Aspartame: It's everywhere!

Did you know that artificial sweeteners are in many children's vitamins and pain relievers? I know that most of you are aware that aspartame and sucralose are in many foods and diet soft drinks, but I would guess that many are shocked to realize that the very things that are supposed to help keep our kids healthy are actually causing them great harm. Check the shelves of the pharmacy or the health and beauty aid aisle at the grocery store next time you're there and look at the ingredients of children's vitamins. Many do contain the same dangerous ingredient, aspartame, that can cause harm to people of all ages.

NutraSweet and Equal contain aspartame while Splenda contains sucralose. The FDA has approved sucralose but does admit that 2 percent of sucralose is made up of heavy metals, methanol and arsenic. Yes, the calories are gone but what has happened to the many products in the process of replacing these calories is harmful.

When aspartame is ingested, one of its ingredients, methyl alcohol, converts into formaldehyde, a deadly neurotoxin. Equal also contains the amino acid phenylalanine. Phenylalanine occurs naturally in the brain, but high levels can increase the chance of seizures and lead to depression and schizophrenia.

A case study reported by Dr. Janet Starr Hull stated that a 3-year-old child suffered for months with many awful symptoms including diarrhea, cramping, ear pain, lethargy and seizures that caused her to enter the hospital where she remained in a coma for months. No diagnosis was ever made by the medical staff but eventually the child was well enough to leave the hospital and return home. It was eventually discovered that this young child's mother had been doing what many well-meaning mothers do and that is to give their child vitamins. She had been giving her daughter children's chewable vitamins that contained aspartame. Because the container didn't say that these vitamins were sugar free, the mother reported not feeling the need to look at the ingredients to check for aspartame or sucralose. The mother knew to keep diet soda and other food products containing aspartame and sucralose away from her child, but she didn't know that these vitamins also contained the ingredient that may have caused her child to come close to death. Dr. Hull's book containing this and other case studies is entitled "Sweet Poison: How the World's Most Popular Artificial Sweetener is Killing Us - My Story."

Since I have begun to question the approval of aspartame and sucralose, I have done a great deal of research that contained more than enough information for me to swear off these products forever. I know that with my encouragement, many of my patients have also made the switch and decided to throw out their aspartame products. I'm hearing testimonies from many that report feeling better in a variety of ways and can only attribute that to their giving up their diet soda.

Better health is my goal for everyone and I challenge you to "throw out the aspartame" and see how much healthier you feel! If I have peaked your interest in this subject, google aspartame and sucralose today and you'll be amazed at the vast amount of information there is available to support my stance on the dangers of these products.

For more information concerning aspartame or about how you can become a healthier you, give us a call at (208) 667-7434. You can also find us on the Web at www. CDAHealth.com.