While I was never a frequent consumer of NutraSweet or other aspartame products, I wasn't always careful about reading labels to weed out products with it hidden on the ingredients list. Watching Sweet Misery changed that. If you need further evidence that aspartame truly is a poison, this documentary has it. Doctors, psychiatrists, former FDA investigators—all offer testimony regarding their research into aspartame. Those objecting to its FDA approval expose the cover-up that allowed this product to reach the market. The sheer quantity of facts about aspartame will change your thinking on the product forever. Introduction After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, director Cori Brackett discovered information linking aspartame to MS-like symptoms. In search of answers, she made a journey across the country, interviewing researchers and fellow victims. The result was the hard-hitting documentary Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World. The Researchers One thing that makes this documentary so helpful is that it offers both anecdotal experience with patients' symptoms of aspartame poisoning and studies done by medical professionals. The documentary mentions early on is the increase in brain tumors since the 1980's after aspartame was introduced to the market. Also, medical professionals such as Dr. Ralph Walton (NEOUCoM) discuss how patients with no history of mania or grand mal seizures would come to him with these symptoms. Once the patient stopped consuming aspartame products, the symptoms went away. The movie also presents an in-depth discussion of the chemical components of aspartame and the physical and neurological problems that each one causes. The Cover-Up If aspartame's path to the market holds any clues, getting a food additive approved may have more to do with how deep your pockets are and whether you have some high-profile friends. Falsified and contaminated studies are just the beginning. The efforts of G.D. Searle—the originators of aspartame before Monsanto purchased it—to get FDA approval of this product was steeped in corruption from the beginning, but ultimately, Donald Rumsfeld may be the man responsible for unleashing a highly effective weapon of mass (health) destruction on the American consumer and later the rest of the world. The Victims Some of the hardest parts of Sweet Misery to watch are the stories of the victims. Patients suffering from different types of aspartame poisoning (from MS to brain tumors) were interviewed. Sweet Misery gave these people a chance to share just how aspartame destroyed their health, forcing some to end careers because of the debilitating side effects of aspartame. And these are people who know they had been poisoned with aspartame. How many people are out there suffering who don't know? If this poison never reached the market, the lives of these victims and countless others could be radically different. Watch this film in its entirety, and share it with everyone you know who consumes products with aspartame.
No matter what the topic, nobody likes being told they've been lied to, especially by people and institutions they inherently trust. When confronted with truth, people get defensive. That's why I approach this topic with care. While the products I've reviewed so far are either sugar free or low sugar, none of them contain artificial sweeteners like sucralose or aspartame. You won't see any in the future either. This blog was established to promote healthy food and products to help prepare it, and that does not include poisons that harm and destroy the human body. So let's take a look at a product that's been available commercially for the past thirty years. And despite the studies that prove its toxic effects, it remains on the market right now. Today's offender is aspartame. What's Wrong with Aspartame? The first time I heard about the harmful effects of aspartame was when I was a kid. When I asked about it, my father told me that it caused health problems. Apparently, my mother tried it and would get severe headaches and tremors. Years later, my husband mentioned his mother suffered many health problems that resulted from years of consuming Nutrasweet products. And upon further investigation, I found aspartame to be linked with plethora of medical problems, including birth defects, diabetes, brain tumors, and seizures, just to name a few. Other common side effects include migraines, drowsiness, severe depression, insomnia, irritability, and a host of others. But is aspartame really the cause of all of this? Let's take a closer look at its chemical composition to see just what this “safe” product is contributing to our food. What Is Aspartame Made Of? Aspartame this made of the following three chemicals: aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methyl ester (methanol). Once the body breaks down the sweetener, these chemicals are released into the bloodstream. If this doesn't mean much, perhaps we should take a closer look at each of the chemical components and ask ourselves if we want to be consuming this product, let alone feeding it to children.
Aspartic Acid (40% of aspartame): A common amino acid that can be found in a number of fruits and vegetables. In its isolated chemical form, it is an excitotoxin (a chemical that causes brain neurons fire so rapidly they burn out and die). The blood brain barrier normally protects the brain from such chemicals, it doesn't protect all areas of the brain and can be penetrated under the following conditions: childhood, when it is not fully developed; acute and chronic illnesses; and excess consumption of aspartic acid even when fully intact. Dr. Russell Blaylock published a book that elaborates on the effects of excessive consumption of aspartic acid: Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills. Phenylalanine (50% of aspartame): An amino acid normally found in the brain. Consuming aspartame can lead to an excess of phenylalanine in the blood. High levels of phenylalanine in the brain can cause a decrease in serotonin levels, leading to emotional disorders such as depression. Methyl Ester (Methanol) (10% of aspartame): Methanol is wood alcohol and defined by Merriam Webster as “a light volatile pungent flammable poisonous liquid alcohol CH3OH formed in the destructive distillation of wood or made synthetically and used especially as a solvent, antifreeze, or denaturant for ethyl alcohol and in the synthesis of other chemicals.” If that definition doesn't speak for itself, consider this. When the body metabolizes aspartame, you wind up with a small amount of wood alcohol in your system that breaks down first into formic acid (fire ant poison) and then into formaldehyde (embalming fluid). The body can't eliminate this chemical, so it accumulates. Just for the Taste of It? The information above gives just a small sample of the problems caused by aspartame. Many studies have proven its toxic effects, and yet, against all logic, it is still on the market as a sweetener and is included in popular diet foods and beverages to cut back calories. Why would the hoax of such a product persist if corporations didn't stand to profit from it? In my next post, I'll review a documentary that covers aspartame, its side effects, and history more fully. When you find out how aspartame obtained approval, you'll realize it wasn't “just for the taste of it” at all.
|