The Most Dangerous Food Additive?

Do you use “sugar-free” products thinking that they will help you lose weight or in an effort to eat healthier?  If so, you may be surprised to find out that you are using one of the most dangerous food additives ever invented. 

Aspartame is a chemical that is 180 times more sweet than sugar, unfortunately it is when Aspartame starts to be digested in your body that the problem starts.  First, one of the chemicals that it is made of, Aspartic acid, is broken into two amino acids, aspartate and glutamate.  Aspartate and glutamate act as neurotransmitters in our brain, assisting in the transmission of information from one neuron to the next.  Unfortunately when we have too high a concentration of these amino acids they cause excessive calcium to go into the neurons.  This excessive calcium leads the neuron to die.  So aspartame literally kills brain cells.

Of adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA, Aspartame accounts for 75%.  Some of the symptoms associated with aspartame reactions: headache, nausea, depression, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety attacks, joint pain, heart palpitation, vision problems and ironically enough WEIGHT GAIN.  Many of these symptoms are a direct result of the damage done to the brain cells. 

Another component of Aspartame, phenylalanine, can build up in the brain and cause a decrease in serotonin levels.  Decreased serotonin is associated with emotional disorders like depression.   This can be especially dangerous for infants and unborn children due to the rapid development of their brains.  Some studies have even suggested that an increase in phenylalanine can cause schizophrenia and increase the likelihood of seizures.

The third of the dangerous components in Aspartame is methanol, or wood alcohol.  Methanol is broken down into formaldehyde and formic acid.  Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin and carcinogen, responsible for damage to the retina of the eye and birth defects.  The toxic effects of methanol are greatly increased when it is heated above 86 degrees, this happens with improper storage or in the cooking process, think sugar-free gelatin. 

The EPA recommends limiting consumption of methanol to 7.8 mg/day.  One liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage contains approximately 56mg of methanol.  Methanol poisoning can lead to headaches, weakness, memory loss, pain into the arms and legs and vision loss.  Many of these symptoms are similar to the symptoms that come from the damage done in multiple sclerosis.    

The Role of Vitamin D in Pregnancy

You no doubt have heard a lot of talk about the health effects of Vitamin D, but how does this vitamin relate to fertility and pregnancy?  In a way that is a bit of a trick question because Vitamin D is really not a vitamin but a hormone.

From a structural stand point it looks very similar to the sex hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone.  Looking from a functional side, Vitamin D is used to send messages to cells and triggers a change in those cells, just like other hormones.

So what specifically does Vitamin D do?  One of its major functions is to "prime" or prepare cells for other hormones to be able to work properly.  This is where Vitamin D's role in conception comes in.  For ovulation and conception to occur, not only do your major hormones (estrogen and progesterone) need to be in proper balance, but so to the role playing hormones, such as the thyroid hormones, cortisol, DHEA, testosterone, and yes Vitamin D. 

The level of circulating Vitamin D can play a role in resolving fertility issues associated with poly cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and lack of ovulation.  Of course there is the other side of the fertility issue.  Low levels of Vitamin D leads to decreased sperm motility and production.  So guys should be tested for Vitamin D levels also if there are fertility problems.

What about when you are pregnant?  One study reports evidence that Vitamin D plays a role in implantation, normal placental development and prevention of eclampsia.

You can imagine, if Vitamin D is so important to hormone activity, just how important it would be to the developing baby.  Studies have demonstrated a healthy levels of maternal Vitamin D in pregnancy are associated with a decreased likelihood of asthma, respiratory infections, Type I diabetes and even multiple sclerosis. 

Knowing and monitoring your Vitamin D levels pre-conception and throughout pregnancy makes sense and is easy to do with a simple at-home finger stick test that we order through our office.