Introduction
Food is considered one of the basic needs that a human being can not do without. The foods that are eaten all over the world are known to be made up of different chemicals, some of which are harmful and others are not. According to Birch (1999), it is these chemicals which occur naturally in the food substances and also artificially as additives, that give the food its color, flavor and also the texture among others.
Some of these chemicals have been found to pose a major health risk to those consuming foods with the chemicals. As a result, every country has a department to look into the safety measures of the food being consumed by its citizens.
This paper will explore the different areas of food additives and specifically the artificial sweeteners. The sources, pathways, receptors and control of artificial sweeteners in the human food chain and human disease manifestation shall be tackled in details.
Aspartame. Sources of Aspartame
This is a name used to refer to the many artificial sweeteners that have been in existence since 1965. Aspartame is therefore classified as a synthetic chemical. These artificial sweeteners are referred to using different names for example: NutraSweet and Spoonful, among other common names. Aspartame was discovered by James Schlatter and this happened accidentally as he was in the process of doing tests on an anti-ulcer drug.
In the year 1983, aspartame was accepted as an artificial sweetener in carbonated drinks. Although most food additives have side effects on their consumers, aspartame has been proved to cause over 75% of the adverse reactions to its consumers.
The reactions are sometimes very serious and they include: severe headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Aspartame has also been known to cause numbness, increase in weight, appearance of rashes in different parts of the body and mental disturbances such as depression, insomnia and memory loss (Bolton, 1994).
Some patients have also reported cases of muscle spasms, problems in hearing, palpitations in the heart, interference with one’s speech, loss of taste and pain in the joints.
Aspartame has also been found to aggravate the conditions of people suffering from brain tumors, mental illnesses, diabetes and chronic fatigue syndrome. People suffering from epilepsy, lymphoma and birth defects have also been affected by consumption of aspartame.
Toxicodynamics, pathways and receptors of aspartame
Aspartic acid, methanol and phenylalanine are the three chemicals that make up the artificial sweeteners or aspartame. An in depth analysis of the three chemicals reveals that the three chemicals are harmful when consumed by human beings (Diabetes and Nutrition Study Group (DNSG) of the European Association for the study of diabetes, 2000).
Ingestion of aspartic acid into the body of a person is known to cause serious neurological diseases. This happens because the function of aspartate is that of neurotransmitter in the brain. This is done through making easy the passing on of information from one neuron to another.
The presence of excess aspartate in the brain destroys some of the neurons as a result of allowing a lot of calcium to enter the cells. Since the entry of calcium into the cells is not properly regulated, the end result is that of the presence of too much unneeded free radicals.
It is these radicals that destroy the useful cells. They kill the cells through stimulating them to the point of causing their death and this is the reason they are commonly known as ‘exitotoxins’. Another effect of the aspartic acid is that of raising the level of blood plasma (Nutrition Sub-Committee, British Diabetic Association, 1991). This alters how the brain functions due to the increase of neurotransmitters.
The effects are especially adverse in young children whose blood brain barrier has not yet developed to maturity. This allows some harmful chemicals such as aspartate to enter regions in the brain that they should not enter and end up destroying the young child’s neurons found in the brain area.
Some of the diseases arising from ingestion of the artificial sweeteners can be detected early, although other are detected at an advanced stage after staying in the body for a long period of time due to over exposure to this chemical. These diseases arising from overexposure include; loss of memory, problems with hormones, hearing impairment, tumors in the brain, epilepsy, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease among many others.
The health risks associated with these natural sweeteners are greatest in young children, expectant women and the elderly people and especially if they are suffering from other conditions. Memory loss has been singled out by most researchers as the greatest problem arising from overexposure to aspartic acid, a component of aspartate (Navia, 1994).
Phenylalanine is classified as an amino acid. This amino acid is usually found in the brain. Metabolism of phenylalanine is deteriorated by the presence of pheneylketonuria, a condition which interferes with the breaking down of phenylalanine. Accumulation of phenylalanine in the brain is detrimental to a person’s health.
Aspartame has been found out to increase the levels of phenylalanine in the brain not only patients suffering from phenylketonuria but also to healthy people who ingest this chemical. Most of the consumers of aspartame who have not yet developed phenylketonuria have been found to contain large amounts of phenylalanine in their blood.
These high levels of phenylalanine have the effect of lowering the amounts of serotonin in the brain, which in turn causes mental disturbances for example depression. Ingestion of even small amounts of aspartame has been proved to have effects on human beings.
The consumption of even small amounts of aspartame has been found to increase the level phenylalanine in the blood, something that poses a health risk to the consumer, according to Hollenbeck, (1993). This risk is greatest to infants.
Methanol, the third component of aspartame has been identified as a poison that is deadly. It is this same chemical, which when ingested by alcoholics, leads to loss of sight or death. The methanol found in aspartame is slowly discharged into the small intestine. Methanol is taken into the body faster when the methanol ingested is free.
This free methanol can be ingested when foods containing aspartame are heated to a temperature of over 30 degrees centigrade. Once ingested in the body, methanol is converted to formic acid and formaldehyde. The latter is a dangerous chemical which attacks the neurons in the body.
Methanol is especially dangerous to the body because it takes a long time for it to be excreted out of the body, once it has been ingested (World Health Organization Classification of Tumours, 2001). Formic acid is also known to be a neurotoxin. 7.8mg/day of methanol is advisable amount that one should consume.
However, an average one liter of drinks sweetened by aspartame contains around 56mg of methanol, which is very dangerous and harmful to the consumers. Those who consume these drinks frequently end up consuming an average of 250mg per day which is about 32 times the recommended amount.
The following have been identified as the major symptoms of poisoning after ingestion of methanol: disturbances in the intestines, headaches, feeling dizzy, nausea or vomiting, general body weakness, numbness, lapse in memory and sharp pains from different parts of the person’s body.
Methanol poisoning has also been known to cause severe effects of loss of vision and other problems associated with vision such as blurred vision and retinal damage. Formaldehyde on the other hand harms the retina, contributes towards defects at birth because it impedes the activity of DNA and also causes cancer (Tordoff and Alleva, 1990).
Controls that aid in the mitigation of aspartame exposure
Lack of enough information about the dangers of aspartame has led many people to believe that it is safe to continue using products containing this chemical. People have been in the dark concerning the harm that aspartame causes in the body because people suffering fro aspartame related complications are not publicly exposed as suffering as a result of this chemical as it would have been if people died on a plane crash.
The consequences of using products with aspartame are not taken with the weight they deserve despite the fact that many people are suffering and others dying from this chemical. The other reason that the dangers of aspartame have been ignored is because most people fail to relate the disease they are suffering from to over exposure to aspartame.
There have also been controversies surrounding the safety of aspartame, with some people arguing that there is nothing wrong with its use while others condemning its use with the strongest terms possible. The debate still continues, with the companies which manufacture soft drinks and others still using this chemical in their products.
The authenticity of the claims that aspartame poses health risks has not yet been confirmed even by the U.S government, which has never banned the use of this chemical.
The government accountability office has nothing against the manufacturers of products who use aspartame because they claim that this chemical meets all the standards required for it to be accepted as a safe food additive. Most countries also approve the use of aspartame in the products manufactured within these countries because they consider it a safe sweetener for human consumption.
However, this should not be a reason to discard all the evidence that researchers have presented to show that this chemical is harmful when ingested by human beings. The best method that one can use to avoid the numerous side effects which arise from consumption of foods containing this chemical is to avoid eating of drinking foods and drinks whish contain aspartame.
Drewnowski, (1999) suggests that one should use the natural sugar or honey, which is less harmful, when in need of the sweet taste. In addition, one should be careful when buying products and should always check on their ingredients to confirm that they do not contain harmful chemicals such as aspartame.
Some governments have also taken safety measure to ensure that her citizens are aware of the foods which contain some of the harmful food additives. The UK, for example, requires that manufacturers put a warning on all products containing phenylalanine, among the ingredients of the product. Foods which contain aspartame as part of its ingredients are supposed to indicate so.
In Canada, the same rule is followed. The amount of aspartame used in a particular product is supposed to be indicated in the list of the ingredients. The companies should also label whether the products contain phenylalanine or other harmful chemicals.
Expectant mothers are also advised to keep away from foods containing aspartame because of the dangers it poses to the unborn child, including the risk of being born with birth defects (Ludwig and Peterson, 2001).
Diketopiperazine is produced as a result of metabolism process on aspartame. This end product has been associated with the development of brain tumors (Roberts, 1989). It has also been associated with other health conditions such as changes in the cholesterol level in blood
Conclusion
Most of the processed foods or foods that have been packaged contain additives that are harmful to one’s health. It is therefore important to avoid buying such foods because some are even stale and the additives help to prolong their shelf life at the expense of people’s health (Willett, 1998).
It is sad that despite the overwhelming evidence, glaring at people concerning the numerous side effects of these food additives, people still continue to buy foods containing this chemical.
One’s health should be the number one priority and therefore, one should try as much as possible to avoid any foods that may be harmful to their health. Governments should put in place measures to ensure that companies label all products containing harmful preservatives or additives for people to know. This should be done explicitly without disguising these chemicals using other names.
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