins and DNA (the genetic material).

Cytogenetic effects (changes in DNA) have been shown to result from FORMALDEHYDE exposure and DNA damage occurs from FORMALDEHYDE. The nature of the injury generally involves breaking and then creation of cross linking within the genetic material which alters the cells.

This finding has been confirmed numerous times and the DNA-protein-cross-links are believed to cause cancers in experimental animals. Changes in the genetic material is associated with cancer production in humans. The ability of Aspartame to cause cellular mutations has been shown through studies by Shephard, et al. There are increases in malignant brain tumors suggested to be associated with aspartame use. FORMALDEHYDE is a known stimulant for cancer and genetic damage in the cell.

THE FDA has admitted that only approximately 1% of people know how to, or do, file complaints with them. Under a recent Freedom of Information order the FDA admitted that aspartame accounted for over 75% of complaints filed. They claimed that over 8000 were filed, but they keep changing their bookkeeping to keep the numbers low. The fact that 8000 reports were received indicates that there must have been over 800,000 people adversely affected at the very least.

An average person's daily intake of methyl alcohol from natural sources averages less than 10 mg (1). Aspartame beverages contain 55 mg methanol per liter, and nearly double as much in some carbonated orange sodas. Persons ingesting 5 liters/day can therefore consume over 400 mg methanol. These facts are pertinent:

. Methyl alcohol is probably the first component of aspartame released within the small intestine, and is rapidly absorbed. Blood and methanol concentrations correlate with aspartame intake. "Abuse doses" (100 mg/kg or more) ingested by normal subjects significantly elevate blood methanol concentrations, remaining detectable for 8 or more hours (2).

. Humans are more vulnerable to the toxic effects of methanol than animals because several enzymes required for its metabolism have been lost during evolution and are not present in humans.

. The toxicity of methanol is enhanced by its slow rate of oxidation - only 1/7 that of ethyl alcohol - occurring mainly in the liver and kidneys. Even though the half life in human volunteers ingesting small amounts (1-5 ml) is about 3 hours, complete oxidation to carbon dioxide usually requires several days.

. The body attempts to detoxify methyl alcohol by oxidizing it to formaldehyde (a deadly neurotoxin and Class A carcinogen), and then to formate or formic acid within minutes. Formate and formaldehyde each may contribute to toxicity and nervous system/immune dysfunction through various mechanisms. One is the conjugation of formaldehyde with human serum albumin (F-HSA) to form a new antigenic determinant. Patients with multiple health complaints who had been exposed chronically to formaldehyde develop anti F-HSA antibodies and elevated Tal cells (antigen memory cells), consistent with sustained antigenic stimulation of the immune system

I worked at a company about 5 years ago, where one of the legal assistants drank 5-6 Diet Cokes throughout the day and had been doing it for a number of years. Those were the days when Diet Coke was made with Aspartame... No Splenda on the market -- yet... She was having medical tests done to figure out why she was shaking with tremors and experiencing severe brain fog, among other symptoms. She admitted that she was going downhill fast and had no idea why. I had known about aspartame causing a slew of neurological conditions and one day suggested she stop drinking the diet coke and research the subject. She didn't take me up on my suggestion, in fact looked at me like I was crazy, and continued drinking the DC like a true addict. I left the company shortly after that, so I don't know what happened to her, but I can tell you that her decline was fast -- she was fine when I arrived there and shaking with tremors 8 months later.

I started to use Splenda as a sugar replacement in my coffee and tea. One day I got out of the shower and had a herendous rash all over my body. The itching was uncontrolable. I knew I was having an allergic reaction but I was not sure to what.I started to take antihistamines. The rash and itching would not go away. When I would itch, huge welts would form under my skin. Then one day I started vomiting uncontrollably. I had no idea what was going on. I told a friend of mine what was happening, she told me the same thing had happened to her son and that he turned out to be allergic to Splenda. So I did some research and found out that my symptoms were very common to others who were also having allergice reactions to splenda. So I stopped using Splenda and all my ailments went away.

I used to drink crystal light all the time until one day I got a headache and lost part of my eyesight....Like pieces of what I was looking at were missing. I stopped drinking it and tried it again and the same thing happened. I just don't use it anymore and I'm fine. Just recently I had something with aspartame in it and didn't realize it and the symptom happened...I checked out what I had to drink and sure enough there it was.....Aspartame! Dangerous stuff!

Aspartame caused flu-like symptoms, including runny nose, nausea, bowel distress, clogged sinuses, slothfulness and fatigue. I used 3 pks of aspartame per cup of coffee and drank about 6 cups per day. The symptoms seemed negligible at first, but after about of month of usage, I became so discomforted, that I self-diagnosed myself as contracting a virus from somewhere, anywhere. However, my wife never contracted any of the symptoms, which is uncustomary for a virus. Than I remembered something I read about aspartame and how it, thru a heating process by cooking with or adding to heated foods or drinks, it (aspartame, creates, emits, or changes into formaldehyde in in its final state,

After 2 days of not using this product (though I continued to drink the same amount of coffee) my head cleared up, and my nose stopped running; but I still felt very ill and out of it. After refraining from this deleterious delight for 1 week, I began to completely recover. A common virus normally doesn't last for two plus weeks (at least not for me), so, since I quit using aspartame after a two week stint of illness, and began recovery only after I quit using it during the third week; I can only conclude that the onset and perpetuation of my discomfort was due to aspartame usage. My daughter forwarded this informative web site to me, and now I am more than convinced, that I am not the only one who gets ill from this government endorsed poison.