Sweet Nothings

If you use Nutrasweet or Equal brand sweetener (chemical name: Aspartame), please read further. My friend, Dave (who's a physician) was quite emphatic recently about the medical dangers of Nutrasweet.

I don't completely understand the science, but many physicians do and they say to avoid it like the plague. There is credible medical evidence, for example, that Gulf War Syndrome (from the FIRST Gulf War) is related to poisoning from Aspartame from Diet Coke that--under desert heat--broke down into it component parts: Methanol, ethanol and formaldehyde! This, apparently, is what happens also when it's added to hot coffee! Last night I drained and threw away a 12-pack of diet coke and some light yogurts, all with Aspartame.

If FDA approval is all the proof of safety you need, remember: first, Vioxx was rushed through the approval process and later pulled. Also the Chairman of GD Searle when Nutrasweet was approved by the FDA was Donald Rumsfeld who was, even then, a powerful Washington insider. No one has ever proven he unduly used this influence to get FDA approval, but claims to this effect have been swirling for years.

I asked my physician friend about Splenda and, while he couldn't cite any science to conclusively verify its safety (there ARE some detractors of that artificial sweetener, too), he said he's never seen convincing evidence of any dangers (as he has re: Aspartame).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame
http://www.dorway.com/jwnoasp.html
http://www.greenfacts.org/aspartame/l-2/aspartame-1.htm