Safe sweetener

Your correspondent writing “sickening sweeteners” takes issue with the Nanogirl’s claim of the safety of artificial sweeteners, saying she should simply google “aspartame research neurotoxin” to learn otherwise. Carrying out that google reveals at the top of the page “Aspartame-American Cancer Society” which is an article maintaining exactly what the Nanogirl has stated. The next is a complex medical article published over 40 years ago which proves nothing.

The third article is a good overview of the subject, and includes the statement: “An elaborate health scare, involving a hoax conspiracy theory disseminated on many internet websites in 1999, attributes a host of deleterious medical effects to aspartame.” If you go further down the page you can find nonsense such as “Aspartame — approved in 90 nations but damages the brain”.

Phenylalanine is an amino acid, a building block found in all proteins as well as in aspartame in a slightly modified form, to give it sweetness. Phenylalanine is digested normally by everyone except those with the rare genetic condition which requires strict dietary control.

The rest of us can safely enjoy drinks sweetened with aspartame instead of sugar, while saving our energy input for other enjoyable foods, thereby also enjoying the pleasures and benefits of remaining trim. Ron Baker MD, Lynfield.