Aspartame, better known as NutraSweet or Equal seems like a no brainer when trying to watch your calories, right? All of the marketing would lead your to believe that with its zero calories and zero sugar, there should be zero guilt. It's in everything, too. From soda to vitamin water to flavored water to sugar fee puddings, jello, yogurt, mints, almost every type of gum, even in the ginger you get with sushi. It is truly everywhere. The only problem is that you only get half the facts through the marketing. Aspartame is a chemical that has shown to have serious side effects. I know this personally and I hope from sharing my story you will check your labels and avoid consuming aspartame like the plague.
I used to be 50 pounds heavier than I am today. I was truly the outcast of my family as the only "big boned" one (as Grandma Rae used to put it) in my family of 6. Everyone else ate whatever he or she wanted and was stick thin. This started years of crazy dieting which always included NutraSweet (aspartame). I drank around 4-6 cans of diet coke a day and always had Crystal Light lemonade on hand. I feasted on sugar free puddings, sugar free anything because I "knew" I couldn't gain weight from them. Somehow, it didn't seem to work, though. After many years of my NutraSweet habit, I noticed I was getting these mysterious symptoms. I had very painful headaches that felt like I had goggles squeezing my head. I would urinate so many times at night; I had a difficult time getting a good night's sleep. Then, I would have this terrible brain fog. I constantly had this outer body experience where I felt like I was floating around as though I was looking at my life from another being. The worst part was my loss of memory. I had younger children at the time and sometimes it was just so humiliating when I couldn't answer basic questions about the kids or when I was pitching a doctor about some medication (yup, I was a drug rep way back when). Lupus runs in my family and some of my symptoms were similar but I was afraid to go to the doctor. Then a friend of mine told me that she had just read that my symptoms seemed to mirror some of the same side effects of aspartame, as she knew of my diet coke addiction. I googled NutraSweet immediately and discovered so many similar complaints. The only place I could find no "known" complaints was on the NutraSweet website. No surprise there.
Well, that did it for me. I quit cold turkey right then and there. Gone were my beloved fixes of Diet Coke and Crystal Light. However, an amazing thing happened. My symptoms immediately cleared up. In a few days, it was as if I put on a pair of glasses and was seeing for the first time. Everything that is, except for my memory. It has improved from then a bit, but not to where it was. At least my other symptoms went away.
My story is just one of an endless list of others. There are so many that have been diagnosed with diseases such as Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Fibromyalgia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's Disease, AIDS as well as people suffering from memory and hearing loss, hormonal problems and more. When many stopped their NutraSweet consumption, the symptoms dissipated. How crazy is that?
And yes, the FDA knows all about it. They initially refused to approve NutraSweet based on controversial studies by G.D. Searle, the company who developed aspartame, as well as many other independent studies. G.D. Searles' own study and others showed the development of brain tumors in mice. Due to these studies, the FDA repeatedly rejected aspartame "because it hasn't been demonstrated to be safe." It wasn't until 1981 when a new FDA Chairman was appointed, Dr. Arthur Hill Hayes. A leading member of the political transitional team in Ronald Reagan's administration, Donald Rumsfeld, appointed Hayes. Rumsfeld happened to be the CEO of G. D. Searle at the time. Hmmm. It seems more than interesting that a substance that was rejected 4 times by the FDA with clear data showing that aspartame was a dangerous, brain tumor causing man made poison, suddenly was approved after Hayes was appointed FDA Chairman. Then, after Hayes left his position at the FDA, he worked for 10 years at Burson-Marsteller, the chief public relations firm for both Monsanto and G.D. Searle. He earned $1,000 a day. Since that time he had never spoken publicly about aspartame (Monsanto bought G.D. Searle in 1984 and the aspartame business become Monsanto subsidiary). Check out the 60 Minutes on Aspartame I wonder if he let his children or grandchildren consume NutraSweet products??
To add even more insult to injury, aspartame can cause you to gain weight. You see, your body has an important hormone, which tells your brain that you're full. It's called Leptin. Another side effect of aspartame is that it actually BLUNTS the function of Leptin. That means that it takes your brain a lot longer to get the "I'm full" message. Yes, NutraSweet makes your body think it needs more food thereby making you hungrier. So, while the product with aspartame may have zero calories, you may be eating more of other foods to satisfy your hunger. I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm not sure this is very helpful in trying to lose or maintain weight!
The bottom line is making sure you look at your labels. Anything that says "sugar-free" should trigger you to check out the ingredients. NutraSweet/Equal/aspartame is in over 6,000 products such as food, juice, soda, flavored waters, diet and diabetic foods, breakfast cereals such as Fiber One, Fiber supplements such as orange flavored Metamucil, jams, sweets, certain vitamins, over the counter meds such as Alka Seltzer Plus and some types of Tylenol and many prescription meds. It's near impossible to find gum and mints without it, too Certs, Extra, Stride, Orbit, Splash, Dentyne, Ice, even Trident, contains aspartame. We have found a pretty good gum alternative called Spry, which contains xylitol. This safe natural alternative is a sugar alcohol that is very low calorie and even helps fight tooth decay as an added bonus. We order ours from Amazon but you can find it at your health food store.
Honey, Stevia, the Sugar Alcohols (xylitol, malitol, sorbitol and erythritol), Health E Sweet are all much safer and healthier sugar alternatives. Please check out the movie Sweet Misery that expands on the aspartame cover up. Be smart with your sweets!
