The big health news from this past week is the petitioning of the FDA by two very powerful dairy organizations, The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), to allow aspartame and other artificial sweeteners to be added to milk and other dairy products without a label.
Aspartame, also known by the brand name Nutrasweet, is made up of three components: 50% phenylalanine (a chemical that affects human brain activity by transmitting impulses), 40% aspartic acid and 10% methanol (poisonous wood alcohol).
Based on the FDA’s track record in handling the aspartame issue, things are not looking good to stop approval of this outrageous measure.
For one, back in 1996 when aspartame was first approved for use in thousands of food products, the FDA used 15 “pivotal” studies as the basis for its decision.
One of these pivotal studies involved oral dosage of aspartame to infant Rhesus monkeys for 52 weeks. The research was conducted by the University of Wisconsin Medical Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
The monkeys were divided into three groups. A low dose group which received 1.0 g of aspartame/kg of body weight per day, a medium dose group receiving 3.0g/kg per day and a high dose group receiving 4-6 g/kg per day.
The high dose group ended up ingesting about the same amount as the medium dose group as the high dose monkeys would not consume intended levels of aspartame possibly because it was too sweet at that amount. There was no control group.
The monkeys in this study were served their aspartame in an orally consumed milk based formula.
Starting about 7 months (218 days) into the experiment, ALL the medium and high dose monkeys began having brain seizures.
“All animals in the medium and high dosage groups exhibited seizure activity. Seizures were observed for the first time following 218 days of treatment… The seizures were of the grand mal type… One monkey, m38, of the high dose group, died after 300 days of treatment. The cause of death was not determined…”
Grand mal seizures also known as tonic clonic seizures are horrific – a very dangerous seizure which affects the entire brain.
The low dose monkeys might have started to have seizures as well, but the death of one of the researchers, H. A. Waisman, caused a lack of staffing for the study. As a result, the low dose monkeys were withdrawn from the group at 200 days which is before the seizures in the medium and high dose group began occurring.
As soon as the aspartame was withdrawn from the monkey’s diets, the seizures stopped.
How the FDA could call a study “pivotal” for approving aspartame’s use in thousands of products where every single monkey suffered from grand mal seizures and one died while consuming milk based formula containing this artificial sweetener is incomprehensible.
According to Robert Cohen of Oradell, New Jersey, who rediscovered this study which was reported in 1972, the dairy formula/aspartame milk which the monkeys ingested would have been a key reason for the brain seizures.
Cohen, who holds a degree in brain chemistry, suggests that the ingestion of dairy has the effect of elevating the pH of the stomach. He contends that drinking a single 12 oz. glass of milk would have the effect of buffering the pH of the human stomach from 2 to 6.
When the stomach pH is 6, Cohen explains that the simple proteins that comprise aspartame would pass through undigested and hence move into the blood intact.
Testing of the monkeys in this study showed that there was in fact phenylalanine (which comprises 50% of aspartame) in their blood which proves that it is absorbed. Phenylalanine affects human brain activity by transmitting impulses and the brain seizures started occurring after this compound was detected in the monkey’s blood.
With aspartame, aka Nutrasweet, already used but still included on the label of many dairy products, it’s not a big leap for the FDA to take it to unlabeled status based on the petition from Big Dairy.
This is especially probable given the FDA’s backward interpretation of the Rhesus monkey study which it called “pivotal” in proving human safety and yet all the monkeys suffered from grand mal seizures while ingesting aspartame laced dairy formula.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources: Aspartame in Milk Without a Label? Big Dairy Petitions FDA for Approval
FDA Pivotal Safety Study: Aspartame Caused Brain Seizures
Clearly, he is talking about homogenized, pasteurized milk laden with growth hormones.
I have a question that I hope someone can answer… Is Trader Joes milk considered safe? Or Is it like any other brand?? Please help
Geesh!!!!!
It would be very interesting to learn who is feeding the ‘good’ doctor’s wallet…we all know, to well, how the tobacco industry was feeding ‘false’ science about smoking for decades, and this is no different!
I write websites that claim ills with aspartame for three reasons. First, I write not for profit, but for education–I am not paid a penny for any of my writing and never have been. Second, I write because, as a former University Professor, these sorts of stories demonstrate ignorance of the relevant issues by all involved, even some scientists. The aspartame conspiracy theory gathers conspiracy theorists daily, but people everywhere, including many physicians, who believe there is a problem with aspartame, simply have no understanding of fundamental biochemistry, muchless the science of toxicology. Lastly, I write because this misunderstanding of aspartame has been twisted and turned by conspiracy theorists that it has become an attack on our drug and chemical regulatory system. So it seems that this ‘aspartame conspiracy theory’ provides both an opportunity to quell ignorance and an opportunity to educate people about serious health problem that is far more worthy of your time and effort.
John E. Garst, Ph.D. (Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Nutrition)
so true, Sarah!!
I think people who would even consider buying “flavored” milk, would be totally ignorant about nutrition, anyway. They would probably also be buying the trans fat foods, etc., etc., etc.
I’m assuming that aspartame would be added to flavored milk products. They wouldn’t be adding it to plain milk, would they?
Really and he probably eat low fat! haha
Waaay too much Fluoride in his water!
Laughing!
The way I read the petition, it is changing the definition of milk, so it would not just be flavored milk, it would be anything that has milk as an ingredient – which that technically includes plain milk.