Warning for Migraine and Depression Sufferers

Live Holistically is a multi-author site.
This post was written by: Carol Webb

Ajinomoto Company
A new company has emerged from Japan called Ajin-no-moto, which is Japanese for the “essence of taste”, and they have taken on the patent for producing Aspartame. It’s headquarters in Switzerland and huge manufacturing facility in Gravelines, France, seek to persuade you that Aspartame is perfectly safe for all to consume.

Their marketing spin proudly announces:

“Aspartame has become the most highly valued and widely used intense sweetening ingredient in the world, known for its unique sugar like taste and sweetness without calories.”

What they say is sadly true.

Dr. Bradley Watkins from the U.S. Additive and Preservative Markets said in October 2000

Consumers are increasingly substituting non-nutritious sweeteners for sugar in an effort to reduce their calorie intake and reduce or maintain their body weight….Aspartame and Saccharin are more popular than ever.”

Aspartame, Migraine and Depression
You might already be aware that drinks containing Aspartame cause you to have physical symptoms. You may have noticed a lowering of mood, depression even. A nasty migraine headache arriving from no-where after consuming diet drinks, or a general feeling of being spaced out, and of course its most annoying trick of making your body crave carbohydrate, the very food that you are trying to avoid.

You will have known that you were consuming Aspartame because the label on the bottle or can has informed you that the product is a source of phenylalanine. Having weighed up the risks and symptoms, you may have decided that you like the beverage so much that you will continue to drink it and suffer the consequences.

This is your choice, and your right, to decide what you will or will not consume.

Will There Ever Be A Healthy Sweetener?
Now, what about the situation that will soon be upon us? You read the label of a food or drink and there is no mention made of the product containing Aspartame. The product is a diet product, the answer to your prayers, a healthy sweetener. You will no longer be forced to risk the migraine headache or the lowering of your mood. Wrong….

A new artificial sweetener has evolved from the same stable as Aspartame. The FDA (Federal Drugs Administration) has passed it as safe for human consumption (unlike Aspartame which was never formerly approved by the FDA.) and so it requires no formal warning on ‘any’ label.

The product is called: Neotame. Developed so that the NutraSweet Co,. who have now lost their patent, can once more compete against Ajinomoto, and regain their share of the huge profits made from dieters worldwide.

According to Dr. Janet Hull, author of “Sweet Poison”,

Neotame contains all the dangerous elements found in Aspartame and more: the amino acids L-asparic acid and L-phenylalanine, plus two organic functional groups, one known as methyl esters group and the other as neohexyl group. Neotame does not have to carry the PKU (phenylketonuria, a rare metabolic disease) warning meaning that its addition to all products can go without warning.

J.H.Roberts M.D. author of “Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic” called Neotame:

A synthetic variation of Aspartame (but it’s about 40 times more potent), and said in his professional opinion….

“This chemical poses a potential major health and environmental hazard to the public.” He goes on to say, “…..there is already sufficient evidence for Aspartame products to be withdrawn from the market, as an imminent public health hazard NOW!

Documented Evidence
He has documented evidence for severe neurological, intellectual, psychiatric, metabolic, endocrine, allergic and other reactions to Aspartame products in hundreds of patients. He goes on to say, “It is also a contributing factor in the aggravation of precipitation of Diabetes and its complications, Multiple Sclerosis, and the acceleration of Alzheimers Disease.

Loss of Freedom
We have enough evidence to know that avoiding Aspartame is our best option. See this article from Dr. Mercola. If you haven’t read anything before, he goes into great detail about physical symptoms which can occur from Aspartame poisoning. But now we will be left without freedom of ‘choice’, because we won’t know, the product may contain sugar and Neotame.

Be On Your Guard
My best advice is to avoid diet products completely, and watch for the list of products that contain Neotame. We already know that Wrigley’s chewing gum are using it, and here are some more.

• Kroger’s fruit juice and certain powdered ice-teas
• Detour energy bars (certain varieties)
• Roman Meal Bread line
• Herr’s pretzels
• Wrigley Chewing Gum (in Australia)

If you are trying to lose some pounds, as my blogging colleague is at the moment, prepare your own meals, avoid fruit drinks and sodas and drink lots of spring water.