Dagens Nyheter 000519
Dagens debattartikel/ article from the daily newspaper DN
The sweetener aspartame should be taken off the market or be heavily reduced
as a food additive. This all dominating artificial sweetener doesn't hold up
as a lowcalory product and is a hazard to our health. Aspartame is found in
a wide range of products, not only in jams, marmalades and beverages, but also
in medical products for kids, vitaminepreps, chewinggums and candy.A dutch study
has shown that testsubjects became restless and increased their intake of food
when they drank lightbeverages.
Stated by Charlotte Erlanson-Albertsson, professor in medical and
fysiological chemistry in Lund.
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" Stop light beverages!"
Additives in softdrinks and medicine is a danger to health, warns a professor.
Sweden is at an increase, even when it comes to weightgain. During the last
ten years the gaining of bodyfat has increased in all agegroups, most notably
in the age cathegory 25-44, both for men and women.
This weightgain has a simple explanation. Our bodies are not suited for the foodculture we have accepted as normal. We have access to tasty and energydense food 24 hours a day at a low cost, while we evolutionarywise are made for a nourishment which is low in energy.
To get around this problem there has been an introduction to a wide range of lowcalory products on the market. This started already in the 70's. We got lightmargarine, where the fatcontent were reduced by half from 90 to 45 percent. The fat was substituted by water
These products had and has a good purpose, that of diluting a highcalory product, so it becomes less concentrated in calories.
The taste could be preserved without additives. The same went for all sorts of diary products, where the fatcontent was reduced, lowfatmilk, etc. We end up carrying home water for between 10 and 100 sek a litre.
In the same spirit the sweetener aspartame was introduced, to substitute sugar. Aspartame is a white powder and contains the two aminoacids asparagine and fenylanaline which are methylene esters. They are 180 times sweeter than sugar.
It was allowed for the first time 1981 in the US by the FDA ( Food and Drug Administration), as an additive in foods and two years later in sparkling drinks.
Nowadays aspartame is part in a large variety of sweet products, not only in jams and sparkling lightproducts but also in artificially made vitamins, medicines, chewing gums, candy, icecream and juices.
Soon after the introduction on the market the authorities in the US (FDA)got reports of sideeffects, like allergic reactions, intestinal problems, and neurological disturbances like headaches and dizziness
There were also suspects of the causing of cancer, which couldn't be substantaited. So it was decided that aspartame would be let free on the market
Meanwhile different researchers studied how the body responded to the sweetener from the energyaspect. They got som staggering results, which indicated that aspartame doesn't hold up as a lowcalory product
Last year a dutch study was published were a group of students were served sweet drinks. They were partially sweetened with ordinary sugar, part with aspartame
The third of the testsubjects who got aspartame the bloodsugarlevels dropped. They then became restless and started to eat more and more often during the time of observation (eight hours). The brain needs bloodsugar by the minute. If the levels drop the body sets off mechanisms which elevates the bloodsugar. Among them is the increasing stimulation of appetite.
Those who experienced more of the sweetness in the taste reacted most in this "reversed" way. The explanation to this could be that the sweet taste stimulates the freesetting of insuline, which causes a lowering of the bloodsugar levels.
These studies confirms previous reports on "reversed" reactions to aspartame with an increase of appetite. The substance doesn't hold up as a lowcalory product for the public.
It should be removed or be heavily reduced as an additive. At least this information and its different effects should be know to the public, and not just to a secluded group of scientists.
Our biology is bilions of years old and the foods and crops vi are suited to goes even further back in time. The introduction of foodadditives, done in the last decades has a very short history. If they are going to be worth using they should also keep up to the effects promised
Charlotte Erlanson-Albertsson
DN DEBATT 19/5 2000
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