Recent Case History Report of Adverse Reaction to Aspartame in Chewing Gum

 CHEWING GUM WITH ASPARTAME - CASE HISTORY ADVERSE REACTION REPORT

Age: 55 Sex: Female

Q. May we have permission to publish your data to help others?

A.  Yes

Q. Name medical problems YOU experienced while using aspartame (tm NutraSweet/tm Equal).

A. Headache, sleep disruption, numbness of hands and face, hives on body, blurred vision, weakness; diagnosed with cataracts that eye surgeon said were typical of someone using steroids (I have never used any and rarely take any headache or cold medicines, being unusually healthy).   I began chewing "5" gum in mid-September 2011 and found that I wanted it several times a day while at my desk at work.  I did not have gum at home so only used in office.  Noticed that I was suffering from severe congestion, worsening weakness, ringing of ears, and headaches by the second week of October.  Rapidly worsened to include numbness of hands and face, sleep problems, blurred vision, extreme muscle weakness, and hives on my chest and face.   Went to eye doctor for rapidly worsening vision and was told there was nothing he could do to correct my vision and that  I appeared to have a systemic problem.  Suspected it could be something I was eating when I realized that I was feeling better after a few days of rest and rapidly weakening by the end of the second day back at work.   Started carefully monitoring what I was eating and dropping items from my diet when I suddenly realized that I was feeling worse after having popped a couple of pieces of gum into my mouth - this was in late November.  Was shocked to discover that the gum which I thought had only sorbitol and one other sweetener also had small amounts of aspartame, which had cause my mouth to itch the first time I put a pack in a coffee and had avoided since.   Didn't see the ingredient in the small print at the bottom of the ingredients list and didn't think 3 sweeteners would be needed for a stick of gum. Immediately threw it away and eliminated from diet.  After several weeks I had noticeably improved my health and stamina, however vision was permanently hampered.  Went to a different eye doctor who diagnosed cataracts.  Have had cataract surgery on left eye and am about to have surgery on right eye.   Eye surgeon indicated that the cataracts had formed on the back side of my lenses as "an evenly 'spray-painted' coating" that was not normal for someone my age and  "typical of heavy steroid use."  I have not been on any prescription medications since I stopped taking the pill over 20 years ago (and that was the only one I was on).  I have never used steroids other than eye drops provided this week for recovery from the cataract surgery, and only rarely take any over-the-counter medications (simple antihistimines and Tylenol)  for colds or headaches, preferring to tough it out.  For heavy chest congestion, I take Mucinex for a few days at most.   I use Tom's toothpaste and only natural foods and sugars, with the exception of the gum that I had been using.  I do not exhibit any of the normal indicators of cataract risk.  Still have some ringing of ears and elevated blood pressure but otherwise my energy level is back to where it was before.  

Q. Have you been diagnosed with any form of malignancy that coincided with your aspartame use?
 (Aspartame caused brain, uterine and mammary tumors in lab animals in the original tests.)

A.  No

Q. Did your symptoms go away or diminish when you stopped using the sweetener?

A.  Yes - the symptoms have mostly disappeared

Q. How long have you been Aspartame-free?

A.  Since late November 2011

Q. Did you see a Doctor about any of these symptoms?

A.  Went to eye doctor; have discussed my situation with a regular doctor used for a presurgery checkup

Q. Did your Doctor think it could be related to aspartame?

A. Doctor for presurgery checkup thought I had self-diagnosed pretty accurately.

Q. Did your Doctor advise you to stop using aspartame?

A.  Yes

Q. Did you use aspartame while pregnant? (Give approx. amounts.) (Aspartame changes DNA and has
 caused birth defects in lab animals.)

A.  No

Q. Did you report your symptoms to the FDA (Food & Drug Admin.) or any other group?

A.  No - tried to use their website but it is too complicated

Q. Name the specific products) containing aspartame you were consuming when you experienced
 these symptoms. (Brand names.)

A. 5 gum

Q. On the average, what quantity were you consuming (how often, how much each time, etc.)

A. 2 to 4 sticks per day, Monday through Thursday each week.

Q. Did you ever feel addicted to your sweetener? (Describe)

A. I definitely craved the gum; hadn't chewed gum in years prior to trying a few pieces in a co-workers office.  Went out and bought a huge pack and started chomping away

Q. How long had you been consuming aspartame before you began to experience any symptoms?

Thinking back, had minor symptoms after about two weeks, rapidly worsened.

A. FOR THOSE CONCERNED ABOUT WEIGHT: Did you begin using products with aspartame when
 you began a restricted calorie diet or joined a weight loss program?  Yes - was chewing in afternoon to avoid other snacks

Did you use aspartame products only for some of your meals to save calories?  Yes - instead of other snack foods.

Did aspartame seem to help you lose weight at first?  Yes - through not eating chips and junk foods

What were the long term weight loss effects of using aspartame.
I started craving sweets and was eating cupcakes and cookies regularly which I had always been able to walk away from before.

 

This stuff is horrible - I have been telling everyone to stay away from it and forbidden my sons to use gums or diet drinks containing it.  I cannot believe it is still on the market causing so much harm.

Submitted to: Aspartame Consumer Safety Network in June, 2012 - email: Marystod@airmail.net

Aspartame Consumer Safety Network's Turner & Stoddard Interviewed on FOX TV Washington DC (11/15/99)

Founders of Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Jas. Turner, Esq. & Hon. Mary Nash Stoddard on FOX TV Washington DC After Their Historic Meeting w/FDA Officials in Washington re: Aspartame Recall Request 

http://marystod.blogspot.com/2010/09/fox-tv-washington-features-stoddard.html

"ASPARBESITY": def. Syndrome created by ingesting the pharmaceutical sweetener, Aspartame. Traced back to approval of Aspartame sweetener in early 1980s, for use in foods, beverages, Rx & OTC medications, gums, etc. "Asparbesity" is creating havoc in our world's Food Supply. Popularity and availability of the sweetener increases. Healthcare professionals talk about the Epidemic of Obesity, yet offer little in the way of explanation for its origins. Founder of the international Aspartame Awareness Campaign, in 1987, Mary Nash Stoddard offers studies showing why she believes this phenomenon began in 1982 - escalating into a full-blown, medically recognized Epidemic in 2012.
###

More information may be found at: 

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/661834.Mary_Nash_Stoddard

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825841/

https://plus.google.com/102490430362362085891/posts

http://twitter.com/#!/marystod/

http://marystod.blogspot.com/
http://www.aspartamesafety.com/

http://www.worldeducationcouncil.org/the-council/founding-board-members/mary-nash-stoddard/

MAYOR BLOOMBERG OUT OF THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRESTORM OF CONTROVERSY OVER PROPOSED SODA BAN

The Sinister Dark Side of Banning HFCS Sweetened Sodas In NYC

June 5, 2012

A proposed ban on large-sized sugary sodas may drive consumers to sodas filled instead with formaldehyde, as a breakdown product of Aspartame's 10% methanol content.

On June 12, in an attempt to combat the obesity epidemic, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will ask the Board of Health to ban the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces by movie theaters, restaurants, mobile food carts, and delis, though not grocery stores or convenience stores—so 7-Eleven's 44-ounce Super Big Gulp is safe. It also must be stated that there is not one grain of refined cane sugar in a regular Soft Drink. They all contain the highly-controversial, genetically-modified sweetener, High Fructose Corn Syrup. Another little known fact is this: the so-called Sugar Lobby pales in comparison to the megalithic Artificial Sweetener Industry, which literally has billions in its coffers with which to vigorously fight any threat to its dominance in the world.

The Bloomberg proposal would exempt not only diet sodas, but also fruit-based drinks, dairy-based drinks, and alcoholic beverages, no matter how many calories they contain.

Most soft drinks are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. HFCS is a corn syrup that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired level of sweetness. Astonishingly, the mayor has exempted so-called diet drinks featuring artificial sweeteners Aspartame and Neotame. The mayor seems to like them and his proposal will undoubtedly push more people into choosing them. There is evidence these drinks are extremely dangerous, some scientists call them 'neurotoxic,' potentially much more so than the drinks they would replace.

• Aspartame and Neotame (aka Equal/ NutraSweet), which are used in more than 6,000 diet products, foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals, have carcinogenic effects at a dose level within range of human daily intake—effects that are magnified when exposure begins during pregnancy. One packet of Equal contains 33 mg. of aspartame; one can of Diet Coke contains approximately 200 mg. of Aspartame and 20 mg of methanol. One-half cup of sugarfreeJello contains 40 mg. of Aspartame and 4 mg. of methanol. 
• Ten percent of each aspartame molecule is methanol, which is converted, at temperatures exceeding 85 degrees Fahrenheit, into formaldehyde—which, in turn, is converted to formic acid. The other 90% is composed of phenylalanine (may cause mental retardation & seizures) and aspartic acid (caused 'holes' in the brains of lab animals.) These amino acids, when found in nature are harmless.  When ingested in isolation, as in Aspartame, they are neurotoxic.
• Aspartame has been implicated in the development of Gulf War syndrome. Huge amounts of diet drinks were shipped to Gulf War troops, who were drinking it, after it converted to toxic breakdown products in high temperatures. In the transcripts of the August, 1985 Senate Hearings on the Safety of Aspartame, the National Soft Drink Association stated their objections to the sweetener, saying "After a few weeks in storage in hot climates, there is little to no Aspartame left in a Diet Soda." Instead, only the toxic breakdown products remain. Aspartame has been shown to decompose into: methanol (wood alcohol), formaldehyde, diketopiperazine (brain tumor agent), and other toxins. Coca-Cola started using aspartame in Diet Coke in 1984.
• In a study on seven monkeys, five had grand mal seizures and one died, a casualty rate of 86%.
•  Mary Nash Stoddard, Founder of Dallas/Washington-based Aspartame Consumer Safety Network, set up a hotline for pilots in 1987. Stoddard reports that pilots are having grand mal seizures in the cockpits of commercial airline flights due to Aspartame, and others are crashing the flight simulator at training facilities while in seizure. Aspartame also blocks production of serotonin—a chemical that regulates aggressive behaviors, sleep patterns and menstrual cycles in women.
• Diet sodas in general are linked to a 61% increase in strokes and heart attacks, according to the American Stroke Association. Interestingly, Alliance for Natural Health reports: the population studied for this landmark report consists of all New Yorkers!
• In a 1976 FDA document on GRAS substances, it stated: "High-fructose corn syrups are predicted to increase in production and to replace sucrose and invert sugar in up to 30 percent of their applications by 1980-85, based largely on relative costs." The document further states: " Informing the consumer of the sugar content of foods by appropriate labeling could lead to judicious use of sweetened foods. Choices could be made easier with a greater selection of less sugared foods in the market place. The Select Committee has weighed all of the foregoing and concludes that: Evidence exists that simple sugars, including glucose and fructose [and, therefore, corn sugar(dextrose), corn syrup including high-fructose corn syrup, and invert sugars] are cariogenic. … However,  Informing the consumer of the sugar content of foods by appropriate labeling could lead to judicious use of sweetened foods. Choices could be made easier with a greater selection of less sugared (artificially-sweetened?)  foods in the market place. The Select Committee has weighed all of the foregoing and concludes that: Evidence exists that simple sugars, including glucose and fructose [and, therefore, corn sugar(dextrose), corn syrup including high-fructose corn syrup, and invert sugars] are cariogenic.   

Mayor Bloomberg needs to seriously rethink his proposed ban. It demonstrates a complete ignorance of science on his part. When government tries to force people to behave a certain way on pain of fines or worse, there is always the risk of unintended consequences, separate from the question of whether government should be telling people what to eat in the first place.

What even the most informed scientists know about food (and medical treatments) is continuously changing. Over time people will become better informed and hopefully, better choices will be made. When government officials jump in with heavy-handed punishment, there is too much risk they will get the science wrong, as in this case, or else, they will arbitrarily force today's science into law, even though science is consistently evolving. Don't forget - at one time, "More Doctors Smoked Camels Than Any Other Brand!" proclaimed the ad in the Journal of American Medical Association JAMA, a peer-reviewd scientific, medical publication. 

The mayor, states opposition to his ban is "ridiculous." But is it? There are many reasons to oppose it, not the least of which is scientifically well documented and may be found in numerous independent peer-reviewed studies.

It must also be stated, said Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Founder, Stoddard, "If this legislation is dropped in favor of tax penalties to be levied on consumers who purchase regular HFCS sweetened Sodas - we propose Diet Sodas be taxed on a basis equal with the Regular Sodas."

###

(article taken from published research of Aspartame Consumer Safety Network and Pilot Hotline, since 1987, along with information on the proposed NYC ban of HFCS sweetened Large Diet Drinks, presented June 5, 2012, by The Alliance for Natural Health)

For more information:

http://marystod.blogspot.com/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/661834.Mary_Nash_Stoddardhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825841/http://twitter.com/#!/marystod/http://marystod.blogspot.com/
http://www.aspartamesafety.com/ 
http://www.worldeducationcouncil.org/the-council/founding-board-members/mary-nash-stoddard/

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/fcn/fcnDetailNavigation.cfm?rpt=scogsListing&id=95