I have never been that keen on Aspartame (well, on any artificial sweeteners really – what wrong with natural fruit sugars if you need a sweetener?) but I had not thought of it as a cause of Gulf War Syndrome…
Natural News is, this morning, trumpeting the evils of all artificial sweeteners which, they maintain, have created a new disease, Artifical Sweetener Disease (ASD), that is sweeping across America causing headaches, migraines, depression, anxiety, muscle pain, chronic fatigue, IBS, Crohn’s disease, nervous twitches and abnormal reflexes, to name but a few.
Aspartame’s history is, certainly, decidedly murky. Early trials in the 1970s suggested that it was far from safe and ‘might induce brain tumours’. By 1977 the FDA was taking grand jury proceedings against its makers, GD Searle for knowingly misrepresenting findings – the first time in their history that the FDA had requested a criminal investigation of a manufacturer. However, in a master stroke, in that same year, GD Searle recruited Washington insider, Donald Rumsfeld, as CEO. Opposition did not evaporate (National Soft Drinks Association, for example, called for extra safety testing because liquid aspartame is so unstable that when it is stored in temperatures above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, it breaks down into DKP and formaldehyde, both of which are known toxins) but, despite its critics’ best efforts, in 1983, the first carbonated drinks sweetened with Aspartame appeared on the market. (For a full ‘timeline’ on this process see How Asparatame became legal.)
Concerns about its safety did not evaporate with its legalisation. Dr Ralph Walton, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Northeastern Ohio Universities, has not only published studies on Aspartame himself but conducted a review, in 1998, of other studies on Asparatame. He found 166 separate published studies in the peer reviewed medical literature, which had relevance for questions of human safety. ‘The 74 studies funded by industry all (100%) attested to aspartame’s safety, whereas of the 92 non-industry funded studies, 84 (91%) identified a problem. Six of the seven non-industry funded studies that were favorable to aspartame safety were from the FDA, which has a public record that shows a strong pro-industry bias.’
Since then a vocal lobby has continued to inveigh against Aspartame accusing it, as does Natural News, of being the root cause of many 21st century physical and psychological disorders, especially amongst the young. Although I have long been aware of these concerns, I had not met the Gulf War Accusation before. Nor might I have paid that much attention had I not noticed that one of the sources quoted for the article was www.militaryspot.com, a website offering ‘resources, news, and information for our soldiers in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and National Guard’ in which ‘you’ll find everything you need, whether you are considering joining the military or you already have a job or career as a soldier.’ Scarcely a natural food lobbyist!
On a page on the Gulf War Syndrome, ‘the name given to a variety of wide ranging and often ill-defined psychological and physical symptoms suffered by veterans of the Gulf War’ they suggest various causes including the normal suspects of depleted uranium poisoning, side effect of drugs given for protection against nerve agents, squalene induced autoimmune conditions, fumes from oil wells, undisclosed use of biological or chemical weapons, parasites and – Asparatame poisoning…
‘Large quantities of aspartame sweetened diet soft drinks were provided to Gulf War troops, often times sitting in high temperature conditions. This artificial sweetener breaks down at roughly 85 °F (29.5 °C) into, among other things, methanol, formaldehyde, diketopiperazine and formic acid.’ Just what the National Soft Drinks Association had warned of back in the 1970s.
If you are still looking for a sweetening alternative to sugar, why not check out either stevia or xylitol – if you put either into the ‘search’ box at www.foodsmatter.com you will find a number of references, including a long forum post on xylitol and another on stevia. You could also look at agave nectar (delicious and very popular with diabetics because of its low GI) but be aware that it is high in fructose, which brings its own problems… See both this article on the FM site and this forum post…