Health pros horrified by ad campaign promoting aspartame
Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several
Health professionals are horrified by a new ad campaign by
Coca-Cola promoting its use of artificial sweeteners, including aspartame,
because ingredients the iconic company calls “safe” and “high-quality”
allegedly cause cancer and other diseases.
“Twenty years ago I
wasn’t sure, but now there’s little doubt in my mind that artificial sweeteners
can be far worse for you than sugar and fructose, and there is plenty of
scientific evidence to back up that conclusion,” wrote Dr. Joseph
Mercola in his online blog Mercola.com.
The Weston A. Price
Foundation had expressed alarm when aspartame was proposed to be
used in flavored milks for children without any notice to consumers.
“Numerous scientific studies point to toxic effects of aspartame,
including cancer, digestive issues and memory impairment,” the organization
said. “In spite of this evidence, the International Dairy Foods Association and
the National Milk Producers Federation recently submitted a petition to the FDA
to hide the chemical sweetener without declaring it on the front of the
packaging.”
The organization said thousands of “adverse reactions to aspartame
have been reported to the FDA, mostly concerned with abnormal brain function,
brain tumors, epilepsy and Parkinson’s.’
Children’s brains “are four times more susceptible to damage from
excitotoxins like aspartame than those of adults and react with ADD ADHD type
symptoms, impaired learning, depression and nausea,” the Price Foundation said.
The federal government,
through the FDA itself, also has commented
on aspartame.
In a 2002 report by Mark D. Gold of the Aspartame Toxicity
Information Center
“The adverse effects found cover a subset of reported actual and
chronic toxicity effects from aspartame, [including] blindness, convulsions,
severe depression, diarrhea, aggravated hypoglycemia, and susceptibility to
infection,” the report said.
“Frequently, aspartame toxicity is misdiagnosed as a specific
disease. This has yet to be reported in the scientific literature, yet it has
been reported countless times to independent organizations and scientists … In
other cases, it has been reported that chronic aspartame ingestion has
triggered or worsened certain chronic illnesses.”
According to a
report in Adweek, Coca-Cola’s big campaign is defending “sugar
alternatives like aspartame.”
The promotions were lined up for USA Today, the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution and the Chicago Tribune.
“It’s Coca-Cola’s first ad explicitly defending its use of
artificial sweeteners in an ad,” the report said.
Coca-Cola said “people have always been able to trust the quality
of our products and everything that goes into them.”
“That’s something that will never change.”
Then Coca-Cola answers concerns “about the use of low- and
no-calorie sweeteners.”
“Our use of high-quality, low- and no-calorie sweeteners,
including aspartame, allows us to give people great-tasting options they can
feel good about. Time and again, these low- and no-calorie sweeteners have
shown to be safe, high-quality alternatives to sugar.”
Read more at http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/10/coca-cola-touts-safe-high-quality-carcinogen/#cTMTqcjtqjtHOsvo.99
Mercola,
on his blog, quoted from Michael F. Jacobson of the Center for Science in the
Public Interest: “Aspartame has been found to cause cancer – leukemia,
lymphoma,and other tumors – in laboratory animals, and it shouldn’t be in the
food supply. We certainly want Coca-Cola to shift its product mix toward lower-
and no-calorie drinks, but aspartame’s reputation isn’t worth rehabilitating
with this propaganda campaign.”
Wrote Mercola: “Besides pulling the wool over your eyes with
regards to the lack of overall safety of aspartame, I think the FTC would be
warranted to sue Coke and the other diet soda manufacturers for fraudulent
advertising, seeing how: 1. There’s no scientific evidence showing that the use
of diet sodas actually lead[s] to weight loss. … 2. Scientific evidence shows
that aspartame actually worsens insulin sensitivity to a greater degree than
sugar.
“Tell Coke they’re a joke!” he continued, including links to
Facebook and email on his page. “Obesity and related metabolic diseases are
serious public health problems in the United States
Salle Fallon Morell of the Weston A. Price Foundation told WND the
artificial sweeteners are toxic.
“We know these things are not safe. … They’re especially not safe
for children,” she said, noting some components turn to formaldehyde and
methanol in the stomach.”
The FDA report
cited a long list of clinical reports on “aspartame-caused toxicity
reactions.”
“Many pilots appear to be particularly susceptible to the effects
of aspartame ingestion. They have reported numerous serious toxicity effects
including grand mal seizures in the cockpit (Stoddard 1995). Nearly 1,000 cases
of pilot reactions have been reported to the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network
Pilot Hotline (Stoddard 1995),” the report said.
“Potential toxicity effects from aspartame including brain cancer
(as seen in pre-approval research) and effects on fetal brain and nervous
system development,” it said.
The FDA document said there have been an estimated 7,500 reports
ranging from mild to “very serious illnesses.”
Listen to a podcast from Kimberly Hartke of the Price Foundation
on the issue of aspartame:
Read more at http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/10/coca-cola-touts-safe-high-quality-carcinogen/#cTMTqcjtqjtHOsvo.99
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