Aspartame: how it was approved and what it does to us.

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1981. Marketed under the brand names NutraSweet® and Equal®, aspartame now sweetens over 6,000 food and beverage products, ranging from diet soft drinks to low-calorie yogurt, jams, desserts, juices, chewing gum and sugar-free condiments.

Aspartame gives food that sugary taste that is also quite addictive.  Many people drink diet sodas to avoid the calories and sugar (high fructose) that they see in normal sodas.  What they don't realize is that aspartame actually makes you CRAVE CARBS which ends up worse for people looking to keep their weight down in the long run.   Your body actually craves more calories than you would if you eat real sugar.

Aspartame also has other side effects such as:

• Headaches/migraines

• Nausea
• Abdominal pains
• Fatigue (blocks sufficient glucose entry into brain)
• Sleep problems
• Vision problems
• Anxiety attacks
• Depression
• Asthma/chest tightness.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg.  Long term, consistent ingestion of this product can cause severe health risks.   I recently read a report where the FDA actually admitted that Aspartame has been linked to over ninety symptoms.  If you would like to learn more about them, a report can be found at: 

http://www.relfe.com/aspartame_92.html

Okay, if you're like me, you're now asking yourself how this stuff can find its way into our food supply if it causes these kind of reactions???  To get your answer, we have to travel back to the time of disco and bellbottoms, the 1970's. This was when the chemical company known as G.D. Searle requested the FDA for approval of the sweetener.  In 1974, the FDA commissioner Alexander Schmidt in a first ever move assembled a public board of inquiry to investigate the artificial sweetener.  Their findings cited a study by a neuropathologist, Dr. John Olney of Washington University, who had linked aspartame to brain lesions in mice.  They also went on to say that Searle severely distorted its studies to gain approval and that their integrity could not be relied upon.  Aspartame was subsequently not approved by the board.  At this point in time the FDA actually did its job in protecting its citizens.

Fast forward to 1977 when Searle hired Donald Rumsfeld (yes, that Donald Rumsfeld) as their new President and eventually CEO.  From day one, Rumsfeld's main goal was to somehow get aspartame approved and into as many household food items as possible.  The potential profitability to the company was enormous.  His first order of business was to derail a potentially harmful situation.  

The U.S. attorney was investigating Searle's purposeful misrepresentation of the effects of aspartame in its studies to bring before a grand jury.  Searle was able to dodge that bullet not once but twice.  The first instance was when the Chicago U.S. Attorney Sam Skinner handling the case decided to step aside and take a lucrative position with Searle's law firm instead.  The second time was when the new Assistant U.S. Attorney on the case, William Conlin, left to join their firm as well.  How's that for power and influence?  By that point, enough time had gone by for the statue of limitations to expire on its allegedly false statements about aspartame.

With that potential threat out of the way, Rumsfeld could focus on somehow pushing it through for approval. In October 1978, with the help of FDA official Dr. Howard Roberts, an FDA review was ordered to "help get Searle's petition back on track".  Robert's subsequently went on to serve as VP of the National Soft Drink Association, today's leading purveyor of aspartame.  Despite all of the industry influence, on September 30, 1980, the FDA's Board of Inquiry ruled against the approval of aspartame.  It leads you to wonder what the scientists had really seen.

The good news for Rumsfeld and Searle was that one month later, Reagan defeated Carter and a new FDA commissioner would be appointed in due time.  On July 18, 1981, Arthur Hull Hayes, Jr. was appointed and less than 3 months later, aspartame was approved for use in all dry foods, and eventually soft drinks.  On a side note, Searle went on to be acquired by the friendliest Bio Tech company of them all, Monsanto!

It crushed me to learn that this type of thing can happen "behind closed doors" within our government.  Favors being granted to allow harmful synthetic ingredients into our food supply that for all intents and purposes makes us guinea pigs.  With the downturn in health and rise in illness and disease in this country, we're learning the results decades later.  This was a valuable lesson for me.  I came to realize that we're on our own when it comes to researching these things and truly learning what's potentially dangerous to ourselves and our families.  Unfortunately, this was one of countless examples of the FDA being completely negligent when it comes to doing their job and protecting us.

It's for that reason that I will continue to bring these things to light on as many potentially harmful ingredients in our food supply as possible.  Aspartame is one that you should definitely remove from your diet immediately.  Now that you know how it was approved and made its way  into our foods, soft drinks, gum and many other products, don't you think you should share this with the people you care about?  If so, click any of the share buttons below and spread the word!  The only way we as consumers win is when we vote with our wallets.  Trust me, if enough people stopped buying products with aspartame and other artificial sweeteners in them, food companies would get the message and remove them from their products.

*If you feel the information shared here can benefit friends or loved ones, please hit the share button below and spread the word!

**If you would like to be updated when a new blog is posted to True Food Knowledge, please subscribe by clicking this link:

http://eepurl.com/uMtaL