Aspartame: Sweet, Sweet Poison

It also quoted the American Cancer Society as saying that “current evidence does not demonstrate any link between aspartame ingestion and increased cancer risk. Aspartame has not been associated with other health problems except among people with the genetic disorder, phenylketonuria.”

The council also quoted the American Council on Science and Health: “In fact, aspartame, known as ‘NutraSweet’ and ‘Equal,’ is safe. Aspartame is one of the most thoroughly tested substances in the U.S. food supply. Numerous authorities, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the FAO/WHO, the European Community, and the American Medical Association have concluded that aspartame is a safe product, except in the rare cases of phenylketonuria.”

The council dismissed those who have been campaigning against aspartame on the Internet and in the media, calling their campaign hoaxes. “Despite the overwhelming documentation of aspartame’s safety, unfounded allegations that aspartame is associated with a myriad of ailments, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and lupus, have continued to be spread via the Internet and the media by a few individuals who have no documented scientific or medical expertise.”

Reading all the stuff about aspartame could make your head explode. But what convinced me that aspartame is not safe are not just the studies that have found its link to cancer but also the efforts of Donald Rumsfield and Searle/Monsanto in ramming this product down our throats.

Monsanto, as you know, is the world’s leading producer of genetically modified products – another innovation that many are convinced has already wrought havoc on human life and the ecosystem — and uses not just money and influence but also threat and intimidation on those who go against it, as this Vanity Fair investigative report makes clear.

Indeed, Monsanto’s track record alone is enough to convince me that this product can kill me.

You may wonder by now why am I saying and linking to all these bad things about aspartame. Well, in the past several years, since I became rather overweight, I have been using aspartame – Equal to be specific – as a sweetener for my coffee. Truth be told, I began to like the taste of Equal in my brewed coffee — tasted better than sugar, in fact.

And then a few weeks ago, I found out that I have Type 2 diabetes. My endocrinologist told me, rather convincingly, that I should stop using sugar entirely and start using Equal regularly.

One night, a friend asked me how I was after my diagnosis and I told her I was fine. She asked me about sugar and I told her about Equal. Her reaction was, to put it mildly, insane. “No! No! No! Why? Why? It can harm you, Caloy!” she shrieked and went on to narrate what happened to her husband and how she is convinced aspartame made his recovery from stroke difficult.

As with many among us who research about a disease only when it actually afflicts us, I turned to my friend Google. The things that I learned about aspartame blew me away. No bliss at all in this ignorance. I didn’t know I had been ingesting what these sites and blogs and documentaries say is poison – sweet, sweet poison.

And my fears about aspartame have been reaffirmed by the relentless advertising campaign in the Philippine media by the makers of the sweetener. I thought, if this product is really as safe as sugar, as the ads imply, they should never have to spend a centavo to convince me.

So no more Equal, no more Coke Zero, no more Pepsi Max, etc. for me. Part of my reading habit now is to peruse food labels, which is not an easy task because the labels are printed as though only ants should be able to read them and because my eyesight is failing.

It would be tough for a diabetic like me to find an alternative for aspartame but I’m sure I can find one. (If you know of any, please share it with me.)

Carlos H. Conde is a journalist based in Manila.