Aspartame

  If you are one in ten thousand people who are PKU or carry the PKU gene, Phenylalanine can cause irreversible brain damage and death, especially when used in high quantities or during pregnancy.  Phenylalanine is 50% of aspartame, and to the degree humans consume diet products, Phenylalanine levels are reaching a dangerous peak…

METHANOL (AKA wood alcohol/poison) (105 of aspartame).  Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison.  People may recall that methanol was the poison that has caused some “skid row” alcoholics to end up blind or dead.  Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounters the enzyme chymotrypsin.

  The absorption of methanol into the body is sped up considerably when free methanol is ingested.  Free methanol is created from aspartame when it is heated to above 86 Fahrenheit (30Centigrade).  This would occur when aspartame-containing product is improperly stored or when it is heated (e.g., as part of a “food” product such as Jell-O).

  Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body.  Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin.  An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol “is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed”.  In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid: both of these metabolites are toxic.  “They recommend a limit of consumption of 7.5 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg. of methanol.  Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg. of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit.

  The most well known problems from methanol poisoning are vision problems.  Formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication, and causes birth defects.  Due to the lack of a couple of key enzymes, humans are many times more sensitive to the toxic effects of methanol than animals.

  The troops of Desert Strom were “treated” to large amounts of aspartame-sweetened beverages which had been heated to over 86 degrees F. in Saudi Arabian sun.  Many of them returned home with numerous disorders similar to what has been seen in persons who have been chemically poisoned by formaldehyde.  The free methanol in the beverages may be been a contributing factor in these illnesses.  Other breakdown products of aspartame such as DKP, may also have been a factor.

 

How It Happens:

  Methanol, from aspartame, is released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounters the enzyme chymotrypsin.  Free methanol begins to form in liquid aspartame-containing products at temperatures above 86 degrees F.. Also with the human body.

  The methanol is then converted to formaldehyde.  The formaldehyde converts to formic acid, ant sting poison.  Toxic formic acid is used as an activator to strip epoxy and urethane coatings.  Imagine what that does to your tissues!

  Phenylalanine and aspartic acid, 90% of aspartame, are amino acids normally used in synthesis of protoplasm when supplied by the foods we eat.  But when accompanied by other amino acids we use (there are 20) they are neurotoxic… That is why a warning for Phenylketonurics is found on EQUAL and other aspartame products.  Phenylketonurics are 2% of the population with extreme sensitivity to this chemical unless it’s present in food.  It gets you too, causing brain disorders and birth defects! Finally, the phenylalanine breaks down into DKP, a brain tumor agent.—In other words:  Aspartame converts to dangerous byproducts that have no natural countermeasures.  A dieter’s empty stomach accelerates these conversions and amplifies the damage.  Components of aspartame go straight to the brain, damage that causes headaches, mental confusion, seizures and faulty balance.  Lab rats and other test animals died of brain tumors.  It often takes at least 60 days without any aspartame or NutraSweet to see a significant improvement. References: Dr. Joseph Mercola, author of The Total Health Program
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