FAMILY MEDICINE® COLUMN

By John C. Wolf, D.O.Associate Professor of Family Medicine Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine

ASPARTAME - A DANGER TO READER, A BOON TO ALMOST EVERYONE ELSE

Question: My husband, whose parents were both diabetic, used aspartame generously for the last 10 years. Unexpectedly, he began to have seizures in which his teeth would involuntarily clamp shut. His neurologist could find no cause for this and started him on Dilantin. After several months, he tapered off the Dilantin as the neurologist advised. His seizures returned, so he resumed taking Dilantin. My husband read that aspartame could cause seizures, so he stopped using it. After several months he tapered off the Dilantin again, but this time he had no return of seizures. My husband uses another artificial sweetener now without health problems. Why is the dangerous product aspartame still on the market?

Answer: Before I talk about aspartame and your husband's experience with it, I want to take a moment to talk about seizures. Most of us upon hearing the term "seizure" think of the classic grand mal seizure that involves loss of consciousness and thrashing contractions of the extremities, back, neck and mouth. Certainly grand mal is a serious form of seizure, but there are many other types. Some of them produce symptoms that are like your husband's or alternatively, just cause twitching of a hand or another body part. There are yet other types that are harder for an observer to notice -- perhaps just a momentary pause in the person's speech or actions. Seizures are the result of some part of the brain not working properly. Specifically, common causes include brain trauma, tumors, stroke, inherited abnormalities, infection in the central nervous system and high fever. Another common culprit is an imbalance of the levels of sugar, calcium, or other substances in the blood. Drug withdrawal, which can include either prescribed or elicit use of narcotics as well as seizure medicines like Dilantin, is also fairly common.

There are also a number of other things that can trigger seizures, but which are much rarer. These can include an unexpected reaction to a medicine or other consumed or inhaled product. Your husband's reaction to aspartame falls into this last category of uncommon causes of seizure. Typically we humans, across all cultures, seem to prefer sweet-tasting foods. The most reasonable explanation I've read for our almost universal "sweet tooth" is that our hunter-gatherer ancestors satisfied their sweet tooth primarily by eating fruits. This food source contains many nutrients, including important vitamins. Today, our sweet tooth is more often satisfied with sugar that only provides simple carbohydrate calories without contributing other healthy nutrients to our diet. Most experts believe that our consumption of sugar is an important reason for our current epidemic of diabetes and obesity.

Restricting the amount of sugar in the diet is important for diabetics and is also a good idea for most of us non-diabetics. Artificial sweeteners are one option for continuing to satisfy the "sweet tooth" without sugar. All of these products work by tickling the taste buds in a way that is very similar to sugar's effect. These products are generally more effective at generating the "sweet" stimulus than is sugar, and consequently, require a smaller amount -- and therefore, fewer calories -- to satisfy the need for sweetness.

All artificial sweeteners have the potential to cause some form of health problem. Fortunately, all of them are safer than the "natural" product sugar. The important message is that our diets should be governed by good judgment and moderation. Too much aspartame, sugar, fat, or even tap water can be a bad thing. For your husband, aspartame is a bad choice of sweetener. Fortunately, for almost everyone else it is an excellent product, not a dangerous one.

"Family Medicine" is a weekly column.

To submit questions, write to John C. Wolf, D.O., at Post Office Box 110, Athens, Ohio 45701.

Past columns are available online at http://www.FamilyMedicineNews.org.