ASPARTAME AND DIABETES – BAD COMBINATION
H. J. ROBERTS, M.D.,F.A.C.P., F.C.C.P.
H. J. ROBERTS,M.D., P.A.
300 27TH STREET
WEST PALM BEACH, FL 33407-5299
(407)832-2408
FAX (407)832-2400
DIPLOMATE, AMERICAN BOARD OF INTERNAL MEDICINE (RECERTIFIED)
STATEMENT OF H. J. ROBERTS, M.D., CONCERNING THE USE OF PRODUCTS CONTAININGASPARTAME (NUTRASWEET) BY PERSONS WITH DIABETES AND HYPOGLYCEMIA.
I have treated many patients with diabetes mellitus and hypoglycemia(low blood sugar) in my
capacity as a Board-certified internist and an endocrinologist memberof the Endocrine Society). Since both groups shold abstain from sugar,I initially rejoiced that these persons had an acceptable and presumablesafe sugar substitute in aspartame.
Unfortunately, many patients in my practice, and others seen in consultation,developed serious metabolic, neurologic and other complications that couldbe specifically attributed to using aspartame products. This was evidencedby:
*The loss of diabetic control, the intensification of hypoglycemia,the occurrence of presumed insulin reactions (including convulsions) thatproved to be aspartame reactions, and the precipitation, aggravation orsimulation of diabetic complications (especially impaired vision and neuropathy)while using these products.
*Dramatic improvement of such features after avoiding aspartame, ANDthe prompt predictable recurrent of these problems when the patient resumedaspartame products, knowlingly or inadvertently. I have cited many instancesof severe complications in patients with diabetes and hypoglycemia causedby the use of aspartame products in my books and scientific articles. Hereare few illustrations.
A 21 year-old insulin-dependent teacher suffered more frequent insulinreactions both at school and at home, while drinking many aspartame colasdaily. He reported: When we cut down on aspartame, I stopped having somany reactions. A diabetic man suffered severe changes in vision when hewas drinking four liters of aspartame soft drinks daily. An opthalmologistassured him that there was no detectable diabetic retinopathy. The patientthen chanced to read an article about aspartame-related eye problems. Hepromptly improved after avoiding these beverages, an unlikely event ifthe problem was primarily a diabetic retinopathy.
A 46 year-old man with insulin-dependent diabetes had been in goodcontrol for three decades until he began using several aspartame sodasand packets of tabletop sweetener daily. He summarized his experience inthese terms: My diabetes went haywire, and I had terrible insulin reactions.His diabetes was fully controlled within one week after abstaining fromaspartame products.
A 12 year-old boy with known diabetes required multiple hospitalizationsfor diabetic coma while consuming considerable aspartame products. Physiciansat a university hospital had difficulty in stabilizing his insulin requirementswhile he used them.
In the light of this experience, I now advise ALL my patients withdiabetes and hypoglycemia to avoid aspartame products. A number of alternativesare available.
I regret the failure of other physicians and the American DiabetesAssociation (ADA) to sound appropriate warnings to patients and consumersbased on these repeated fininds which have been described in my corporate-neutralstudies and publications. This is largely due to these factors:
1) It has been virtually impossible to get on the programs for nationalmeetings of diabetologists and other professional groups in order to describethese observations. Indeed, the ADA (of which I have been a member forover three decades) even refused to print an abstract of adverse reactionsI encountered in 58 diabetic patients that was submitted for its 1987 annualmeeting.
This abstract subsequently appeared in CLINICAL RESEARCH (Vol. 3: 489A,1988)…six years ago.
2) Journals devoted to diabetes and internal medicine have refusedto publish my manuscripts on this subject due to negative comments frompeer review. The likelihood that some of these reviewer-authorities hadself-serving interests in denying publication is suggested below.
3) The AMA, the FDA, and the ADA dogmatically continue to express theunequivocal opinion that aspartame is completely safe for diabetics – andnearly everyone else.
4) Manufacturers and producers accomplished the marketing miracle ofthe 1980s through highly effective PR campaigns, the underwriting of numerousresearch projects (a number involving flawed protocols) by investigatorsthey granted on contracted with, and enormous biopolitical clout in orderto protect their billion-dollar market.
I detailed these matters in my two books on the subject: ASPARTAME(NUTRASWEET): IS IT SAFE? (Philadelphia, 1989, the Charles Press) and SWEETNERDEAREST: BITTERSWEET VIGNETTES ABOUT ASPARTAME (NUTRASWEET) (West PalmBeach, 1992, Sunshine Sentinel Press, PO Box 8697, 1-800-814-9800). Theyare also summarized in my two-tape lecture, IS ASPARTAME (NUTRASWEET) SAFE?A MEDICAL, PUBLIC HEALTH AND LEGAL OVERVIEW (West Palm Beach, 1992, SunshineSentinel Press, PO Box 8697, 1-800-814-9800).
I have discussed some of the reasons aspartame might aggravate diabetesand hypoglycemia in these books. The possible mechanisms include the following:
* Marked changes in appetite and weight as reflected by paradoxic weightgain or severe loss of weight.
* Excessive insulin secretion and depletion of the insulin reserve
* Possible alteration of cellular receptor sites for insulin, with ensuinginsulin resistance
* Neurotransmitter alterations within the brain and peripheral nerves
* The toxicity of each of the three components of aspartame (phenylalanine;aspartic acid: the methylester, which promptly becomes methyl alcohol ormethanol), and their multiple breakdown products after exposure to heator during prolonged storeage
I have asserted in my publications, and in testimony both to Congressand FDA advisory group, that the current wholesale ingestion of aspartameproducts by over half the adult population constitutes an imminent publichealth hazard. Yet, this warning continues to be ignored by the medicalprofession and the FDA.
Accordingly, informed and concerned consumers are justified in criticizingthe industrial-medical complex that 1) refuses to acknowledge the problemof aspartame disease, and 2) fails to warn high-risk groups about the potentialdangers. In addition to patients with diabetes and hypoglycemia, they includepregnant women, children, patients with epilepshy, liver, kidney diseaseand eating disorders, older persons with memory impairment, and the relatives of aspartame reactors, diabetics and patients with phenylketonuria.
Many also correctly ask: Why is aspartame still on the market? Theirconcern is intensified by the high incidence of brain tumors in animals(known before FDA approval), and the reasonable doubt I have documentedabout the apparent contributory role of aspartame in human brain tumors.
1994 H.J. Roberts, M.D., F.A.C.P.,F.C.C.P.
August 9, 1994