EFSA to seek new data on aspartame; Ajinomoto remains confident

By Jess Halliday

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Efsa

EFSA plans to issue a public call for new data on aspartame in the coming weeks; meanwhile, producer Ajinomoto has welcomed the Commission’s request for fast-tracked reevaluation of the sweetener, saying it will give EFSA the opportunity to restate its position.

EFSA last night confirmed that it has accepted the mandate to bring forward the re-evaluation of aspartame from 2020 to 2012, “stipulating the need for a public call for new data as well as a thorough literature review”.

Details of the public call for data will be published on EFSA’s website in the coming weeks.

The authority will liaise closely with the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) on its nutritional risk/benefit assessment of sweeteners.

In a statement provided to FoodNavigator as EFSA’s confirmation came through, Ajinomoto displayed its confidence in the ingredient.

“EFSA reaffirmed the safety of aspartame in 2006, 2009 and 2010. In addition,recent allegations about the safety of aspartame made in France and by a handful of MEPs have already been dismissed by EFSA,”​ said Ajinomoto in a statement.

“This review of the extensive body of science on aspartame will provide additional confirmation of the ingredient's safety.”

Why bring forward?

A spokesperson for John Dalli, Commissioner for Health and Consumers, said there are several reasons for bringing forward the review with a 13-month deadline.

Firstly, he said “there have been concerns lately and questions from MEPs”.​ At the second reading of the proposed food information regulation last month MEPs voted for a mandatory warning label on products about aspartame consumption in pregnancy.

In addition, he said EFSA said earlier this year that two recent studies on aspartame, a mouse study on carcinogenicity and an epidemiological study in sweeteners and pre-term delivery, did not give reason to reconsider safety of aspartame and over approved sweeteners – but subsequently decided to do an in-depth study.

EFSA’s scientific opinion on interpretation of the results of the carcinogenicity study, as well as suggested implications of methanol reported in both studies, is due by the end of this year.

All about the methanol?

Beyond the Commission spokesperson’s reasons, however, the UK Aspartame Awareness Campaign (UKAAC) believes the new review is due to concerns over methanol.

In 2009 it sent data to EFSA that “suggested that the ADI was 35 times too high for safety”​; it followed up in March this year with cleans that followed this with more evidence in March this year with evidence it says shows the NOAEL(No Observable Adverse Level) used to establish the ADI was wrong.

In an email correspondence the campaign’s Jim McDonald said he is calling for the ADI and NOAEL of aspartame to be independently re-assessed to include the 10% methanol. He believes that a full review without first re-assessing the ADI “would be pointless”.

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6 comments

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Comment on Food Navigator's Comments.

Posted by Jim McDonald,

Comments on an article are just that and not a scientific paper; it does not automatically mean however that there is no solid supporting scientific evidence behind the comments.

Your example that EFSA reaffirmed the safety of aspartame in 2006 2009 & 2010 as an established fact - is in fact wrong.

In 2010 after a 2 year review of aspartame, EFSA’s national experts declared they had found nothing to change their opinion nor alter the ADI of aspartame. This was duly reported to all and sundry and hailed as usual as a great victory for aspartame.

EFSA's is NOT responsible for declaring the safety or otherwise of an additive or sweetener their only responsibility is Risk assessment, deciding safety or otherwise for Europe is the responsibility of the 27 member states in their Advisory Forum (AF).

At the 36th AF meeting the delegates did not accept the EFSA national experts recommendations and deferred further consideration until the results of the UK Hull pilot study have been received - the EFSA at this moment in time, has no mandate to declare aspartame safe, to do so is wrong and deliberately misleading.

During the 2010 review the National Experts confessed in their Nov. 2009 minutes, that they did not know enough about the metabolism of the 10% methanol in aspartame. This is an amazing admission which casts doubt on the 2006 and 2009 reviews and every review made back to 1982. Without full knowledge of the methanol toxicity of 10% of aspartame, how could they possibly be able to accurately assess its safety.

Pease check out the references in the comment for confirmation.

Science is not the only tool in the box where food safety is concerned we also need Common sense and Observation.

I do hope you post my comments there is some very important information here.

Jim McDonald
UKAAC.

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FoodNavigator responds to comments

Posted by Mike Stones,

FoodNavigator encourages open discussion and debate. We believe points of view have most impact when they are supported by facts and evidence.

Some of the statements presented below fail to provide evidence to substantiate the claims made.

In none of the comments posted is there a reference to peer-reviewed data supporting the statements made.

For example, that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reaffirmed the safety of aspartame in 2006, 2009 and 2010 is an established fact.

On the other hand, that “aspartame will build up in the body causing neurological, organ and tissue damage over time, 0-20 years” is admitted by one of our posters to be “anecdotal evidence”.

Anecdotal evidence, by definition, lacks the weight of scientific evidence.

FoodNavigator welcomes different points of view. We believe an open discussion, based on scientific evidence, is the best way to move this debate forward.

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ASPARTAME IS A NEUROTOXIN!

Posted by TOMMYJ,

Aspartame is an artificially made substance consisting of two bacteria cultured amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine combined with free form methanol. The resulting chemical compound, 50 percent phenylalanine, 40 percent aspartic acid, and 10 percent methanol is two hundred times sweeter than natural sugar. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are never found in isolation in the food we eat except when broken down chemically and re-introduced as an additive.

Aspartame is found in most soft drinks, many baked foods and anything that says ‘no added sugar’, ‘sugar free’ or ‘diet’. NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful are just brand names for aspartame. Don’t for a minute suppose that drinking diet soda’s will lead to weight loss. This man-made sweetener interferes with brain chemistry and will actually increase food cravings resulting in weight gain.

Aspartame is hydrolized when it reaches the gastrointestinal tract. That means it breaks down into the constituent parts as described earlier; methanol and the two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. One of the things phenylalanine is very good at is blocking serotonin levels in the brain and the digestive tract. The body produces serotonin from the amino acid tryptophan found in carbohydrates and the desire to eat is switched off as soon as an adequate level serotonin is reached. But with a constant supply of phenylalanine from aspartame blocking the production of serotonin, the right levels are never reached and we keep on craving carbohydrates.

Researchers at Purdue University, Carolina, found that rats gained on average 20 percent more weight with artificial sweetener than with natural sugar. They could not say why but believed “… the artificial sweetener somehow interrupts the body's ability to regulate or register the amount of calories it has consumed resulting in carbohydrate cravings and/or reduced metabolism.”

Depression

Serotonin is a very important neurotransmitter and besides appetite control, is involved in a big way in mood regulation. Depression is on the increase worldwide and to combat this the pharmaceuticals have come up with a series of drugs called SSRI’s, or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. Neurotransmitters work in circular fashion – they are released – hit the receptor – then deactivate in readiness to be released again, in very rapid succession. Essentially what SSRI’s do is prevent the deactivation, or reuptake, of serotonin, breaking the chain of events and resulting, theoretically anyway, in more serotonin for mood elevation. So on the one hand we are consuming vast amounts of an isolated amino acid in our food that specifically blocks the production of serotonin and on the other we are swallowing pills that claim to retain more serotonin in the brain. Presumably it makes sense to someone, but not this writer I confess.

Methanol

Once aspartame is ingested the methanol is released and converted to formaldehyde and then formic acid. Numerous tests show methanol breaks down into formaldahyde in vivo in laboratory rats. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin, is a known carcinogen, causes retinal damage, interferes with DNA replication and causes birth defects. In natural foods such as fruit and alcoholic beverages methanol is always found together with ethanol which neutralizes the toxicity.

Chronic, low-level exposure to methanol has been seen to cause heart disease and pancreatic inflammation; everything from weight gain to seizures, strokes to liver and kidney failure to anti social behaviour, depression and hair loss. In fact there are over 90 known incapacitating conditions, far too numerous to be listed here, attributed to regular ingestion of aspartame. You should be aware aspartame is a neurotoxin and an excitotoxin. Which is to say it will 'excite' neural cell activity to the point where brain cells will self destruct and you may experience memory loss, anxiety, dementia and even blindness. Studies with aspartame in France relating to calcium depletion, have found it to trigger acute bone mineral release.

Aspartame has a very murky pedigree and was ‘bullied’ into the food chain by Donald Rumsfeld as CEO of GD Searle while Reagan was president, despite killing several monkeys during trials and initial refusal by the FDA to sanction it for use in food. As soon as it was (mysteriously) approved by the FDA the rest of the world followed on without any further safety trials and it can now be found in over 6000 food products. (See the Fox News video below). One can quite truthfully say this sweetener is not fit for human consumption and should be removed from food products yet it is routinely found in diet foods, soft drinks, all chewing gum, pharmaceutical drugs and a range of vitamin products.

Aspartame poisoning undoubtedly affects many people but is commonly misdiagnosed because it mainly affects the brain and the symptoms resemble many serious neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, lupus and Alzheimer’s. The list of complaints, including death, relating to aspartame use is startling to say the least and it is the most frequently reported food additive for adverse reactions.

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