Dr. Woodrow C. Monte’s Methanol Research – University Of Arizona - Part 2

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*NutraSweet is a trademark of G.D. Searle & Co.

Director of the Food Science and Nutrition Laboratory Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona 85287

ASPARTAME

Aspartame (L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ester) has recently been approved as a sweetener for liquid carbonated beverages. It has had wide acceptance as an additive in many dry food applications after Food and drug Administration approval on July 24, 1981.

The Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Richard Wurtman and myself have received well over a thousand written complaints relative to aspartame consumption. By far, the most numerous of these include dizziness, visual impairment, disorientation, ear buzzing, high SGOT, tunnel vision, loss of equilibrium, severe muscle aches, numbing of extremities, pancreatitis, episodes of high blood pressure, retinal hemorrhaging, menstrual flow changes, and depression. The validity of these complaints has yet to be scientifically evaluated. However, a thorough knowledge of just what makes this new sweetener stand apart from other nutritional substances might aid physicians in making dietary recommendations for their patients.

Aspartame (NutraSweet)* is a small molecule made up of three components: Phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol (wood alcohol)47. When digested, these components are released into the bloodstream.

Phenylalanine and aspartic acid are both amino acids which are found in natural proteins, and under normal circumstances are beneficial, if not essential, for health. Proteins are complex molecules which contain many chemically bonded amino acids. it takes several enzymes to break these bonds and liberate the amino acids. This is a slow process and the amino acids area released gradually into the bloodstream. The quaternary structure of protein also slows the digestion of these amino acids: the amino acids in the center of the protein molecule aren't released until the outer layers of amino acids on the surface have been swept away. This natural time release process saves the body form large numbers of any one of the 21 amino acids being released into the bloodstream at any one time.

Aspartame requires the breaking of only two bonds for absorptioin. This happens very quickly with the potential to raise component blood levels rapidly. The methyl ester bond of phenylalanine is the first to cleave due to its susceptibility to pancreatic enzymes. This is highly unusual; the methyl esters associated with pectin for instance are completely impervious to all human digestive enzymes.

 

Continue to Part 3

 

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