Sweet

So I try not to be one to jump onto conspiracy bandwagons. I try to always vet out the conspiracy emails on snopes and wiki (the sources of all internet knowledge) before forwarding them on to everyone in my address book. That's why when people mentioned aspartame as the source of all illness I usually put them in in the same category as the people who forward Microsoft giveaway emails.

Aspartame is the artificial sweetener used in thousands of different foods and drinks. It is marketed under the brand names NutraSweet, Equal and Canderel. It was discovered in the 1960's by G.D. Searle & Company and has a taste that is approximately 180 times sweeter than sugar and consists of two amino acids.

As I mentioned, I've had a number of people over the years chastise me for the amount of Diet Coke, and ergo aspartame, I consume. Since the discovery of the brain lesion mentioned in Jamie's previous post I've had many more people mention the pitfalls of aspartame. While I've looked into the claims briefly in the past, I've decided to dig a little deeper...and this is what I've found:

• As I already mentioned aspartame was discovered in the 1960's by G.D. Searle & Company.
• Searle sought approval from the FDA in the 1970's but were rejected and their studies on aspartame and other drugs were criticized as "poorly conceived, carelessly executed, or inaccurately analyzed or reported."
• The data was so suspect that the FDA's lead counsel recommended Searle be investigated by a grand jury for "concealing material facts and making false statements in reports of animal studies conducted to establish the safety of the drug Aldactone and the food additive aspartame."
• The charges were never brought against Searle. The United States attorney (Samuel Skinner) who was given the information by the FDA recused himself from the case...because he was hired by Sidley & Austin...who happened to be counsel for Searle. Oh, and Skinner's deputy later left his job to also work for Sidley & Austin.
• The head of the FDA refused to approve aspartame after a three member public board of inquiry concluded that Searle's own tests showed evidence of aspartame causing brain tumors in rats.
• Shortly after Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 he appointed Arthur Hull Hayes as the new head of the FDA. Searle (and their COO/CEO Donald Rumsfeld...yes that Donald Rumsfeld) applied again to the FDA and Hayes approved aspartame largely based on data from a new study done in Japan.
• Arthur Hull Hayes left the F.D.A. a little more than a year after approving aspartame and took a job as a consultant to Burson-Marsteller, which at the time was Searle's public relations agency.
• In 1996 Dr. Ralph G. Walton, a professor of psychiatry at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine did a study of the 166 aspartame studies conducted between 1980 and 1985. His research found that 74 of the studies were funded by the industry...and all 74 concluded that aspartame was safe. The other 92 studies were independently funded...and 84 of those concluded that aspartame had adverse health effects.
• The Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences concluded a study in 2006 that showed a 16% increase in the incidence of lymphoma and leukemia in their study of lab rats.
• Most of my data comes from wiki and This article from the New York Times.

An internet search for aspartame will reveal all kinds of reported health links (Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain). While I don't think it is the root of all evil, I do think I'll back off on my diet coke consumption. Don't take my word for it though; read the articles, do your own research, make up your own mind. Just thought I'd share what I found.