The Controversy Surrounding Aspartame And Its Effect On The Nervous System

However the 52-week toxicity in infant monkeys and the 2010 Swiss mice studies has provided pivotal, contradictory evidence to the aspartame debate. Dr. Waisman at the University of Wisconsin Medical Center located in Madison Wisconsin initiated the 52-week toxicity study in infant monkeys in 1971 . This study orally served Aspartame mixed in milk formula to seven infant Rhesus monkeys over a 52-week period . Waisman put the monkeys into three groups: a low dose group (1.0 g/kg), a medium dose group (3.0 g/kg) and a high dose group (4-6 g/kg) . There was no control group, meaning there was not a group of newborn monkeys that were not fed aspartame. Since monkeys are primates similar to humans—with only a 1.2 percent genetic difference—monkeys were chosen to study the effects of aspartame on primates. Data shows that one monkey from the high dosage group died over 300 days, five of seven suffered grad mal seizures in the low dose group starting on the 218th day of treatment, and all monkeys in the medium and high dose groups exhibited seizures . According to data, the seizures coincided with the levels of phenylalanine . One should note that in the low dose group there was not a significant increase in serum phenylalanine levels; therefore, convulsions were not expected . Overall, the findings of this study correlated brain seizures with high amounts of aspartame particularly phenylalanine ingested by the monkeys, but at low dosages no biologically meaningful alterations occurred . In addition, the study reported food intake and growth rate were reduced when compared to the historical range . (This data can be studied in figures two to four .) Though the evidence of this study correlates aspartame with brain seizures, the FDA still approved aspartame for human consumption. This is because there are issues with the studies sample size and procedures. The study did not use a large sample of

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.

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.

ban", ("Tufts University Health",2015). The food and drug administration is a federal part of the United states human and health services and they continuously promote the use of aspartame and have stated that there is “no new credible scientific evidence to change the agency’s position that the zero-calorie sweetener is safe for the general population", ("Tufts University Health",2015). Even a study stated in the article by the American cancer society “found no link between intake of diet sodas (most commonly sweetened by aspartame)

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.

To first formulate the major arguments that about Aspartame, we first must understand what Aspartame is, and how it is digested in our bodies.Aspartame is an artificial sweetener often used as a substitute for sugar in beverages,foods,gums, and other uses, it is often denoted as E951.It was approved for use in 1980. Shown right is the chemical structure of aspartame (wikipedia). Aspartames is a dipeptide which is a protein made of two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid, what makes it sweet is a hydro carbon that is attached to the phenylalanine (authoritynutrition).

Writer’s angle: The writers are sharing their finding in a study of 28 students’ consumption of aspartame in a controlled setting to see if there are any neurologic effects.

Karen Congro, the director of the Wellness for Life Club program at the Brooklyn Hospital Center and nutritionist stated that long-term effects of aspartame in humans have not been studied . So from a marketing standpoint Pepsi’s switch away from aspartame may benefit their falling rates. In contrast, Diet Coke still only uses aspartame in their diet soda product. Though their advertising does not consistently, directly address the aspartame in their products, Diet Coke in 2013 defended their use of aspartame by stating in an ad that studies over the last 40 years has not discovered negative effects of aspartame . Interesting, today in 2015, 61 percent of Americans rely on online, websites or social media apps: Twitter, Snapchat, etc.—media reports—for their news . While 38 percent of Americans receive their news from offline sources, like newspapers, journals, etc. . Therefore, individuals should be wary that both journals and media reports, particularly the latter, may be withholding significant details or exaggerating scientific results in order to persuade the

Aspartame is found in over 6000 products that are on our supermarket shelves, it goes by the brand names of Equal, and Nutra Sweet. First one would have to look at why aspartame came to be in over 6000 products world wide. In today 's society everybody is looking for that short cut, that way eating anything they want and staying thin and healthy. So instead of skipping the cookies we now reach for "sugar-free" cookies, and Diet soda so we can still eat what we want without all the calories. In a society where obesity is on the rise, there is a huge market for products like aspartame. Aspartame gives you all the sweetness you want without all the calories you don’t want. So if it says "sugar-free" or a diet product chances are aspartame is in it. This paper intends to look into how aspartame was discovered, the steps the company took to seek the approved to use in dry goods and eventually in soft drinks, and the controversy surrounding its approval, as well as the side effects of using aspartame along with how consumers are being affected by it and what companies are doing as a result of how consumers are reacting to it.

Since most of the lymphoma was found in the lungs, peripheral lymph in males and spleen or thymus in female, they concluded that the inflammation lead to the formation of tumors and not the consumption of aspartame. In another paper, an experiment carried out for 10 years on 100,442 men and women, the results bared no relationship between consumption of aspartame and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma for both men and women. Hence the hypothesis, relationship between consumption of aspartame regularly and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, was rejected. (McCullough,

It is widely debated whether aspartame causes cancer, however a test was composed on 4000 rats with extremely high

There are many studies claimed that the using of artificial sweetener may lead to many health hazards to the human’s body. Although, Olney et al (1996) claimed that there is a link between the Aspatame (artificial sweetener) and the rate brain cancer. However, a research by Ross (1998) contrasted the Olney’s claiming (1996) who pointed out that aspartame causes brain cancer. Ross says that their claim does not contain strong reliable evidence. He criticized

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

“Artificial Sweeteners: Sugar-Free, but at What Cost?” Harvard Health Blog, Harvard Medical School, 12 Dec. 2016, www.health.harvard.edu/blog/artificial-sweeteners-sugar-free-but-at-what-cost-201207165030. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017. Holly Strawbridge is an author for Harvard Health Blog. Strawbridge’s purpose in writing this article was to inform the general public of the dangers of artificial sweeteners. The article mainly briefs over the negative effects of consuming artificial sweeteners, specifically the diseases potentially caused by them. This article speaks more negatively of artificial sweeteners than any other source used. It is also fairly short and direct. It can be determined unbiased and credible due to the fact that it was published through Harvard Medical School. This source would not be optimal for this essay because it provides information showing that artificial sweeteners are unhealthy and lead to weight