On Sat, 16 Jan 1999, Richard Norman wrote:
> Aspartame is a methyl ester of a dipeptide,and so can metabolize into
> methanol. However, one can (12 oz = 355 ml) of non-diet soft drink
> usually has something less than 40 g of sugar. Since Aspartame is
> about 160 times as sweet as sugar, the same diet drink would have
> something less than 250 mg of Aspartame (the exact amount is not
> revealed on the label). This amount would metabolize to about 25 mg
> of methanol, perhaps 1/2 drop. The lethal amount is ordinaly over
> 25 g.
Richard,
I hesitate to address this because there may be some knee-jerk responses,
but I disagree (as you might expect) with your analysis.
A much smaller dose than 25 grams of methanol has caused death. If a
person drinks a liter of aspartame-containing beverage (e.g., "big gulp"),
they will obtain approximately 60 mg of methanol. That is approximately
1/100th the lethal dose in some situations. As you are no doubt aware,
there is such a thing as chronic, low-level poisoning, especially when it
comes to methanol and its metabolite, formaldehyde.
There are a number of studies showing chronic, low-level poisoning from
exceptionally small doses of formaldehyde -- as low as 0.75 mg per day.
So, I think it is more appropriate to compare the doses obtained from
aspartame to the levels that can cause chronic, low-level poisoning (not
immediate death).
Secondly, I believe it is important to consider synergistic reactions.
Aspartame also breaks down into a *free-form* excitotoxic amino acid which
is not absorbed like amino acids from food because of its quick
absorption. Formic acid (a methanol metabolite) is an ATP inhibitor.
Some researchers believe that excitotoxic amino acid toxicity play an
important role in cell death from low-level methanol toxicity.
As some of you know, I advocate some alternative medicine techniques such
as stress relief, healthy diet, meditation, etc. I have information about
these ideas on my web page. But I also have a detailed web page about
aspartame toxicity, including very detailed and well-reference pieces
relating to aspartame toxicity:
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/
In the scientific documents section of this web page are the scientific
FAQs. It's a good place to start if you are interested. I am now adding
documents to that section on a regular basis. You may want to print out
and read some of the sample toxicity reaction reports to get a clinical
sense of the issue.
And now :-) ... a toast to aspartame self-embalming! :-)
"These are indeed extremely high levels for adducts of
formaldehyde, a substance responsible for chronic deleterious
effects that has also been considered carcinogenic.
....
"It is concluded that aspartame consumption may constitute a
hazard because of its contribution to the formation of
formaldehyde adducts."
[Life Sciences, Vol. 63, No. 5, pp. 337+, 1998]
A few comments from independent research scientists regarding this
and other recent aspartame research:
"It was a very interesting paper, that demonstrates that
formaldehyde formation from aspartame ingestion is very
common and does indeed accumulate within the cell,
reacting with cellular proteins (mostly enzymes) and
DNA (both mitochondrial and nuclear). The fact that it
accumulates with each dose, indicates grave consequences
among those who consume diet drinks and foodstuffs on a
daily basis."
Russell Blaylock, MD [Neurosurgeon and Neuroscientist]
"...following aspartame ingestion, methanol or formaldehyde
is distributed all over the place. Even more striking is
the fact that formaldehyde accumulates. That's scary."
[Neuroscience Researcher]
- Mark
mgold at tiac.net