Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site bbncc5.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!cca!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer From: sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) Newsgroups: net.med Subject: Re: More Perils of NutraSweet (with reference to another article) Message-ID: <225@bbncc5.UUCP> Date: Sun, 21-Jul-85 12:48:47 EDT Article-I.D.: bbncc5.225 Posted: Sun Jul 21 12:48:47 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 00:29:54 EDT References: <404@petrus.UUCP> <274@bbnccv.UUCP> <408@petrus.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, MA Lines: 46 I thought Mark Garrett's summary of the Atlantic article was very informative, and I intend to purchase it. However, one quote doesn't make any sense to me at all: > On the subject of aspartame being composed of two amino acids which occur > naturally as constituants of protein, a Seymour Kaufman of the National > Institutes of Mental Health is quoted: > > "There's a bad misconception that aspartame is the same thing as > protein," he says. "The trouble is that the taking of aspartame > is not at all to be equated with the eating of protein. Phenyl- > ketonuria is believed to be the result of an imbalance of amino > acids, and this can be mimicked when we take aspartame. it cannot > be mimicked by eating meat." > ... Phenylketonuria is due to a deficiency in an enzyme which metabolizes phenylalanine. It is most definitely a chronic disease which leads to mental retardation and neurological deficits if a low phenylalanine regimen is not started aggressively during infancy. I have a feeling that Kaufman is either being misquoted or being misleading. What I believe to be the case here is that administration of free phenylalanine is not quite the same as administration of protein containing similar amounts of phenylalanine, because of competition by amino acids for transport across the blood-brain barrier. Granted. What is not addressed by Kaufman's comments is whether doses of aspartame even higher than those recommended by the FDA produce brain phenylalanine levels comparable to those seen in phenylketonuria and, indeed, whether the developmental and neurological deficits seen in PKU are due to phenylalanine levels alone (which presumably decrease rapidly in an ordinary individual) or to a general toxic effect of chronic high phenylalanine levels. Also, when aspartame is consumed with protein-containing foods, one would expect to see brain phenylalanine levels typical of protein alone. I'd like to hear from more informed medical and research sources who might have more facts. For the record: I still would regard infants and small children off-limits to aspartame, and I DON'T "think it tastes great straight." I am inclined to believe that much of this controversy is academic, given the typical use of aspartame by adults in the North American diet, but am open to scientific research which indicates otherwise. -- /Steve Dyer {decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbnccv.ARPA