mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett) (07/17/85)
++ That longish article I mentioned on NutraSweet is in the following: COMMON CAUSE MAGAZINE, Volume 10, Number 4, July/August 1984, pp 24-43. (ISSN 0271-9592), published by Common Cause, 2030 M st., NW, Washington DC 20036, phone (202) 833-1200. Here's some excerpts from the subarticle: "Should You Feed It To Babies?": (There is more elaboration on this in the main article.) "The FDA continues to maintain that aspartame [the technical name for NutraSweet] poses no risks for children or infants. But documents obtained by Common Cause Magazine show that as early as 1974 and as late as 1980, some FDA officials believed it might be advisable to require a warning that aspartame should not be fed to infants. "One FDA document dated October 23, 1974, for example stated that 'on the basis of the evidence that the very young' are 'especially sensitive...to the potential effects (brain damage) of high levels of phenylalanine and aspartic acid,' the two major components of aspartame, and on the basis of arguments made by Turner, 'we would concur that there may be some merrit (sic) in some form of labelling... "...The author of the 1974 document, Kokoski said it's unlikely that parents would feed aspartame to infants -- 'who would do that?' he asked. When it was pointed out to him that it's not uncommon to see parents giving babies Kool-Aid in baby bottles, Kokoski said that, 'even if one were to give an infant Kool-Aid with aspartame, it isn't going to cause brain damage.'... "...The FDA does require a warning that NutraSweet contains phenylalanine, an amino acid which a small percentage of the poplulation, called PKUs, have difficulty metabolizing. PKUs must watch thier intake of phenylalanine becuase it can cause mental retardation.... "...Packets of Equal [a sweet-and-low substitute containing aspartame] note that the product should not be used in cooking or baking. That's becuase aspartame is known to break dwon into chemicals such as DKP and methyl alchhol when exposed to heat. Searle [the company that owns the patent] and the FDA say the warning is there not because of safety concerns but because heat causes aspartame to lose some of its sweetness...." -Mark
sdyer@bbnccv.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (07/18/85)
> "One FDA document dated October 23, 1974, for example stated that > 'on the basis of the evidence that the very young' are 'especially > sensitive...to the potential effects (brain damage) of high levels of > phenylalanine and aspartic acid,' the two major components of aspartame, and > on the basis of arguments made by Turner, 'we would concur that there may be > some merrit (sic) in some form of labelling... While I agree that it is advisable to avoid feeding babies with any artificial sweetener, it should be remembered that the increase in blood levels of phenylalanine and aspartic acid after administration of a typical soft-drink quantity of aspartame is exceedingly small, and certainly swamped by the same levels seen after a typical protein- containing meal (milk formula or strained beef, perhaps?) All the studies I have read refer to deleterious effects of extra-physiological amounts of the two amino acid components many times in excess of those contained in food, with or without aspartame. And this in experimental animals, of course. This is where the logic breaks down, in my mind (and certainly in the minds of Searle and its stockholders!) It is one thing to demonstrate that a foreign substance can cause a serious side-effect in large doses, for this would indicate that caution is advisable in using it even in small doses. It is quite another thing to indicate that a physiological substance necessary for health, such as these amino acids or even vitamins, can cause serious side-effects when given in large, extra-physiological doses, for it does not necessarily follow at all that ordinary amounts are bad, or to be avoided. Think about that when you take your next vitamin pill, "natural and organic" or not. -- /Steve Dyer {decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbnccv.ARPA
mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett) (07/19/85)
++ > While I agree that it is advisable to avoid feeding babies with any > artificial sweetener, it should be remembered that the increase in > blood levels of phenylalanine and aspartic acid after administration > of a typical soft-drink quantity of aspartame is exceedingly small, > and certainly swamped by the same levels seen after a typical protein- > containing meal (milk formula or strained beef, perhaps?) > /Steve Dyer I just read the Atlantic Monthly article on aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) last night. (August 1985 issue, pp 14-20.) This is an excellent, complete description of medical conclusions regarding sugar, saccharin, aspartame, and cyclamates. The author seems very defensive of sugar, but I suspect it is because she wants to expose all the myths of sugar-evil propagated by various parties (diet food producers, sugar substitute makers and dentists). To answer the question of sugar/disease relationship, the article says no reproducable results have shown a correlation between sugar and any disease except dental carries. She backs her statement up thusly: Links between sugar and acne, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and general decrepitude have never been substan- titated. The authority who is quoted most often in support of such claims is John Yudkin, a doctor and a professor emeritus of nutrition at London University. In his book 'Sweet and Dangerous', which was published in 1972, Yudkin talks about sugar as if it were the universal usurper of humankind's vital sap -- a poison. Yudkin's best-known research is a series of "intervention" studies -- involving patients on low-sugar diets -- that purport ot show a correlation between heart disease and sugar consumption. But strenuous efforts by many researchers to duplicate Yudkin's results failed, and most scientists have dismissed his work on heart diesase. She goes on about Yudkin's funding from pharmaceutical and dairy industries. Further: At a meeting of the International Dairy Federation in 1973 he boasted that his research on sugar would soon "free butterfat from guilt." On the subject of aspartame being composed of two amino acids which occur naturally as constituants of protein, a Seymour Kaufman of the National Institutes of Mental Health is quoted: "There's a bad misconception that aspartame is the same thing as protein," he says. "The trouble is that the taking of aspartame is not at all to be equated with the eating of protein. Phenyl- ketonuria is believed to be the result of an imbalance of amino acids, and this can be mimicked when we take aspartame. it cannot be mimicked by eating meat." ... Searle estimated that the average consumer would ingest no more that ten milligrams a day per kilogram of body weight. But in hearings on the sweetener held by Congress earlier this year an attorney or the FDA said that consumption is hovering at around 30 mg per kilogram -- the maximum that the FDA considers safe. "The fact that television commercials encourage people to eat aspartame straight really drops the bottom out of the issue," Holtzman says. [Neil Holtzman is the chairman of the Committee on Genetics of the American Academy of Pediatrics.] Reading this article really made me want to send a copy to everyone I know who drinks NutraSweet. -Mark
sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (07/21/85)
I thought Mark Garrett's summary of the Atlantic article was very informative, and I intend to purchase it. However, one quote doesn't make any sense to me at all: > On the subject of aspartame being composed of two amino acids which occur > naturally as constituants of protein, a Seymour Kaufman of the National > Institutes of Mental Health is quoted: > > "There's a bad misconception that aspartame is the same thing as > protein," he says. "The trouble is that the taking of aspartame > is not at all to be equated with the eating of protein. Phenyl- > ketonuria is believed to be the result of an imbalance of amino > acids, and this can be mimicked when we take aspartame. it cannot > be mimicked by eating meat." > ... Phenylketonuria is due to a deficiency in an enzyme which metabolizes phenylalanine. It is most definitely a chronic disease which leads to mental retardation and neurological deficits if a low phenylalanine regimen is not started aggressively during infancy. I have a feeling that Kaufman is either being misquoted or being misleading. What I believe to be the case here is that administration of free phenylalanine is not quite the same as administration of protein containing similar amounts of phenylalanine, because of competition by amino acids for transport across the blood-brain barrier. Granted. What is not addressed by Kaufman's comments is whether doses of aspartame even higher than those recommended by the FDA produce brain phenylalanine levels comparable to those seen in phenylketonuria and, indeed, whether the developmental and neurological deficits seen in PKU are due to phenylalanine levels alone (which presumably decrease rapidly in an ordinary individual) or to a general toxic effect of chronic high phenylalanine levels. Also, when aspartame is consumed with protein-containing foods, one would expect to see brain phenylalanine levels typical of protein alone. I'd like to hear from more informed medical and research sources who might have more facts. For the record: I still would regard infants and small children off-limits to aspartame, and I DON'T "think it tastes great straight." I am inclined to believe that much of this controversy is academic, given the typical use of aspartame by adults in the North American diet, but am open to scientific research which indicates otherwise. -- /Steve Dyer {decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbnccv.ARPA
ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems) (07/24/85)
> For the record: I still would regard infants and small children off-limits > to aspartame, and I DON'T "think it tastes great straight." I am inclined > to believe that much of this controversy is academic, given the typical > use of aspartame by adults in the North American diet, but am open to > scientific research which indicates otherwise. > -- Perhaps not in the typical diet, but the Nutri Systems(sp?) Diet contains a great deal of NutraSweet. It is used as the only sweetner in the diet. -- E. Michael Smith ...!{hplabs,ihnp4,amd,nsc}!amdahl!ems This is the obligatory disclaimer of everything. (Including but not limited to: typos, spelling, diction, logic, and nuclear war)