aspartame...

LOL! I don't know. I avoid it, but that's easy b/c I hate the taste. My wife got HAs for a while, but continues to drink it...though she did avoid it while pregnant.

I think it is, like most things in this world, probably OK in moderation...2-3 drinks per day. Maybe OK at higher 'doses'. Probably not a good idea in very high amounts. Also, there is probably individual variance in suseptibility to the various side effects...just like other poisonous chemicals we put in our body (you might call them medicines...but poisonous chemicals in limited amounts are what they are).

If you can, then why not eliminate it. If you can't (i.e. Diet Coke addict), then try to restrict the amount and otherwise live a healthy lifestyle.

 

More selected comments from the "Poisondex"--a frequently used poison information database:

D. CAUTIONS: Homozygous phenylketonuric patients should not take aspartame, since phenylalanine is a degradation product. Headaches have been reported following aspartame ingestion, however, a definite cause-effect relationship has not been established. Three cases of seizures have been reported following the ingestion of large amounts of aspartame.

1. Ingestion of aspartame 50 milligrams/kilogram/day has no toxic effects and has been established by the FDA as the acceptable daily intake. This amount is equivalent to a daily consumption of approximately 17 twelve-ounce cans of 100% aspartame sweetened soft drink by a 70 kilogram person (Anon, 1987).

1. Aspartame has not been widely studied in children. Plasma phenylalanine concentrations were compared in 24 one-year-old infants who were administered 34, 50 and 100 milligrams/kilogram of aspartame in a cherry-flavored beverage mix. The infants were found to metabolize the amino acids of aspartame as well as adults do. These data indicated that aspartame can be safely administered as a sugar substitute to children 1 year of age or older (Filer et al, 1983).

3. In individuals who consume 500 mg of aspartame per day, this would correspond to 280 mg phenylalanine, 226 mg of aspartic acid, and 54 mg methanol. These amounts of phenylalanine and aspartic acid are less than the quantities provided in 6 ounces of milk or 3 ounces of beef (Harper, 1975). Eight ounces of fruit or vegetable juice provide about the same amount of methyl esters.
(note:1. Ingestion of aspartame 50 milligrams/kilogram/day has no toxic effects and has been established by the FDA as the acceptable daily intake. This amount is equivalent to a daily consumption of approximately 17 twelve-ounce cans of 100% aspartame sweetened soft drink by a 70 kilogram person (Anon, 1987))

1. Central nervous system adverse effects include potential neurotoxicity, "aspartame disease," behavioral effects, headaches, seizures, Parkinsonian effects, and psychological effects such as panic attacks.

1. SUMMARY:
a. An "aspartame disease" identification has been discussed mainly via use of the Internet. No published reports of this syndrome have been published in peer-review medical journals (Lit Search, 1999).
2. LITERATURE REPORTS:
a. Anecdotal and unsubstantiated reports have circulated, primarily via the Internet, implicating aspartame in the development of a cluster of symptoms collectively referred to as "aspartame disease." It has been asserted that this disease mimics MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS and is caused by METHANOL TOXICITY resulting from the breakdown of aspartame (Anon, 1999; Roberts, 1999). No published reports of this syndrome have appeared in the peer-reviewed medical literature (Lit Search, 1999). Methanol toxicity is unlikely to result from aspartame ingestion as the methanol produced is approximately 10% of the ingested dose (Filer & Stegink, 1989; Harper, 1975). Methanol toxicity results from formate accumulation and, at abuse doses of aspartame (100 to 200 milligrams/kilogram (milligrams/kilograms (mg/kg), blood formate concentrations were not significantly increased. Urinary excretion of formate was significantly increased, indicating conversion of methanol to formate, but synthesized formate was apparently adequately excreted to avert accumulation (Filer & Stegink, 1989). The estimated daily aspartame dose necessary to replace dietary sucrose/saccharin is 34 mg/kg, which yields aspartic acid 14 mg/kg, phenylalanine 17 mg/kg and methanol 3.3 mg/kg (Sturtevant, 1985).

2. LITERATURE REPORTS: A randomized, double-blind, 3-way crossover trial in healthy young adults (n=48, mean age 23 years) demonstrated no acute or chronic neuropsychologic, neurophysiologic or behavioral effects with aspartame (15 or 45 milligrams/kilogram/day for 20 days) as compared to sucrose or placebo. Assessments of blood glucose, insulin, amino acid, routine hematology, fasting blood chemistry, urinalysis, electroencephalography, and cognitive measures of mood, memory and behavior revealed no abnormalities or between- group differences, with the exception of transiently increased concentrations of phenylalanine and its ratio with other amino acids following aspartame ingestion. Reported adverse effects did not differ significantly in number or type between the aspartame, sucrose and placebo groups. The authors concluded that aspartame is safe for the general population (Spiers et al, 1998).

HEADACHE
a. In a controlled study involving 40 subjects the incidence of headache following aspartame ingestion was similar to that observed following placebo. All subjects had previously reported headaches following ingestion of aspartame-containing products. The incidence of headaches following 30 milligrams/kilograms (mg/kg) of aspartame was 35%, as opposed to 45% with placebo (Schiffman et al, 1987).
b. Aspartame may be a headache precipitant in a small percentage of people. In a retrospective questionnaire-based study, 50% of 171 patients attending a headache unit reported alcohol as a triggering factor for headache; aspartame and carbohydrates were implicated as precipitating factors by 8.2% and 2.3% of patients, respectively. In patients with migraine headache, aspartame was reported as a precipitant of headache 3 times more often than in patients with other types of headache (Lipton et al, 1989).
c. Ingestion of aspartame capsules 300 milligrams (mg) four times a day was reported to increase the frequency and intensity of migraine headaches in a double-blind study involving 11 migraine patients (Koehler & Glaros, 1988). More studies are required investigating the association between aspartame and migraine headache exacerbation.
d. Consumption of aspartame in dietary soft drinks was associated with occurrence of MIGRAINE HEADACHES in a 31-year-old woman. Rechallenge with 500 milligrams (mg) of pure aspartame (in solution) resulted in recurrence of the migraine headaches (Johns, 1986).
e. Three female patients, age 26 to 40 years, self-reported migraine headache exacerbation with aspartame containing chewing gum (Blumenthal & Vance, 1997).

Summary:
2. SUMMARY: Aspartame has been extensively investigated and has not been associated with any potential toxicity in dietary doses or abuse doses. The safety of aspartame has been demonstrated in healthy adults, lactating women, children, adolescents, and diabetics. Moreover, pregnant women are not restricted from dietary aspartame. However, safety has not been established in children under 2 years of age, and individuals with phenylketonuria must consider the phenylalanine content of aspartame (Horwitz & Bauer-Nehrling, 1983; London, 1988).
3. ADULT:
a. The effects of aspartame over a 90-day period were evaluated in 43 men and women age 21 to 70 with noninsulin-dependent diabetes. These patients ingested 1.8 grams of aspartame each day which is considerably higher than the estimated average ingestion of aspartame (0.5 g). There was no evidence of deterioration of diabetic control or increases in plasma phenylalanine levels above 4 milligrams/deciliter (mg/dL) (Stern et al, 1976).
b. The effect of aspartame on BLOOD GLUCOSE control was evaluated in 62 insulin-dependent or noninsulin-dependent diabetics. In a randomized, double-blind trial, 27 patients received 2.7 g/day of aspartame and 33 patients received placebo for 18 weeks. No differences in fasting or 2 hour postprandial blood glucose levels or glycohemoglobin levels were seen between groups at any time during the study period. Additionally, the frequency of reported adverse effects with aspartame or placebo was similar (Nehrling et al, 1985).


Seems pretty darn safe all in all. Certainly, like with so many things, a very long term controlled blinded cross-over study would be nice, but extraordinarily difficult to accomplish.

 

Methanol is a non-issue with aspartame.

C) METHANOL - 500 mg of aspartame will produce 55 mg of methanol. For a patient to receive even 1000 mg of methanol, over 9,200 mg of aspartame must be ingested.

7) METHANOL CONTENT: A liter of sweetened beverage contains 56 milligrams of methanol (1/3 the amount of methanol present in a normal fruit juice of this size).

 

LOL!! Nate, not everyone's OJ has 3 shots of Vodka in it!

 

And actually you're arguing pharmacology and toxicology with a doctor...you're going down in a big way! ;-)