NATURAL NEWS– In response to growing awareness
about the dangers of artificial sweeteners, what does the manufacturer of one
of the world’s most notable artificial sweeteners do? Why, rename it and begin
marketing it as natural, of course. This is precisely the strategy of
Ajinomoto, maker of aspartame, which hopes to pull the wool over the eyes of
the public with its rebranded version of aspartame, called AminoSweet.
Over 25 years ago, aspartame was first introduced into the European food
supply. Today, it is an everyday component of most diet beverages, sugar-free
desserts, and chewing gums in countries worldwide. But the tides have been
turning as the general public is waking up to the truth about artificial
sweeteners like aspartame and the harm they cause to health. The latest
aspartame marketing scheme is a desperate effort to indoctrinate the public
into accepting the chemical sweetener as natural and safe, despite evidence to
the contrary.
Aspartame was an accidental discovery by James Schlatter, a chemist who had
been trying to produce an anti-ulcer pharmaceutical drug for G.D. Searle &
Company back in 1965. Upon mixing aspartic acid and phenylalanine, two
naturally-occurring amino acids, he discovered that the new compound had a
sweet taste. The company merely changed its FDA approval application from drug
to food additive and, voila, aspartame was born.
Continue reading about Rebranding Aspartame to ‘AminoSweet’.
© Natural News, 2010
Photo by flickr user Steve Snodgrass