aspartame's safety?

[Debra Krummel]

Date:          Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:49:15 -0400
Reply-to:      phnutr-l at u.washington.edu
From:          Janice <jstoneho at cyberus.ca>
To:            "Public Health Nutrition Discussion and Information Group" <phnutr-l at u.washington.edu>
Subject:       Re: aspartame's safety?



Debbie:

I too am interested in comments about these articles.  Patients have shown
me similar info from the Internet plus I have seen published "ads" in the
lay literature - they all seem to focus on scare tactics and I have not seen
that they reference this to any scientific literature.  I have yet to
contact Nutrasweet -Searle, but I am sure they must be aware of these
articles and have some reply.  I also wonder who is paying for the ads in
the publications?

Keep in touch,

Janice Stonehouse, RD,CDE

At 08:48 AM 7/23/96 -0500, you wrote:

>I came across the following quote in an article I read on the Internet.  I

>know that aspartame is not advisable for people with PKU, but have only

>read about minor side effects resultant from it's use.  Anybody heard

>about any "serious" side effects?

> " it seems as if the FDA is no longer the protector of the health of

>Americans which they used to be - their continuing refusal to take

>Aspartame (Nutrasweet) artificial sweetener off the market despite the

>fact that more than 700,000 people have experienced serious side

>effects from it and also that there is growing medical evidence that the

>methanol collects in the brain and destroys brain tissue, may be

>indicative of the 1990's FDA attitudes. "

>

>Thanks in advance!

>

>Debbie McClurg-Hitt

>

>

>


You should contact the Nutrasweet company (708-405-7945), they have a Health 
Practitioner's Guide to use of Nutrasweet (mine was published in '91) 
and they may have something more current.  Also, low-calorie 
sweeteners were reviewed in a publication by the American Council on 
Science and Health (212-362-7044).  
Debra Krummel, PhD, RD
Assistant Professor
Prevention Research Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 9005
Morgantown, WV  26506
304-293-8612