Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site petrus.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!bellcore!petrus!mwg From: mwg@petrus.UUCP (Mark Garrett) Newsgroups: net.med,net.kids Subject: More Perils of NutraSweet (reference to article) Message-ID: <404@petrus.UUCP> Date: Tue, 16-Jul-85 17:27:25 EDT Article-I.D.: petrus.404 Posted: Tue Jul 16 17:27:25 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 18-Jul-85 04:19:26 EDT Distribution: net Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc Lines: 41 Xref: watmath net.med:1718 net.kids:1485 ++ That longish article I mentioned on NutraSweet is in the following: COMMON CAUSE MAGAZINE, Volume 10, Number 4, July/August 1984, pp 24-43. (ISSN 0271-9592), published by Common Cause, 2030 M st., NW, Washington DC 20036, phone (202) 833-1200. Here's some excerpts from the subarticle: "Should You Feed It To Babies?": (There is more elaboration on this in the main article.) "The FDA continues to maintain that aspartame [the technical name for NutraSweet] poses no risks for children or infants. But documents obtained by Common Cause Magazine show that as early as 1974 and as late as 1980, some FDA officials believed it might be advisable to require a warning that aspartame should not be fed to infants. "One FDA document dated October 23, 1974, for example stated that 'on the basis of the evidence that the very young' are 'especially sensitive...to the potential effects (brain damage) of high levels of phenylalanine and aspartic acid,' the two major components of aspartame, and on the basis of arguments made by Turner, 'we would concur that there may be some merrit (sic) in some form of labelling... "...The author of the 1974 document, Kokoski said it's unlikely that parents would feed aspartame to infants -- 'who would do that?' he asked. When it was pointed out to him that it's not uncommon to see parents giving babies Kool-Aid in baby bottles, Kokoski said that, 'even if one were to give an infant Kool-Aid with aspartame, it isn't going to cause brain damage.'... "...The FDA does require a warning that NutraSweet contains phenylalanine, an amino acid which a small percentage of the poplulation, called PKUs, have difficulty metabolizing. PKUs must watch thier intake of phenylalanine becuase it can cause mental retardation.... "...Packets of Equal [a sweet-and-low substitute containing aspartame] note that the product should not be used in cooking or baking. That's becuase aspartame is known to break dwon into chemicals such as DKP and methyl alchhol when exposed to heat. Searle [the company that owns the patent] and the FDA say the warning is there not because of safety concerns but because heat causes aspartame to lose some of its sweetness...." -Mark