In this day and age people are becoming increasing leery of anything chemical added to our food supply. Pesticide usage is a big concern, BST is being added to our milk, and the list is endless. But are all chemicals bad? And is NutraSweet actually a harmful chemical additive or is it safe? Is switching from a high sugar product to a artificial sweetened product better or healthier? What about all the negative reports you hear from nutritionist and health food stores about the dangers of eating aspartame? Is it safe? Can it cause brain disorders, seizures and learning disabilities? To answer those questions let's look at some of the facts concerning aspartame and examine the flawed thinking on the part of it's critics.
 
As with all foods, chemicals and substances, there are people that can have a food sensitivity and/or allergic reaction to aspartame. These problems are real but are no different than a person that is sensitive to tomatoes or any other food for that matter. The degree of sensitivity is varied and as with any food sensitivity the reaction could range from mild like hives or headaches, to more severe problems. For those that do possess an allergy to aspartame obviously they should avoid it. Where the problem comes in is when health enthusiasts think that everyone should avoid aspartame. Yet, like the person that has an allergy to tomatoes, should we issue an alert telling everyone to avoid tomatoes? Of course not.

There is one group of individuals that should limit or avoid aspartame, and that is people that suffer from a syndrome called phenylketonuria (PKU). PKU is an amino acid metabolism problem whereby the individual cannot properly metabolize the amino acid phenylalanine. Persons that suffer from this disorder develop extremely high levels of the phenylalanine in their blood stream which leads to brain damage and other problems. This disorder occurs at birth and is usually diagnosed very early in life and dietary alterations are made for the individual.  People with PKU have to avoid any food that contains high concentrations of phenylalanine. Aspartame is made from two amino acids, one of which is phenylalanine, the other aspartic acid. It's not that PKU sensitive people have to avoid aspartame entirely, they simply have to account for it as part of their total daily intake.

The topic of whether pregnant women should avoid aspartame during pregnancy is hotly debated.  While some doctors feel there is no problem with it's use others advise pregnant women to avoid it's use during pregnancy because no-one can be sure whether their fetus could develop PKU.  So it's wise to simply stay away from artificial sweeteners during pregnancy.

Like all amino acids, these two amino acids are found abundantly within every high protein food we eat. When these two amino acids are joined together they create a compound that tastes like sugar, but is 200 times sweeter than normal sugar. Aspartame contains just as many calories as all other sugars, 4 calories per gram, but because it is so sweet the amount required to sweeten foods is insignificant. Aspartame is used in just about every food imaginable, it's used abundantly in fat free sweets, ice creams, cookies, diet sodas and even comes in a powder known as Equal and NutraSweet. This is where people that suffer from PKU have the most problems with aspartame. Because it is so widely used, keeping track of how much is within each food is very difficult and time consuming.

Aspartame critics focus on, and point to, the way aspartame breaks down in the body. They claim that the breakdown of aspartame causes all kinds of health problems. To keep things simple when aspartame is heated or ingested it breaks down and converts into methanol. After the aspartame converts into methanol it is converted to formaldehyde which then converts to formic acid. Formic acid is a known carcinogen and this is where the controversy and fear begins. While that all may sound very scary, the fact is that many foods, including many fruits and vegetables, especially tomato juice, go through a similar breakdown.

So researchers set out to find out if levels of methanol and formaldehyde were increased in the blood stream of aspartame users and if any discernable differences could be detected between subjects eating aspartame or not. The results, Harvard Medical School, The University of Arizona College of Medicine, and The University of Michigan School of Public Health all concluded that (a). there were no differences in blood levels of methanol or formaldehyde in aspartame users verses non-users. (b). No link to seizures, or hyperactivity were found. The only thing found which is harmless and was to be expected was an elevation of the amino acid phenylalanine in the blood stream after being fed very high dosages of aspartame.

Critics contend that 2% of the U.S. population, about 4.5 million people, have one of the two genes necessary for PKU, and although they do not develop the disease, they feel that these individuals may be sensitive to phenylalanine. This line of reasoning is flawed. Possessing one gene does not make a person susceptible to the same problems of PKU. In fact, both genes are necessary to develop problems metabolizing phenylalanine.

Diabetics, who need to reduce their sugar consumption can benefit tremendously by sweetening their foods with aspartame. What strikes me as being so odd is that health food stores that boycott aspartame do so because they feel that high concentrations of phenylalanine are dangerous and toxic, yet every health food store that contends this also sells the amino acid supplement phenylalanine in dosages of 500 mg. The dosage found within the one 500 mg tablet contains as much phenylalanine as 27.25 packets of Equal. When I asked the store clerk what Phenylalanine was good for he commented that it was good for brain function. When I asked how many 500 mg. Capsules a day I should take his advice was to take three a day or 1500 mg. Wow, if I followed his advice I would be ingesting as much phenylalanine as would be found in 82 packets of Equal! How is it that health food stores that sell phenylalanine capsules and tablets in such high concentrations feel that it is okay to boycott a product that only contains 18.35 mg of phenylalanine? They also sell many other formulas and products that contain this amino acid as well. If health food stores boycott products that contain aspartame, why do they recommend and allow other products that contain high concentrations of phenylalanine and aspartic acid to be sold in their stores? The basic fact is that health food stores often contend that anything artificial is bad. And that simply isn't the case.

What many health food stores fail to recognize is that their thinking about how amino acids are utilized is somewhat flawed. To quote one heath food stores own literature, which I obtained from Whole Foods Supermarket:

"Even those without PKU, both phenylalanine and aspartic acid are toxic at high levels. Studies by Richard Wurtman, a respected neuo-endocrinologist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have shown the possibility that large amounts of phenylalanine could    alter levels of brain chemicals and cause behavioral changes. The basic difference between aspartame and food sources that include phenylalanine and aspartic acid is that foods also contain other important amino acids. When meat, beans and other protein foods are eaten, the protein is digested slowly. When aspartame is ingested, the body is exposed to a quick burst of just two amino acids.

Considering that quote, think about all the foods that aspartame is used in, don't they have other amino acids. While some people do put aspartame in a beverage like tea or coffee, most people don't ingest aspartame all by itself. Most of the time we are ingesting aspartame along with meals or snacks. Secondly, If the articles line of reasoning is accurate, than all singular amino acids must also be bad. After all, if you read the instructions on the bottle of phenylalanine that is sold in the health food stores that carries literature on the benefits of phenylalanine, it clearly states that it should be taken on an empty stomach. In fact, the sales people that I asked suggested that the individual amino acids must be taken on an empty stomach.

Aside from a few sensitive individuals that react to aspartame or suffer from migraine headaches, those with philosophical oppositions, pregnant and lactating women and people with PKU, aspartame is safe for healthy people. Likewise, the use of this product has opened up a huge market for lower calorie products to cater to the weight conscious community.