Methyl alcohol
Phenylalanine [PHE]
Aspartic Acid
Diketopiperazine
Formaldehyde
Formic acid

These are the chemicals which are the result of the digestive breakdown of Nutri-Sweet, or Aspartame.  In this article, we will discuss exactly what these chemicals can do in the body of a pregnant woman and her unborn child.  Indeed, these chemicals will affect any person similarly, it's just that with the pregnant woman, it is affecting her unborn child as well.

The ingredients in Aspartame are phenylalanine (50 percent),  aspartic acid (40 percent) and methyl alcohol (10 percent). When you eat or drink something which contains Aspartame, your digestive systems begins to break it down.  When the temperature reaches 86 degrees,  methyl alcohol then breaks down to formaldehyde and then formic acid (1).  So at that point you have five potent poisons in your system.

Formaldehyde, besides being good old embalming fluid, is a potent adjuvant.  According to Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 17th edition, an adjuvant is a substance which "increases the antigenic response" (2). An antigenic response is one in which certain foreign proteins are recognized and destroyed by the immune system.  In other words, formaldehyde in the blood stream of the pregnant woman can often cause her immune system to target the fetal tissue as a foreign substance and destroy it, the result being miscarriage, sometimes even before she knows she is pregnant.  Not only that, formaldehyde is a polymerizing agent....it turns human tissue into plastic (3).   Once again, according to Taber's, a mainstream medical dictionary, formaldehyde "hardens tissues and is often used in histology for tissue preservation.  It has a similar hardening effect on the living skin (4).

Even though both phenylalanine and aspartic acid are amino acids that are present in the food we eat, and are safe when eaten naturally in foods with other amino acids present, taken alone and in elevated quantities they are neurotoxins which can permanently damage the developing brain and nervous system of the fetus, if the child is lucky enough to survive the potential destruction by the maternal immune system.  Aspartic acid is an excitotoxin, which stimulates the neurons until they die(5).  In one study, when the phenylalanine levels in the blood of pregnant women were increased five-fold, there was a 10-point drop in the IQ of the fetuses born to those mothers (6).  It also causes genetic damage which can be passed down to future generations, not to mention brain tumors, cancer, lupus, and many other diseases.  The book "Excitotoxins:  The Taste That Kills" can be purchased by clicking on the book at left.  It goes into detail about many of the harmful effects of aspartame and other neurotoxins in our food supply.

The Environmental Protection Agency has stated that a safe level of consumption of wood alcohol (methyl alcohol) is 7.8 milligrams per day.  However, if you drink  one liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage, you have consumed 56 milligrams of wood alcohol, or 8 times the EPA limit (7).

In my own case, I noticed that every time I drank a diet soda, I would get this warm feeling all over, kind of a low level electrical buzz going through my whole body.  Maybe that's because one of the byproducts of aspartame metabolism, Diketopiperazine, is the substance that causes the bite of a red fire ant to sting.

There is much, much more, but I leave you some good links and hope that you will follow them and learn more on your own.  Even though sugar is not good for you , I think it's better than Aspartame, better known as Nutrasweet.  Stevia is a really nice sweetner, and does especially well in teas or fruit drinks.  It also has over 500 studies on it's safety and effectiveness. So,  make your own.  Don't rely on the beverage industry to supply your needs.   Visit our Stevia Store.

Victoria Inness-Brown's Aspartame Experiment
Aspartame (NutraSweet) Toxicity Info Center
 Mary Nash Stoddard Research Findings on Dangers of Aspartame
 Dr. Bowen on aspartame-induced genocide
 Aspartame, Can It Cause Panic Attacks?
 Aspartame Consumer Safety Network
 Shirley's Wellness Cafe: The Bitter Truth About NutraSweet (Aspartame)
 

References:

(1)  Bowen, James (2000).  "Dr. Bowen on aspartame-induced genocide."  Available Online:
      [http://www.dorway.com/bowen2.html]

(2)  Thomas, Clayton L (1989). Entry "adjuvant".  Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 17th ed.
       Philadelphia:  F.A. David Company, p. 43.

(3)  Bowen, James as above.

(4) Taber's, as in (2) above, p. 754.

(5)  Blaylock, Russell L (1997). Excitotoxins:  The Taste that Kills.    Sante Fe:  Health Press.

(6)   Gold, Mark.  "Aspartame/Nutrasweet Dangers in Pregnancy."  Available Online:
       [http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/preg.html]

(7)  Lydon, Christine.  "Could There Be Evils Lurking In Aspartame Consumption?"  Available Online:
       [http://aspartamekills.com/lydon.htm]  Reprinted from Oxygen Magazine, October Issue.
 
 

     Drop us a line!
 
 

 To see more articles about pregnancy and childbirth, see The Online Childbirth Class

 Back to  The Unhindered Living Knowledge Collection

Copyright 2003-9 Judie C. Snelson and The Center for Unhindered Living
 

Help support our work.  Visit our Products for Unhindered Living

\