aspartame dangerous?

[Lao Tzu]

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/suffer.faq

i heard about this in school today. apparently aspartame is converted into formaldahyde (embalming fluid) in the small intestines.

http://www.dorway.com/badnews.html

http://www.presidiotex.com/aspartame/Facts/92_Symptoms/92_symptoms.gif

i dont know if the 2 are related but i started drinking alot of aspartame orange drink a few months ago and i have noticed chronic headaches, eye pain, dizziness upon standing and a couple of other symptoms.

 

[strangebrew]

You had me at "aspartame."

 

[NoDaddyNo]

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp

I'd be curious to see the chemical process that it goes through to become formaldahyde.

I guess I'll have to look up the chemical structure of the two and presumably stomach acid as well and see what I can remember of chemistry in college.

 

[Lao Tzu]

You had me at "aspartame."

did you immediately look and thought i said 'ass parting me' and get all excited?

 

[strangebrew]

did you immediately look and thought i said 'ass parting me' and get all excited?

I feel so close to you right now.

 

[Lao Tzu]

I feel so close to you right now.

not suprising, most men get all huffy when i start discussing formaldahyde, asses & diet soda. I don't know why either.

 

[Lao Tzu]

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp

one of the articles in that didn't give any scientific basis as to why aspartame was safe, another didnt work and one was a very non scientific TIME article.

this was a good one though

http://www.aspartame.org/aspartame_latest.html

hopefully im wrong.

 

[NoDaddyNo]

Aspartame does have a Benzene ring in it - my dad (PhD in analytical chemistry) always makes it a point to avoid injesting anything that contains a Benzene ring.

When you injest a 330mL can of an aspartame drink - some diet soda maybe - it will yield 20mg of methanol (which along with the base amino acids that aspartame is made up of, is the byproduct of its digestion).
Note that a large hamburger would leave you 900mg of methanol in your system. A glass of milk would leave 500mg, 300mg for an egg, and 40mg for 330mL of fruit juice.

The worry of formaldahyde comes from the methanol. Which, as you can see, is unfounded since one's normal diet will increase the levels far higher than the aspartame will.

They did do clinical studies and have shown no evidence of toxic effects and no increase in plasma concentrations of methanol, formic acid, or phenylalanine with daily consumption of 50 mg/kg aspartame (equivalent to 17 cans of diet soft drink daily for a 70 kg adult).
Those studies:
1. Aspartame. In: Gelman CR, Rumack BH, Hess AJ, eds. DRUGDEX® System. Englewood, Colorado: MICROMEDEX, 1998. Edition expires 1999.
2. Anon. ADA position statement: use of noncaloric sweeteners. Diabetes Care 1991;

 

[Lao Tzu]

thanks

but

http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/toxicity.htm

shit, i dont know what to believe.