[.ca] Aspartame (Nutrasweet): Is It Safe? (ISBN 0914783580)

someone who did undergraduate research on aspartame at ucla:
Arthur R. Rolla, M.D. of Harvard Medical School was so frustrated by the claims of H.J. Roberts that he published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine to debunk the aspartame rumors. Rolla immediately considers the professional background of Roberts- an internist from West Palm Beach, Florida. This information already places Rolla of Harvard University at a much higher standing than Roberts. Rolla reveals Roberts became suspicious of his patient's complaints and began to associate them with aspartame due to simple correlation. With this theory in mind, Roberts prepared a questionnaire for his patients which was later distributed to people across the country. Roberts received reports of headache, dizziness, fatigue, memory loss, mood swings, insomnia, and personality reports. Instead of looking for other possible explanations, Roberts immediately assumed such health problems were caused by aspartame. Rolla states that when frequent symptoms are matched with the use of a widely consumed product, a chance association is likely. However, this chance correlation does not imply causation. In order to gain any certifiable evidence, Roberts should have sent out questionnaires to a control group not taking aspartame and compared their complaints to the aspartame groups. Rolla also criticizes Roberts for asking patients who were already convinced aspartame was the cause of their illness to halt aspartame intake. The results of the symptom cessation occurring with the halting of aspartame use are merely due to a counterplacebo effect. Rolla's premier complaint against Roberts' research is that Roberts disregarded the scientific method in testing his hypothesis, but presented it as scientific fact despite lacking previous peer review. Rolla regards Roberts' work as a clear abuse of the freedom of the press as it causes unnecessary public alarm and distrust of the government (FDA). In the case of H.J. Roberts' work, his primary monetary motive is obvious. By looking at the many people who have purchased his work from Amazon.com, one can see the immediate profitability of the aspartame scare. Beyond books sales, it can be inferred that Roberts' secondary motive is recognition. Rolla reveals Roberts self-portrayal as a lone crusader against industry, government, and the medical establishment as entirely self-serving.

Don't believe everything you hear:
In this age of free press, email chain letters, and sensationalized media stories, people are willing to believe almost anything these days. If you do your own research on aspartame, you'll find that it is much more natural than you think. It is made up of two amino acids which naturally occur in protein, esterified with methanol (which by the way is found naturally in most fruits and vegetables - a cup of tomato juice contains more methanol than a cup of diet coke). The governments of Canada and the US have considered aspartame safe for years. Aspartame is endorsed by the American Diabetic Association, the American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society, to name a few. The so-called symptoms associated with "aspartame poisoning" mimic a multitude of other conditions, including most autoimmune conditions like thyroid disease, fibromyalgia, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc; as well as other conditions such as MVP. Many of these conditions are not widely diagnosed due to a lack of understanding by many physicians, not to mention the vagueness of symptoms. On a personal note, I have been a long time headache sufferer. I stopped using aspartame for 6 months with absolutely no improvement in symptoms.

Controversial Aspartame:
The Palm Beach Post says: Aspartame has been controversial, and a medical doctor in West Palm Beach, Dr. Hyman Roberts, has long campaigned against it. But while the clinic did conduct a study in 1997 linking aspartame to an increase in brain tumors, it now says officially the study only points to the need for more research and doesn't prove aspartame causes the tumors. Hmmm. An out-of-date book, by an out-of-date Doctor.

Aspartame Is it Safe:
I felt the book was very well written and easy to understand. This is a topic that is very serious and I expect that we will continue to hear more about Aspartame down the road.

An Important Warning:
I was warned by my OB not to use aspartame when we were trying to conceive; fortunately I'd already read this book and have done everything I can to avoid aspartame since. I have a friend would black out and was eventually diagnosed with "panic attacks" at Scripps; it turned out to be aspartame poisoning. Since she's steered clear of this, the attacks disappeared. Read the book and heed the doctor's advice! You wouldn't drink wood alcohol, would you? It's part of the aspartame molecule.