Artificial Sweeteners: The Invention Of Aspartame

Numerous neurological and behavioral side effects have been linked with consuming aspartame at well below the approved safe limits set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that has been ingested in the United States for over three decades. Even though there are several studies showing the harmful effects of its consumption. When aspartame is digested several toxic chemicals are produced, most notability formic acid & glutamate. Both of these chemicals cause the body to mimic the side effects of multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer. Even the passing of aspartame to be allowed in food was controversial. Just as the studies on it, continue to be today.

The year is 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland. Constantin Fahlberg had come home from his job as a chemist and was about to have a delicious meal. He had spilled something on his hand while working in his lab earlier but that didn’t concern him. Instead he grabbed a roll off of the dinner table, plopped it into his mouth, and sat down to eat. To his amazement the roll tasted amazingly sweet, too sweet to just have been a roll his wife made. Realizing it was from the substance he spilled on his hand, he dashed to the lab he worked at and tasted everything at his worktable, especially tasting the vials, beakers, and dishes he used for his experiments. Finally he found the source of the sweetness: an overboiled beaker in which o-sulfobenzoic acid had reacted with phosphorus (V) chloride and ammonia, producing benzoic sulfimide or as what most people know as the synthetic sugar called saccharin (Hicks, Jesse).

According to the Tufts University Health and Nutrition letter the FDA supports the safety of the toxicology of Aspartame. It has been stated that "The FDA recently rejected two citizen petitions calling for an aspartame

My belief is that aspartame is not safe to use. The reason I believe aspartame is not safe is because it accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious, including seizures and death. Another reason I think the use of aspartame is unsafe is that diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and brain tumors are a few chronic illnesses that can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame. This hits home for me because my son is a diabetic. Everyone knows the less sugar you include in your diet, the better. But replacing sugar with aspartame is not the solution, and in fact is likely to be even worse for your health. I believe regardless

Aspartame the most consumed and most controversial sweetener in the United States. This sweetener has made its way from the low calorie table top sweetener that most people can identify with in the Pink or blue packets that are on the tables of our favorite diners across America, to every product type that one can think of. Today

This extended essay is trying to answer the question “How much does people’s knowledge of the affects of aspartame reflect the scientific facts?”. The essay starts with a brief introduction to the topic, explaining thoroughly what food additives are in general and furthermore what kind of substance Aspartame is. Before continuing to consider and discuss the dangers of food additives and aspartame, information about other sweeteners are researched and some examples of these are stated.

Companies that use aspartame in their soft drink products, like Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke, are entangled with the safety controversy. Though both companies do not directly address the use of aspartame in their advertisement, their opinions of the controversy may be noted. Diet Pepsi up until 2012, like Diet Coke, used aspartame to sweeten their Diet Pepsi . However, Pepsi, during a rebranding movement, decided to end their use of aspartame; instead, the company now uses Sucralose (Spelnda) and acesulfame potassium (Ace K) . This decision was not explicitly advertised because the company did not want to draw attention to the fact that they are still using artificial sweetener . This switch is intended to help Pepsi’s taste and consistency last

Aspartame has now been on the market for many years and most people seemingly haven’t had adverse reactions. Or have they? Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. warns that many people don’t notice of the serious symptoms because “they’re more resistant to the obvious toxic effects, but they’re still getting very subtle toxic effects that over many years is going to produce obvious disease in those persons.” However, some people have had more direct, severe reactions. For example, FDA officials have estimated that only 1% of toxic reactions are likely to get reported and the agency received reports of 7,000 toxic reactions with aspartame from 1982 until 1995. In fact, there were likely more official reports of toxicity, but we can’t be sure to the extent. After all, Congress found out in 1987 that the FDA had been transferring aspartame toxicity calls to the AIDS Hotline.

There is a lot of High Fructose Corn Syrup, the sugar of choice, in regular sodas. People started finding out about how bad sugar is for them and how much sugar was really in their favorite every day drink. Everyone started turning against all of the soda companies and they had no choice but to come up with an alternative. So, instead of using natural sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup in sodas, scientists invented artificial sweeteners, a way to keep the soda sweet yet contain no sugar. Artificial sweeteners like Aspartame that are added to diet soda are actually worse for us than the sugar that is in regular soda. This was proven by an Osteopathic Physician from the American Colledge of Nutrition who states, "While many of the artificial sweeteners have reportedly similar side effects, aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA" (Mercola).

The use of artificial sweeteners in beverages and food has been on a steady rise since 1969, the year it was authorized in the United States of America. The popularity of artificial sweeteners has been on a rise because of the benefit that it is a zero calorie sweetener .Even though artificial sweeteners have some great benefits many scientists believe that it causes adverse effects such as cancer, weight gain and depression. I strongly believe that consumers are not aware of the side effects of artificial sweeteners hence the increase in consumption since 1969.

Following the primary release of aspartame in 1981, the occurrence of many brain diseases suspiciously began to grow.

The debate between naturally derived sugars and low-calorie artificial sweeteners has been going on for years now. As our population’s obesity rate grows every year and health concerns related to weight-control grows along with it, natural sugar is scrutinized and we are told to keep away from it as it is our enemy. Over the last couple of decades, we have been introduced to more and more varieties of artificial sweeteners promising to deliver the same sweetness or even more sweetness than natural sugar (some offer as much as 200 times more sweetness than sugar) but with a much lower calorie content, or some even no calories at all. Artificial sweeteners such as Splenda, Sweet n’ Low, NutraSweet, and Equal have become popular as “better alternatives” to table sugar, promising to help battle weight gain and actually assist in losing weight. However, does this make it the healthier option? As with all things, both natural sugar and artificial sugar have their pros and cons, but in order to find the best option in regards to our health and futures, it’s important to weigh them according to scientific findings and research.

Artificial or non-nutritive sweeteners are sweeteners that are chemically manufactured. They are the ones most easy to spot while eating at some restaurants because they will be the colorful packets on the table grouped with the table sugar and other condiments. Some of the most common ones include aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose which are technical names for the well-known brands Equal, Sweet’N Low and Splenda respectively.

Controversies, Infobase Learning, 26 July 2010, http://icof.infobaselearning.com/recordurl.aspx?ID=2311. Accessed 20 Feb. 2017. This source was written in order to discuss the benefits and harms of using artificial sweeteners in place of sugar. This article was published in the Issues and Controversies database; therefore it has been used in academic writing previously. We can conclude that the source is unbiased and credible. It compared the high health risks of sugar to the very low health risks of artificial sweeteners. Also extensively covered, is the history and development of artificial sweeteners, and the opposing opinions on both. This source is lengthier than many similar ones, and contains more factual information and research-backed claims. Of all the sources, this one supports the thesis the most by providing

The production and discovery of sugar grasped civilizations by its amazing taste and capabilities. Sugars effect on farming changed how the Americas farm to this day, and has also created huge trade exchanges between continents and countries . One of the main reasons for slavery to exist for so long in the Americas was because of sugars high demand. So plantation owners had to search for more sustainable workers which led them to Africa. The constant bringing of workers expanded trade in the 1500s. Sugar also led to major milestones in history and changed food in many societies. It changed how we eat and how we use our world 's resources. It led the way for modern innovations in sugar cultivation and has given us more than sweetness. Sugar has helped scientists formulate new types of fuels which could be created through sugar cane.