[allnaturalmom]

Based on all of the positive responses I got from my last post, I decided to try the Emergen-C. I tried it for a few days and was able to keep it down. I could tell a difference (for the better) after taking it. However, yesterday I was on another forum that was talking about the artificial sweetener aspartame. Someone wrote in and said that was made up of 40% aspartic acid. I remember reading that on the "other ingredients" list on my Emergen-C box

: (but didn't make the connection at the time).

I am not a scientist/chemist but I am very hesitant about taking this now.... Which sucks because I was really starting to like this stuff and its benefits. I'm not sure what to do.

Can you all give me your opinion, here are some things I've found so far:

http://www.unhinderedliving.com/aspartame.html

Even though both phenylalanine and aspartic acid are amino acids that are present in the food we eat, and are safe when eaten naturally in foods with other amino acids present, taken alone and in elevated quantities they are neurotoxins which can permanently damage the developing brain and nervous system of the fetus, if the child is lucky enough to survive the potential destruction by the maternal immune system. Aspartic acid is an excitotoxin, which stimulates the neurons until they die(5).

and

http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/dangers.htm

What Is Aspartame Made Of?

Aspartic Acid (40 percent of aspartame)

Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, a professor of neurosurgery at the Medical University of Mississippi, recently published a book thoroughly detailing the damage that is caused by the ingestion of excessive aspartic acid from aspartame. Blaylock makes use of almost 500 scientific references to show how excess free excitatory amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid (about 99 percent of monosodium glutamate (MSG) is glutamic acid) in our food supply are causing serious chronic neurological disorders and a myriad of other acute symptoms.(3)

How Aspartate (and Glutamate) Cause Damage

Aspartate and glutamate act as neurotransmitters in the brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. Too much aspartate or glutamate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartate and glutamate is why they are referred to as "excitotoxins." They "excite" or stimulate the neural cells to death.

Aspartic acid is an amino acid. Taken in its free form (unbound to proteins) it significantly raises the blood plasma level of aspartate and glutamate. The excess aspartate and glutamate in the blood plasma shortly after ingesting aspartame or products with free glutamic acid (glutamate precursor) leads to a high level of those neurotransmitters in certain areas of the brain.


Am I way off here... does this stuff only cause damage when it is combined with the other chemicals used to make aspartame? I read it is found in some foods naturally (along with other amino acids), but so is carrageenan and I think msg, and I don't consume those. Maybe someone else could shed some light on this for me or knows more about this than me. I would really appreciate any insights/information/ thoughts, etc...

TIA

Well... I'm off to research the other "other ingredients" listed on the box.

 

[kittn]

artificial sweetners like aspartame and I react violently. I cant even have a little or Im throwing up, having a severe migraine, and I get weird inside. if that makes sense.
So I have no information for you Im sorry

 

[treehugginhippie]

Subbing

 

[kdtmom2be]

I'll see if I can get back to this later if you want, but here's the short(ish) answer....

Aspartame breaks down into aspartic acid, methanol, phenylalanine and formaldehyde. None of which are particularly healthy for you, BUT it depends on how much you are eating/drinking. (MSG isn't any better for you btw.) As the OP pointed out, aspartic acid is an excitotoxin.
If you were to ingest equal amounts of aspartame vs. aspartic acid I would be more concerned about the aspartic acid. But, as I mentioned just a few lines ago, you really have to weigh in the amount that you are ingesting. Not sure what quantities the food(s) in question contain, or what the "toxic" levels are, so it's hard to say whether you should avoid it at all cost, or, like most things in life, approach with caution and use in moderation. Your body can handle just about anything in small quantities and your body has systems in place to protect your growing baby as well. But how small of a quantity?

Personally, I don't like artificial sweetners, thickeners, gums, etc. I prefer to eat things that are more "natural" (and I rarely buy anything organic btw, I could care less, but that is another discussion) because my body was made to digest naturally occurring sugars, not aspartame and other artificial sweeteners. Even those that are considered safe and have been studied in depth, I don't eat, it just FEELS wrong! Now, that said, I do drink a can of diet rootbeer now and again, and it contains aspartame, but the spike of sugar in my blood is going to prove more harmful to me and my baby than a bit of aspartame once in a while.

 

[EFPookie]

I think it's one of those things you just have to weigh out, benefits vs. risks. For me, since I regularly drink 2 Diet Cokes a day and lately have replaced at least one of those with Emergen-C, which has actual good stuff in it too for me instead of just bad stuff like the Diet Coke, well, the Emergen-C seems to be a MUCH better choice for me especially since it makes me feel better than the DC. If you don't take in other bad stuff, then maybe not so much for you.

Another thing I am wondering - it doesn't seem mathematically possible for it to be 40% - aspartic acid is the 3rd from last ingredient on the label which would mean that all of the other 10 "other ingredients" before it would be more than 40% each and that just doesn't add up.

 

[Synchro246]

What about Sacchrin? What does that do chemically?

 

[dancebaraka]

You can get emergence-C without any sweetner in it.

 

[kdtmom2be]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFPookie Another thing I am wondering - it doesn't seem mathematically possible for it to be 40% - aspartic acid is the 3rd from last ingredient on the label which would mean that all of the other 10 "other ingredients" before it would be more than 40% each and that just doesn't add up.

40% wasn't the amount of aspartic acid in Emergen-C, it is the fraction of the by-products of aspartame.... so if you eat 1lb of aspartame it turns into 0.4lbs of aspartic acid and 0.6lbs of the other byproducts (phenylalanine, methanol, etc).
You're right, the amount of aspartame or aspartic acid in any of the drinks in question is quite low.

 

[kdtmom2be]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synchro246 What about Sacchrin? What does that do chemically?

"Saccharin was an important discovery, especially for diabetics. Saccharin goes directly through the human digestive system without being digested. It does not affect blood insulin levels, and has effectively no food energy."

Essentially, nothing. It's like eating sand, just passes through. It's also 300times sweeter than sugar, so one gram of saccharin can replace 300 grams of sugar. But it tastes gross, so usually the food manufacturers will replace part of the sugar with saccharin and part with aspartame or other sweeteners.

 

[crysmomofthree]

hmmmmm

I don't eat or drink things containing aspartame at all, so the tiny amount of aspartic acid in the emergenc is not concerning to me.

I think if I drank a lot of diet pop, I may not want to add aspartic acid to my diet.

 

[Synchro246]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kdtmom2be "Saccharin was an important discovery, especially for diabetics. Saccharin goes directly through the human digestive system without being digested. It does not affect blood insulin levels, and has effectively no food energy." Essentially, nothing. It's like eating sand, just passes through. It's also 300times sweeter than sugar, so one gram of saccharin can replace 300 grams of sugar. But it tastes gross, so usually the food manufacturers will replace part of the sugar with saccharin and part with aspartame or other sweeteners.

Interesting.

my mom has always used saccharin in her coffee and other concoctions (and equal in cold drinks) and I am, er, very ok with the taste. I prefer it to sugar in coffee now.

What about splenda?

 

[Josette Marie]

splenda (if you are a diabetic) is not so good (though my husband loves it) it raise the sugar I believe the tryglic...sp?

How about trying stevia?

 

[tresleo]

I had emergen-c once and immediately got super sick from it, the same way I would from other aspartame tainted foods/drinks.

I'm interested to find some without the sweetener...

 

[kdtmom2be]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synchro246 What about splenda?

Splenda is Sucralose. Sucralose is made by "selective chlorination" of sucrose... they replace some of the hydrogen atoms with chlorine atoms. Because it is like a lot of water soluble (fat INsoluble) vitamins in that it won't dissolve in your fatty tissues and build up, it is generally considered safe. The only real thing against it is that there are no long term studies and because it is a "chlorocarbon" it COULD be a cancer agent.

 

[UrbanEarthMom]

A nutritionist told me that aspartame does not cross the placenta.