Food for Mood Monday - but late on Tuesday, wait no!! Wednesday!

Aspartame, the evil artificial?

So sorry this is late my friends, I have had more than a little going on this week, well since Friday really and to top it off I think I am coming down with something but I am too scared to stop cos then I think I really WILL get sick!! 

Now I hope I wasn't too preachy about sugar last week, but I can't resist following Sugar up with artificial sweeteners, in particular Aspartame.

There has been A LOT of controversy surrounding Asapartame since the1980's.  As with all foods,
artificial sweeteners are a personal choice for you to make, but I do think it is important that you are making an informed choice!

So why all the fuss with Asapartame? What are the links to depression?
I'll get right to the point about what aspartame does in the brain and body. 

When ingested, the liver breaks down aspartame into it's toxic components - phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol.  Phenylalanine and Aspartic acid are amino acids that sound fairly healthy in nature, but really don't do us any favours.  It takes alot of energy for the liver to break it down, which means for people wanting to lose weight, there is less energy for fat burning and metabolism, which results in fat storing, but that is for a whole other blog!!

Phenylalanine found in aspartame is defined as a neurotoxin by the Suicide and Mental Health Association International.  Neurotoxins are substances that inhibit the function of neurons as well as block the release of neurotransmitters, which are chemicals in the brain responsible for mood, amoung other things.  When aspartame is consumed, phenylalanine goes directly to the brain and lowers serotonin levels.

Why is this so important?

Depression is obviously a highly complex problem, but over the years there has been overwhelming evidence that one factor in the development of major depressive illness is decreased availability of serotonin. 

Serotonin is is one of many neurotransmitters - chemical substances released into the synapse, the space between brain cells. 

Information is transmitted from one cell to the other both chemically, via neurotransmitters such as serotonin and electrically.  The making of serotonin in the brain is dependant on the availabiilty of an amino acid building block, L-tryptophan.  Multiple studies demonstrate that tryptophan depletion is associated with the development of depressive symptoms. 

Not only does phenylalanine decrease the availability of tryptophan to make serotonin, but it is also a precursor for another very important neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, which is associated with heart rate and blood pressure, decision making, attention span, and response control, it underlies the "flight or fight" response as a stress hormone.

Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI) are antidepressants that treat depression by increasing the amount of serotonin and norepinephrine available to postsynaptic cells in the brain.  They work by inhibiting reuptake, i.e. inhibiting the serotonin and norepinephrine transporters from taking their respective neurotransmitters back to their storage vesicules for later use, thereby increasing activity of serotonin and norepinephrine and reducing depressive symptoms.

It is much more complicated than this of  course, but this is the basics of it!   

The other thing I want to point out is that the other component of aspartame, methanol, is converted to formaldehyde in the body.  Yes, that's right folks, FORMALDEHYDE.  How can something that creates a known human carcinogen INSIDE the body be considered safe for us to consume?!?   Defenders will tell you that this occurs in moderate amounts and that the body metabolises it quickly, but just the sound of something known to be so incredibly toxic to animals, including humans, forming in my body was enough to turn me off diet drinks for life. 

I used to be a BIG Coke drinker until my pregnancies when gestational diabetes converted me over to Diet Coke and Coke Zero.  Then DH worked for Coke for a little while where we had access to some free stuff - NOT good!  I would say that I was definitely addicted to coke in my late teenage, early twenties years and I drank a fair bit of the diet stuff post children, but it was the knowledge of formaldehyde that put me off.  It is very rare for me to have one now if at all, especially now that I now how it could affect my depression.

Aspartame is certainly not for everyone.  It was once suspected of causing brain cancer, but studies have now shown for sure that it is unsafe for people with the genetic disorder PKU (phenylketonuria) because they can't metabolise the phenylalanine.  Some studies have shown that it may also affect children with epilepsy and of course there are the direct links with mood disorders such a depression and bipolar.

Aspartame is the basis of NutraSweet and Equal and is 180 to 220 times sweeter than sugar.  It flavours some of our favourite diet drinks and can be found in foods you wouldn't even begin to suspect. 

It has certainly been thoroughly tested, however a survey of aspartame studies conducted by Ralph Walton MD of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine found that of the 166 studies relevant to human safety of aspartame, 74 had NutraSweet industry related funding and 92 were independantly funded.  All 74 of the industry funded research attested to the safety of aspartame, however 92% of the independantly funded research found problems. 

In 1993, Dr. Walton conducted a study of 40 patients with unipolar depression and a similar number without any psychiatric history.  The subjects were given 30mg per kg of body weight per day of aspartame, or a placebo for 20 days, which is about equal to the daily consumption if you were to replace sugar.  The study shows that consumption of this level increased the severity of symptoms for patients with a history of depression and the symptoms increased over a course of only seven days.  Reactions were so severe that the study was halted by the International Board of Review.  You can read more about this study here.

Some other artificial sweeteners you may know include:

Name	Known as	Number sweeter than sugar	Found in / Side effects
Sucralose	Splenda	600	All food & beverages, however not enough studies done to know how it really affects us
Clyclamate	Assugrin (combined with saccharin) Sweet ‘n’ low, except in the US	200	Noncaloric sweetener, not permitted in processed food, table top use only
Saccharin	Sweet ‘n’ low Assugrin	400	Was once thought to be cancer causing, but is no longer considered hazardous
Acesulfame-K (acesulfame-potassium)	Sunnet Sweet One	200	Stable with heat which makes it good for baking, usually blended with other sweeteners

I would say stick to natural sweeteners like Stevia or Xylitol (a sugar alcohol) if it really concerns you, or go sugar free as much as you can so you don't need an artificial sweetener.  I use dextrose in my baking, which is purely glucose, which is only going to be converted to energy - but then this is more for the rest of the family than myself!

Is this info totally new to you, or did you already know about the dangers of aspartame?  Let me know, I would be interested to know if the info is getting out there...

Yours truly sweet enough,

Mummy in Disguise
                            xoxo