I came across an article by Dr. H. J. Roberts, M.D. of
West Palm Beach, FL on pages 16-18 of the January
1987 issue of "On Call" magazine titled "A Clinitian's
Adventures in Medicine: is Aspartame (Nutrasweet)
Safe?" [Admittedly a little dated]. The basic thrust of
the article is that dverse recations to aspartme can
happen, and Dr. Roberts uestions its safety.
Of interest to us with PD are the following quotes:
"High risk groups [those with an increased risk of a
reaction] include ... patients taking drugs that might
interact with phenylalanine [e.g. l-dopa, monoamine
oxidase inhibitors [like Eldapryl] ...]"
"On the basis of mounting clinical and investigational
observations, I also am concerned that aspartame
might cause, accelerate, or aggravate Alzheimer's
disease, Parkinsonism, depression..."
[Of course, Nutrasweet and Equal are aspartame, and
they are found in more and more foods these days.]
Of 496 reactions identified in the paper, some that
sound familiar are:
Severe slurring of speech [55]
Severe hyperactivity and "restless legs" [39]
Severe insomnia [64]
Severe tremors [41]
The list goes on.
Since this is the first time I have seen anything like
this, I was wondering if anyone else out there had
come across info of this sort? If so, I'd like to hear
from you.
Thought that you'd like to know one MD's opinion.
Jim
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