This site is dedicated to those individuals who withstand the confusion, casualties and obstacles involved with taking control of their food and their health.
A Plea on Behalf of Aspartame
The following letter is a recent request (reverse wiki'd) to continue to allow the sale of aspartame in New Mexico. While there is no evidence of a payoff, Gleeson's letter clearly reflects the current state of medicine.
The Sequel to
"Sweet Misery"
To members of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I am writing this an endocrinologist, a physician who specializes in diabetes and metabolic diseases. I am very concerned about proposals to restrict the availability of aspartame in New Mexico. As you undoubtedly know, there is a virtual epidemic of obesity and diabetes in our state. It is critical for people with these conditions to have access to artificial sweeteners as part of their management plan. Additionally, all citizens should have access to safe artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, if they choose to use them.
The proposal to restrict aspartame is based on NO credible medical or scientific evidence. The safety of aspartame has been established in numerous studies. There is no evidence of harm, despite widespread use. Those seeing to ban aspartame distort and misrepresent the medical literature - the overwhelming majority of which supports the safety of this product. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not seen any reason to restrict aspartame. Similarly, regulatory bodies in other countries have all approved continued availability of aspartame. Major health care organizations support the continued availability of aspartame. The American Diabetes Association [scroll to section E], which advocates on behalf of people with diabetes and promulgates extensively researched standards of medical care in diabetes, supports use of artificial sweeteners, including aspartame.
It has been suggested that metabolism of aspartame leads to production of toxic substances such as methanol and formaldehyde. These may be produced in minute, trivial quantities from aspartame metabolism. However, they exist in the body anyway, from presence of methanol in food substances, and some production of formaldehyde as part of normal food metabolism. The possible metabolism of aspartame to those substances in minute quantities is of no concern[scroll to methanol].
I understand that this campaign is drive by Mr. Stephen Fox, who is a gallery owner. While he seems to believe passionately that aspartame is dangerous, he has to my knowledge, absolutely no medical or scientific credentials to establish expertise on this subject.
Banning aspartame will do a major disservice to all those who wish to use calorie free sweeteners. This is a safe product, which allows individuals to avoid excess calories in beverages. No one claims that use of artificial sweeteners is the single solution to our serious problems with diabetes and obesity; however, every way to reduce calorie consumption helps.
I would respectfully suggest that the time of our legislators could be better spent addressing real issues of concern to New Mexicans. With the lack of credible evidence to support any restriction of aspartame, this issue should be resolved expeditiously, to the benefit of all New Mexico taxpayers.
I am writing this as a concerned physician and New Mexico citizen. I have no financial relationships of any kind with the manufacturer of aspartame or other artificial sweeteners.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Gleeson, MD, FACP, FACE, CDE