Aspartame’s Dangerous Side Effects

CBN.com A new federal study says the artificial sweetener aspartame, usually known as NutraSweet, does not cause cancer. Scientists at the National Cancer Institute examined the eating habits of more than a half-million people between the ages of 50 and 69, and they found no link between aspartame and cancer. Numerous other studies have uncovered other health concerns with the sweetener. In one report, 84 out of 92 independently-funded articles found health problems for aspartame.

Pat Robertson: I’ve been one of the champions against aspartame, NutraSweet, whatever name it goes under. I just absolutely think that this is dangerous, because it creates formaldehyde, which is carcinogenic. The same thing is in wood alcohol, the old rotgut liquor that was put out by the so-called moonshiners, and it could make you blind.

Well, we have CBN News Science & Medical Reporter Gailon Totheroh. The issue with aspartame, in my opinion, is not that it’s carcinogenic. That’s one of the side effects, but that’s only one of them. It does many other things to people.

Gailon Totheroh: That’s exactly right. As you were saying, the formaldehyde, this was a product of a chemical within the substance, was broken down, and it goes into all the cells of the body. So you can get a problem anywhere in the body, but you can especially get problems in the brain. Cancer is a terrible disease, but so is Alzheimer’s. And when you have those kinds of problems, you just can’t imagine. People get headaches. They can have abnormal weight gain, abnormal weight loss. Because when you’re playing with the body in this way, you can get a contrary reaction.

Pat: Well, it also leads to terrible depression, and it means the loss, for a number of people, of mental acuity. I mean, the IQ levels can go down 10 or 12 points in some people.

Gailon: It does affect the memory. A lot of psychiatrists are aware of this, and their patients, they will not give them anything that contains this, because it’ll just send them down a tailspin.

Pat: Well, the fact that this study comes out—it’s a government study, so the Associated Press picks it up and runs it all over the country, and everybody says, ‘Oh, aspartame is safe.’ All that study showed is that, in the group tested, there didn’t seem to be an incident of cancer, assuming the study is valid. But we’re not sure it’s valid. But it has to do with cancer, not these other side effects, which I think are just devastating. I’ll tell you, if I had my choice, I’d rather die of cancer than die of Alzheimer’s. There’s not a link, necessarily, with Alzheimer’s, though. We can’t say that, can we?

Gailon: Not for certain. But anytime you mess with the brain, you’re going to get more Alzheimer’s, frankly. And what about children? The company originally said this was not going to be targeted toward children, and they turned right around and marketed it toward children. And pregnant women in doctors’ offices, they used to have brochures that said, ‘This is fine. This is safe.’ Well, a baby is very vulnerable, and this is unconscionable.

Pat: Is it the phenylalanine in there that causes the—certain people with a PK factor, they’re the ones that are at risk on this, particularly in terms of losing mental acuity. Isn’t that right?

Gailon: Yes, there are some of those people who have a genetic weakness toward one of these components. But the aspartic acid in there, too, it can be excitotoxic, which means harmful to the brain.

Pat: Ladies and gentlemen, just don’t use it.