Dr. Woody Monte (university of Arizona) explains why Aspertame is harmful to human health

[JohnyCanuck]

Natural health physician Dr. Joseph Mercola interviews Dr. Woodrow Monte, professor emeritus at Arizona State University in food and chemistry, to help you understand some of the toxicities of methanol as it relates to aspartame, one of the most commonly used artificial sweeteners in the world.

[Quixote1818]

1. Dr. Mercola is not trusted in the scientific community.

http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html


He also gets really low ratings from his patients most calling him a scam artist: http://www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/1587/Dr-Joseph-Mercola-Hoffman+Estates-IL.html

[PADemD]

2. Is the Professor also not trusted?

[Quixote1818]

3. Dr. Mercola chery picked him and as usual with Mercola there is no debate just one side

The methanol produced by the metabolism of aspartame is absorbed and quickly converted into formaldehyde and then completely converted to formic acid, which, due to its long half life, is considered the primary mechanism of toxicity in methanol poisoning. The methanol from aspartame is unlikely to be a safety concern for several reasons. The amount of methanol in aspartame is less than that found in fruit juices and citrus fruits, and there are other dietary sources for methanol such as fermented beverages. Therefore, the amount of methanol produced from aspartame is likely to be less than that from natural sources. With regards to formaldehyde, it is rapidly converted in the body, and the amounts of formaldehyde from the metabolism of aspartame is trivial when compared to the amounts produced routinely by the human body and from other foods and drugs. At the highest expected human doses of consumption of aspartame, there are no increased blood levels of methanol or formic acid,[10] and ingesting aspartame at the 90th percentile of intake would produce 25 times less methanol than would be considered toxic.[61]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy

[drokhole]

6. A what makes you think "Quackwatch" is a trust-worthy source?

He has a pretty long and vicious take-down of the "biological" dentistry pioneered by Weston A Price. Meanwhile, research is coming out today that vindicates precisely what Price concluded and advocated. And it has to deal with the increasing understanding and recognition of the importance of the microbes we co-evolved with:

Sequencing ancient calcified dental plaque shows changes in oral microbiota with dietary shifts of the Neolithic and Industrial revolutions

Ancient Teeth Bacteria Record Disease Evolution

[Quixote1818]

10. Thats just one site

You can go to Snopes, Dr. Dean Edell or any number of places on the net that are geared toward real science and trial and error. Looking at his patients reviews at the link above is enough to scare me away. He seems like a con-artist trying to sell his crap to anyone who he can scare into using it. He has his opinions just like creation scientists have their opinions but they are NOT backed up by mainstream science and peer review, period!

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4127

European countries and every other country in the world have approved aspartame:

[truth2power]

4. I don't know if it's just me or what, but I listened to about 8 minutes of this

and it seemd like Dr. Monte had a lot of trouble just getting to the point.

That said, wasn't Donald Rumsfeld affiliated, somehow, witht the Aspartame industry? Maybe I'm not remembering correctly.

For myself, I stay away from all those artificial sweeteners. I don't think any of them are good for you. Just a personal decision.

[DhhD]

8. In research, Aspartame is seen in some writings to be written as, " Rumsfeld's Poison".

[PennyK]

5. Why would anyone use it?

I switched to Splenda years ago. Tastes just like sugar. It may not be safe either but aspartame is def a poor second.

[DhhD]

7. How were the law suites against the makers of Aspartame settled?

Pectin also bounds low density cholesterol in the blood stream.

[kestrel91316]

9. I used aspartame uneventfully for decades, then

several years ago after a severe flu-like illness (fever and horrible aches) I developed a sensitivity to it. It was giving me severe enough heart palpitations (ventricular premature contractions) that I wound up in the ER. Drs couldn't figure it out, but I eventually did.

I quit using aspartame and they completely went away. But I can bring them back anytime by consuming 2 diet cokes a day for 2 or 3 days.

I don't think it's a bad product. i just can't use it anymore. I prefer Splenda now anyway.

FWIW

[UtahLib]

11. I have a cautionary tale.

I don't know how common it mght be but I have a severe reaction to anything containing aspartame. It causes my tongue to swell. I'm not overly fond of sweets, so when sugar is called for in a recipe, I use it in the raw form.


edit: spelling

[JohnyCanuck]

12. In a nutshell.......

Here is the explanation from Dr. Mercola's web site:

Aspartame is primarily made up of aspartic acid and phenylalanine. The phenylalanine has been synthetically modified to carry a methyl group, which provides the majority of the sweetness.

That phenylalanine methyl bond, called a methyl ester, is very weak, which allows the methyl group on the phenylalanine to easily break off and form methanol. This is in sharp contrast to naturally occurring methanol found in certain fruits and vegetables, where it is firmly bonded to pectin, allowing the methanol to be safely passed through your digestive tract.

snip

Methanol acts as a Trojan horse; it's carried into susceptible tissues in your body, like your brain and bone marrow, where the alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzyme converts it into formaldehyde, which wreaks havoc with sensitive proteins and DNA.

All other animals have a protective mechanism that allows methanol to be broken down into harmless formic acid, but according to aspartame expert Dr. Woodrow Monte, there's a major biochemical problem with methanol in humans, because of the difference in how it's metabolized compared to in all other animals. This is why toxicology testing on animals is a flawed model. It doesn't fully apply to humans.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/02/18/aspartame-toxic-effects.aspx?e_cid=20130218_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20130218