Excitotoxins: Chemicals that Destroy Your Health

Excitotoxins are chemicals that can destroy your health, but how you do you protect yourself? The U.S. leads the world in cancer related fatalities. No one is sure exactly why, however, the most widely accepted hypothesis is the American diet, or the lack thereof! Our food is too often low in nutrients and high in toxic additives. Excitotoxins are one such class of toxins and they can be found in a huge variety of foods.

As you will see, the key to protecting yourself from excitotoxins is avoiding them altogether!

Excitotoxin

a substance added to foods and beverages that literally stimulates neurons to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees.

Commonly Known Excitotoxins:

• MSG
• Glutamate
• Aspartame
• Hydrolyzed Protein
• “Hydrolyzed protein is often made from un-salable vegetables. These ugly (rotten?) veggies are boiled, not in water, but in vats of acid. The plant tissues are broken up and acidified and eaten away by caustic chemicals. It doesn’t end there. After this bath in acid, the veggie-acid slurry is then neutralized with a caustic soda. When this is added, the proteins coagulate into a brown sludge that then bubbles up and solidifies as a sludge mat on the surface of the vat. This brown sludge (the end product!) is dried and powdered and is sold as hydrolyzed protein and is next seen on your tongue after eating.” (nikas-culinaria.com)
• “Hydrolyzed protein products currently added to foods should be considered a detriment to one’s health.” ⁽¹⁾
• L-Cysteine
• Homocystine

These are found in almost all processed foods, soups chips gravies fast foods, soups, cookies, chips, gravies, foods, frozen foods, salad dressing and croutons.

Excitotoxins are being added under disguised names such as:

• Natural flavorings
• Spices
• Yeast extract
• Textured or soy protein
• Liquid forms of artificial flavorings (found in soups, gravies and diet soft drinks)
• Liquid forms of excitotoxins are more toxic than the solid forms because they absorb more rapidly into the body.

What are Artificial Sweeteners?

“Artificial” means that the sweetener is not found in nature, but is instead a man-made chemical compound.

List of Artificial Sweeteners:

• Aspartame (NutraSweet)
• Alitame
• Sucralose (Splenda)
  • Because the chemical composition of the sucrose in Splenda has been altered, it must now be called “sucralose” on all food labels.
  • Remember, sucralose (with an “L” in the middle) is an artificial sweetener, and sucrose is normal table sugar.
• Acesulfame-K
• Neotame
• Saccharin (Sweet n’ Low )

Aspartame:

As the three cornered molecule are metabolized it releases methyl alcohol, plus phenylalanine and aspartic acid, both neurotoxins. The methyl alcohol breaks down into formaldehyde, then formic acid. APM methyl alcohol/formaldehyde poisoning, engenders a host of cumulative degenerative diseases and functional abnormalities. Isolated phenylalanine and aspartic acid are neurotoxic.

Aspartame’s three components are: phenylalanine, which makes up 50 percent of the chemical weight; aspartic acid, which makes up 40 percent; and methanol (wood alcohol), which makes up 10 percent.⁽⁵⁾

• It is more commonly known under the names of NutraSweet and Equal.
• Today, NutraSweet is sold in over one hundred countries, found in over six thousand products, and is consumed by over 250 million people.
• It is commonly found in diet sodas and chewing gum.
• H.J. Roberts, MD, coined the term “aspartame disease” to encompass the complications, symptoms, and ramifications of this chemical sweetener. He has written an immense 1,038 page medical text called Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic. This paper addresses the many types of health problems that can occur from aspartame use.⁽¹³⁾
• When you consume aspartame your body takes the phenylalanine which in turn decomposes into DKP, a known carcinogen.
• The methanol can break down in your body as formaldehyde.
• The Environmental Protection Agency defines safe consumption of methanol as no more than 7.8 milligrams per day. One can of diet soda contains almost 16 milligrams of methanol.⁽³⁾

Did You Know?

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received more complaints about aspartame than any other ingredient to date.⁽²⁾
• Over four billion gallons of diet sodas are sold per year.⁽³⁾
• Early safety studies of aspartame conducted in 1967 by Harold Waisman for G.D. Searle & Company identified potential neurotoxic side effects. In one study, out of seven monkeys fed aspartame mixed with a liquid, one monkey actually died, and five others had grand mal seizures.⁽¹⁾
• Neuroscientist Dr. John Olney showed that one of the main ingredients in aspartame, aspartic acid, caused damage to the brains of infant mice. Searle’s own scientists confirmed these findings in a similar study.⁽⁴⁾
• An article published in the July 2007 issue of Science Magazine featured 12 prominent health experts who support a ban on aspartame. It also featured a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach requesting approval of the sweetener to be revoked due to extensive evidence that it causes cancer.⁽²⁾
• Also, when aspartame is paired with carbs, it causes your brain to slow down its production of serotonin, leading to depression and insomnia.⁽²⁾

Dangers of Methanol Poisoning

• Once aspartame is consumed the methyl ester is broken down into methanol. Methanol is also known as a wood alcohol/paint remover.
• There is no natural binder for methanol once it is in your body. As a result, almost all of the methanol is metabolically converted into formaldehyde, which is five thousand times more potent a poison than the ethyl alcohol you’d find in a glass of wine.⁽⁶⁾
• Methanol and phenylalanine both increase dopamine in the brain which can cause a “high” to some extent. This is one thing that makes aspartame highly addictive.
• Methanol is classified as a narcotic.

Dr. H.J. Roberts, MD, stated after treating hundreds of aspartame reactors, the optic nerve swelling, retinal degeneration, and visual impairment associated with heavy aspartame use is identical to the pathology observed in recorded cases of methanol toxicity from drinking wood alcohol throughout the days of prohibition.⁽⁵⁾

More Dangers of Methanol Poisoning

“It has been demonstrated that formaldehyde formation from aspartame ingestion is very common and does indeed accumulate within the cell, reacting with cellular proteins (mostly enzymes) and DNA (both mitochondrial and nuclear). The fact that it accumulates with each dose, indicates grave consequences among those who consume diet drinks and foodstuffs on a daily basis.”⁽⁷⁾

A relatively small amount of aspartame (e.g., one can of soda ingested by a child) can significantly increase plasma methanol levels.⁽⁸⁾

Clinically, chronic, low-level exposure to methanol has been seen to cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, ear buzzing, GI disturbances, weakness, vertigo, chills, memory lapses, numbness & shooting pains, behavioral disturbances, neuritis, misty vision, vision tunneling, blurring of vision, conjunctivitis, insomnia, vision loss, depression, heart problems (including disease of the heart muscle), and pancreatic inflammation.^(9)(10)(11)

In 1999, the Western Journal of Medicine had a report suggesting that since formaldehyde is a known inducer of cancer, because it can alter DNA, anyone with breast and prostate cancer consuming aspartame should be concerned.⁽¹²⁾

History of Aspartame:

1966- Aspartame accidentally discovered by a drug researcher at G.D. Searle Company.

1967-78 Researched and brought before the FDA for approval.

DENIED 12 TIMES!

1977- The FDA requested the U.S. attorney’s office to investigate the G.D. Searle Company for alleged inaccuracies and inadequate testing procedures for their aspartame studies and for misrepresenting their findings.⁽¹⁴⁾ While investigating Searle’s activities they uncovered many inaccuracies and inadequate testing procedures used in their aspartame studies.^(15),(16)

1977- While the grand jury was investigating Searle’s activities, the law firm that represented Searle began contract negotiations with Samuel Skinner- the U.S. attorney leading the investigation.

1977- Samuel Skinner left the U.S. Attorney’s Office and took a very well paid position with the Searle’s law firm, Sidley & Austin. Skinner’s resignation stalled the grand jury for long enough that the statue of limitations ran out. As a result of Skinner leaving the grand jury was forced to effectively abandon its investigation.
* Samuel Skinner would later become the Secretary of Transportation and Chief of Staff for President H.W. Bush.

1977-G.D. Searle hires Washington Political Executive Donald Rumsfeld as their new CEO to “mend fences” with the politicians who are in position to help.

1981- Ronald Reagan became President and the first thing he did in office was issue an executive order that would limit the power of the current FDA commissioner so that he could not unilaterally prevent aspartame from being approved.

1981- A new FDA Director is appointed by President Reagan, Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes.

1981- Dr. Hayes appointed an internal panel to review the issues raised by the 1980 FDA Public Board of Inquiry. Three of the five in house FDA scientists who were accountable for reviewing the brain tumors issues, Dr. Robert Condon, Dr. Douglas Park, and Dr. Satya Dubey, advised against approval of aspartame, stating on the record that Searle tests are unreliable and not adequate to determine the safety of aspartame.⁽¹⁷⁾ Once the panel had ruled to uphold the ban for aspartame approval, Dr. Hayes brought in a sixth member who tied the vote so that he would be able to vote to break the tie and approve aspartame.⁽¹⁶⁾

1981- FDA approves Aspartame for public consumption despite the FDA’s own research panel recommendation to deny approval based on research findings that continually demonstrate brain tumors in lab mice.

1982 Dr. Hayes took a position with G.D. Searle’s public relations firm as Senior Scientific Consultant and was reportedly paid $1,000 a day.⁽¹⁸⁾

1982 G.D. Searle’s petitioned to allow aspartame to be added to carbonated beverages. The National Soft Drink Association officially objected to this petition because of aspartame’s heat instability in liquid form, degrading to diketopiperazine (DKP), methanol, aspartic acid, and phenylalanine.

1983 In spite of The National Soft Drink Association officially objected to this petition, aspartame was approved for use in carbonated beverages.⁽¹⁹⁾

1983- According to National Cancer Institute data, there was an alarming spike in the incidence of brain tumors in 1983

1987- The estimated annual percent change (EAPC) rose from 2.1% to 8.1% in males, and from 2.1% to 11.7% in females.⁽²⁰⁾

1985- Gross, a senior FDA pathologist, made a report to the United States Senate hearing held on August 1, 1985. He stated that the cancer- causing potential of aspartame had been established beyond reasonable doubt from a number of indications. He expressed surprise that there was an apparent refusal by the FDA to invoke the Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for this food additive.⁽²¹⁾

Some Products that Contain Aspartame

• carbonated soft drinks
• powdered drink mixes
• chewing gum
• confections
• gelatins
• dessert mixes
• puddings and fillings
• frozen desserts
• yogurt
• some vitamins
• sugar-free cough syrups and cough drops

Diet Soda & Weight Gain

• Research has shown that drinking diet sodas will likely cause weight gain.^(22)(23)(24)
• A study about college students who drank diet soda was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The study found that there was no evidence that the use of artificial sweeteners was associated with a decrease in sugar intake. These results indicate that ingesting artificial sweeteners can increase a craving for sweets.⁽²³⁾ A study based on eight years of epidemiological data showed that drinking soft drinks increases the likelihood of weight gain by 65 percent. However, it was the diet soda that was associated with “serious weight gain”, not the regular soda.⁽²⁴⁾

Aspartame May Speed Up the Process of Alzheimer’s:

Dr. H.J. Roberts, the foremost medical authority on aspartame, believes that aspartame is partially responsible for the widespread epidemic of Alzheimer’s, because it speeds up the process. He has many young patients in their thirties and forties consult with him for symptoms of aspartame.⁽²⁵⁾ This is likely because as other studies have shown aspartame can cause holes in the brains of rats.

Aspartame May Contribute to Parkinson’s Disease:

According to Dr. Blaylock, excitotoxins may be a contributing factor in the development of to Parkinson’s disease.
“Excitotoxins, like aspartic acid (in aspartame) and glutamate (in MSG), excessively stimulate the brain cells, which then generate free radicals causing cell injury and even death. The reason why everyone does not develop neurological disorders from excitotoxins is because some individuals (e.g. those who eat a diet low in nutrients and antioxidants) have cellular defense enzymes that are either immature or defective, and are unable to protect the brain cells from excitotoxins.”⁽¹⁾⁽³⁾

A Good Use for Aspartame

Aspartame is a great ant poison. If you have ants, open a few packets of an aspartame sweetener and pour in the corners of the room that has ants. If this does not work add a little juice with the aspartame sweetener and the ants will eat it and it will quickly kill them. This “ant killer poison” most likely works by hurting their nervous system.

Excitotoxins Effect on Hypothalamus

As early as 1976, it was shown that aspartame feeding in mice could produce lesions in the hypothalamus of newborns. It should be realized that these are lesions (injuries) that can be seen through an ordinary light microscope.⁽¹⁾

In animals made obese by damaging hypothalamic nuclei, one frequently sees accompanying violent outburst. We also know that directly injecting micromolar quantities of MSG into certain hypothalamic nuclei can precipitate an explosion of violence in experimental animals.⁽¹⁾

Exposure to high intakes of excitotoxins, such as aspartame, can alter the development of the hypothalamus, leading to sexual maldevelopment and endocrine problems that will appear later in life. For example, we know that infant animals exposed to excitotoxins will have fewer offspring and the offspring will be smaller than normal.

Symptoms List

Actual 1995 copy of aspartame related symptoms submitted to the FDA. The FDA has received well over 10,000 aspartame related complaints, more than all other complaints combined.

Also keep in mind that less than 1 out of every 100 people actually file an official complaint and that of course, many people consume aspartame daily and have no clue that it may be the cause of their illnesses.

http://www.321recipes.com/symptoms.html

Excitotoxins Effect on Babies:

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), which usually understates problems and mimics the FDA party-line, stated in a review that:
“It is prudent to avoid the use of dietary supplements of L-glutamic acid by pregnant women, infants, and children. The existence of evidence of potential endocrine responses, i.e., elevated cortisol and prolactin, and differential responses between males and females, would also suggest a neuroendocrine link and that supplemental L-glutamic acid should be avoided by women of childbearing age and individuals with effective disorders.”⁽²⁷⁾

Ever since aspartame was approved in dry goods and beverages there has been an increase occurrence of cancer in the brain and spinal cord among children whose mothers consumed aspartame throughout their pregnancy.^(28)(29)

Military Warns Pilots About Aspartame:

Both the Air Force’s magazine Flying Safety and the Navy’s magazine, Navy Physiology published articles warning about the many dangers of aspartame including the cumulative deleterious effects of methanol and the greater likelihood of birth defects.

The articles note that the ingestion of aspartame can make pilots more susceptible to seizures and vertigo.

Twenty articles sounding warnings about ingesting aspartame while flying have also appeared, here are a few of them:
• National Business Aircraft Association Digest (NBAA Digest 1993)
• Aviation Medical Bulletin (1988)
• The Aviation Consumer (1988)
• Canadian General Aviation News (1990)
• Pacific Flyer (1988), General Aviation News (1989)
• Aviation Safety Digest (1989), and Plane and Pilot (1990)
• A paper warning about aspartame was presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association (Gaffney 1986).

Recently, a hotline was set up for pilots suffering from acute reactions to aspartame ingestion. Over 600 pilots have reported symptoms including some who have reported suffering grand mal seizures in the cockpit due to aspartame. Reported by the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network

Listen to the Unbiased Opinions:

• Professor Ralph Walton of Northwestern Ohio Universities said: “I dispute the assertion that there are no health risks. I believe Aspartame increases risk of cancer. Virtually all the studies attesting to its safety have been funded by the industry.”⁽³⁰⁾
• An article published in the July 2007 issue of Science Magazine featured 12 prominent health experts who support a ban on aspartame. It also featured a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach requesting approval of the sweetener to be revoked due to extensive evidence that it causes cancer.⁽²⁾
• Dr. Morando Soffritti, a cancer researcher in Bologna, Italy, performed a study that found aspartame was associated with an unusually high rate of lymphomas, leukemia’s, and other cancers in rats that had been given doses equivalent to four to five twenty ounce bottles of diet soda a day for a 150 pound person.⁽³¹⁾
• The Delaney Clause states no additive shall be deemed to be safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal.⁽³³⁾
• Professor Ralph Walton of Northwestern Ohio Universities said: “I dispute the assertion that there are no health risks. I believe Aspartame increases risk of cancer. Virtually all the studies attesting to its safety have been funded by the industry.”⁽³⁴⁾
• Dr. William Campbell Douglass has been called medicine’s most popular myth buster he believes “aspartame is one of the most dangerous substances ever added to food. Not only has aspartame been proven to make you fatter, it’s been proven to cause some pretty serious diseases, not the least of which are cancer and neurological diseases.”⁽³⁵⁾
• According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, “numerous studies have shown that MSG, free glutamate and other excitotoxins produce enormous amounts of free radicals in tissues… which are a major cause of cancer induction in tissues and organs.”⁽¹⁾

Dr. Adrian Gross, Former FDA Toxicologist Testified to the Senate:

In view of all these indications that the cancer-causing potential of aspartame is a matter that has been established way beyond any reasonable doubt, one can ask: What is the reason for the apparent refusal by the FDA to invoke for this food additive the so-called Delaney Amendment to the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act? Is it clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that aspartame has caused brain tumors or brain cancer in animals?⁽³²⁾

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

• MSG takes the flavors of any food and enhances them to the max, then uses its addictive qualities to make sure the customer keeps coming back for more.
• In order for a food product to be labeled with containing MSG it has to be over 90% pure MSG.
• When the label says it doesn’t contain MSG that is not necessarily true it may just not have the purest form of MSG. That is why you need to learn all the names to avoid.
• MSG is used to alter the taste of food.

Products Where MSG Can Almost Always Be Found:

• Autolyzed yeast
• Calcium caseinate
• Gelatin
• Glutamate
• Glutamic acid
• Hydrolyzed protein
• Monopotassium glutamate
• Monosodium glutamate
• Sodium caseinate
• Textured protein
• Yeast extract
• Yeast food
• Yeast Nutrient

MSG Can Often Be Found In:

Barley Malt, Bouillon, Broth, Carrageenan, Enzyme-modified substances, Flavoring, Flavors, Malt Extract, Malt flavoring, Maltodextrin, Natural flavor/flavorings, Natural pork/beef/chicken flavoring, Pectin, Protein-fortified substances, Seasonings, Soy protein, Soy protein isolate or concentrate, Soy sauce, Soy sauce extract, Stock Vegetable gum, Whey protein, Whey protein isolate or concentrate.

The amount of MSG in a single bowl of commercially available soup is probably enough to cause blood glutamate levels to rise higher in a human child than levels that predictably cause brain damage in immature animals.⁽³⁶⁾

In 1974 Dr. Olney demonstrated that MSG, when fed to pregnant Rhesus monkeys, could cause brain damage to their offspring.⁽³⁷⁾ Other researchers found similar results when pregnant rats were fed MSG.⁽³⁸⁾

In 1957 two ophthalmology residents, Lucas and Newshouse, tested monosodium glutamate and aspartate on infant and adult mice while studying a particular eye disorder.⁽¹⁾ Of the animals that had been tested with monosodium glutamate, virtually all of the nerve cells in the inner layer of the animals’ retinas had been destroyed. The worst damage occurred in the newborn mice.⁽³⁹⁾

In 1968 neuroscientist Dr. John Olney working out of the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, repeated Dr. Lucas and Newhouse’s experiment. He discovered that not only did MSG cause severe damage to the neurons in the retina of the eye, but that it also caused widespread destruction of neurons in the hypothalamus. Dr. Olney’s disclosed that MSG, when fed in doses similar to those found in the human diets, destroys hypothalamic neurons. This type of hypothalamic damage produces a particular syndrome in animals which causes them to be short in stature, obese, and to have reproductive problems. Again, this damage was most severe in the newborn animals.^(1)(39)

How MSG Damages the Hypothalamus:

Recent studies have shown that glutamate is the most important neurotransmitter in the hypothalamus.⁽⁴⁰⁾

Since this early observation, monosodium glutamate and other excitatory substances have become the standard tool in studying the function of the hypothalamus. Later studies indicated that the damage by monosodium glutamate was much more widespread, including the hippocampus, circumventricular organs, locus cereulus, amygdala-limbic system, subthalamus, and striatum.⁽⁴¹⁾

Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff, who is a primary researcher in his field, has done an extensive review of the scientific literature and concludes that most reliable evidence, indicates that MSG consistently produces significant injuries to the hypothalamus of a wide variety of animal species and causes disruption of many endocrine hormones.⁽⁴²⁾

*The FDA and the companies that make excitotoxins claim that the blood brain barrier protects any damage from taking place. However, according to Dr. Blaylock the hypothalamus is not protected by the blood brain barrier.

Why Are Excitotoxins Still On the Market?

• Lack of awareness by the general population is one of the main reasons aspartame is still on the market. If consumers weren’t demanding it companies wouldn’t produce it.
• Moreover, the diet industry is worth trillions of American dollars to corporations, and they want to protect their profits by keeping the truth behind aspartame’s dangers hidden from the public.
• If the FDA or any other government declared aspartame unsafe and pulled it from the shelves there would be so many lawsuits that it would almost destroy the food industry.

How to Help Protect Your Brain From Excitotoxins:

Magnesium has been discovered to help impede glutamates from overloading glutamate receptors. People with low magnesium content are the most prone to acute excitotoxicity that can cause a sudden severe digestive distress, headache, or even heart attack. Magnesium is vital to 300 biochemical functions within the body. So it is important for overall health in addition to blocking glutamate sensors or channels from excitotoxin overload. Magnesium content is high in green, leafy vegetables. It is also available in whole grains and many beans and nuts.

Omega 3 fatty acids also block excitotoxins while repairing cellular damage. Fish oils seem to be the best source of Omega 3 for this specific purpose, according to Dr. Russel Blaylock, author of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills, and Health and Nutrition Secrets That Can Save Your Life.

Selenium is another protector of glutamate receptors from excitotoxin invasion. It is available as a supplement. Small doses are recommended. Brazil nuts are considered a high source of selenium. Two or three Brazil nuts a day is considered sufficient for optimum selenium intake.

Red Clover was recommended by Barbara L. Minton in her September 22, 2008 Natural News article Red Clover Blocks Neurological Damage From MSG. It is basically an herb that is inexpensive and available as leaves for tea, in tinctures, liquid extracts, and capsules. According to Barbara Minton’s article, lab tests demonstrated a significant decline in brain cell neuron damage when red clover’s essential protective ingredient was added.

Zinc also helps obstruct the glutamate receptor channels from excessive excitotoxin absorption. Many in our society today are zinc deficient. A zinc taste test can be done to determine if one has sufficient zinc stored in his or her body. A solution of zinc sulfate is tasted for the test. If an immediate bad taste ensues, that usually indicates a sufficient zinc level in the body.

To enhance and ensure detoxification, Dr. Blaylock recommends milk thistle to help the liver eliminate all toxins. Curcumin is the essential ingredient of turmeric. It enhances bile flow as well as DNA repair enzymes. He also recommends taurine, an amino acid that contains sulfur to aid the liver, as well as vitamins B1 and B6 and vitamins C and E.

Vitamins C & E: The most important antioxidants are alpha-tocopherol or vitamin E, and ascorbic acid, also known as vitamin C. The brain normally contains one of the highest concentrations of vitamin C in the body. The advantages of these antioxidants are that they can easily enter the blood brain barrier and reach the brain cells where they are needed most. The brain is very dependent on vitamin E & C for its protection.

Alternatives to Excitotoxins:

For organic and natural sweeteners, we recommend agave nectar, raw organic honey, stevia or xylitol.

How You Can Protect Yourself:

Become aware of all unnecessary chemicals hidden in your foods. Be a food detective. Purify your diet as much as possible, and try to enjoy natural eating. Educate yourself, your friends and family and anyone who will listen to you about the dangers of excitotoxins.

Conflict of Interest:

The Townsend Letter for Doctors (11/92) reported on a study revealing that 37 of 49 top FDA officials who left the FDA took positions with companies they had regulated.

They also reported that over 150 FDA officials owned stock in drug companies they were assigned to manage.

Many organizations and universities receive large sums of money from companies connected to the NutraSweet Association, a group of companies promoting the use of aspartame.

In January 1993, the American Dietetic Association received a US $75,000 grant from the NutraSweet Company. The American Dietetic Association has stated that the NutraSweet Company writes their “Facts” sheets.⁽⁴³⁾

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act allows the FDA to collect “user fees” from drug companies.⁽³⁾ This could be what perpetuates the FDA reluctance to “bite the hand that feeds them” since so much of their funding comes from the drug companies.

According to Dr. David Graham, within the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, about 80 percent of the resources of the FDA are geared towards the approval process of new drugs, and 20 percent to everything else. Drug safety is about 5 percent.⁽⁴⁴⁾

A recent survey that was sent out to nearly six thousand FDA scientists found that nearly 40 percent of them believe the agency is not acting effectively to protect the public health.⁽⁴⁵⁾

Think About Who Has Interest in the Study:

In an analysis of 166 articles published in medical journals from 1980 to 1985, Dr. Ralph G. Walton, a professor of psychiatry at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, found that 100 percent of the seventy-four studies financed by the industry attested to the sweetener’s safety. Although of the ninety-two independently funded articles, 91 percent indentified adverse health reactions.⁽⁴⁶⁾

Great Books to Read:

“Sweet Poison”, by Dr. Janet Starr Hull
“Sweet Deception”, by Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Kendra Pearsall
“Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills”, by Dr. Russell L. Blaylock
“The Deadly Deception: Story of Aspartame”, by Mary Nash Stoddard
“Slow Poisoning of America”, by John E. Erb and Michelle Erb
“Defense against Alzheimer’s Disease”, by Dr. H.J. Roberts

Great Websites to Visit:

http://www.dorway.com
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
http://www.aspartamekills.com

Great YouTube Videos to Watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv9pIUVdmpw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqIFDoOwSFM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvFRLIjOLOU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8kgJfw699E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouaMyiXmlAk

 

References

1. Blaylock, Russell, Excitotoxins, The Taste that Kills. Santa Fe. Health Press NA Inc.
   Olney, J.W. “Glutamate, A Neurotoxic Transmitter.” J. Child Neuro. 4 (1989): 218-226.
2. Steinman, Diet for a poisoned Planet, 160-7.
   J.G. Gurney, J.M. Pogoda, and E.A. Holly, “Aspartame Consumption in Relation to Childhood Brain Tumor Risk: Results from a Case-Control Study,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 89 (1997): 1072-74.
   Olney, J.W. “Toxic Effects of Glutamate and Related Amino Acids on the Developing Central Nervous System.” In Heritable Disorders of Amino Acid Metabolism, edited by W.N. Nylan. New York: John Wiley, 1974.
3. Mercola, Joseph. Pearsall, Kendra. Sweet Deception. Nelson Books.
   Toth, L., Karascu, S., et al. “Neurotoxicity of Monosodium L-Glutamate in Pregnant and Fetal Rats.” Act. Neuropath (Berl) 75 (1987): 16-22.
4. Study E-33, 34, Cross Reference E-87, Master File 134 for Aspartame, FDA Hearing Clerk’s Office.
5. Roberts, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic.
6. Brackett and Waldron, Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World.
7. Blaylock, Russell L., Neurosurgeon, 1998. Quote on Scientific Abuse in Methanol / Formaldehyde Research Related to Aspartame paper, on December 30, 1998
8. Davoli, E., et al., 1986a. “Serum Methanol Concentrations in Rats and in Men After a Single Dose of Aspartame,” Food and Chemical Toxicology, Volume 24, No. 3, page 187-189.
9. Kavet, Robert, Kathleen M. Nauss, 1990. “The Toxicity of Inhaled Methanol Vapors,” Critical Reviews in Toxicology, Volume 21, Issue 1, page 21-50.
10. Monte, Woodrow C., 1984. “Aspartame: Methanol and the Public Health,” Journal of Applied Nutrition, Volume 36, No. 1, page 42-54.
11. Posner, Herbert S., 1975. “Biohazards of Methanol in Proposed New Uses,” Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Helath, Volume 1, page 153-171.
12. G. R. Schwartz, “Aspartame and Breast and Other Cancers,” Western Journal of Medicine, 1999, 300.
13. H.J. Roberts, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic (West Palm Beach: Sunshine Sentinel Press, 2001.)
14. Special Investigation, Common Cause 10, no.4 (July/August 1984).
15. J. Turner, The Aspartame/NutraSweet Fiasco, http://www.stevia.net/aspartame.htm
16. Brackett and Waldron, Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World.
17. Gordan, “NutraSweet: Questions Swirl, Part 1: Did Searle Ignore Early Warning Signs?”
18. U.S. General Accounting Office, “Briefing Report to the Honorable Howard Metzenbaum, U.S. Senate; Food and Drug Administration, Six Former HHS Employees’ Involvement In Aspartame’s Approval,” GAO/HRD-86-109BR, July 1986.
19. Federal Register 48:31376, July 8, 1983.
20. National Cancer Institutes. Cancer Statistics Review 1973-87. Bethesda, NIH Publication No. 89-2789.
21. Congressional Record-Senate. Aspartame Safety Act of 1985. August 1, 1985, pp.S10820-10847.
22. W.L. Hall, D.J. Millward, P.J. Rogers, and L.M. Morgan, “Physiological Mechanisms Mediating Aspartame- Induced Satiety,” Physiology and Behavior 78, nos. 4-5 (April 2003): 557-62
23. L.N. Chen and E.S. Parham, “College Students’ Use of High-Intensity Sweeteners Is Not Associated with Sugar Consumption,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 91 (1991):686-90
24. “U.S. Study Links Diet Pop to Obesity,” June 15 2005, www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1118840585467_33/?hub=TopStories
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