Has Southwest Airlines banned aspartame from the cockpit?

In article , Gene
Seibel wrote:

Aspartame has some very real, well-documented medical issues with it. But
only for a relatively small segment of the population.

True. But how do we determine if we are part of that small segment? As
a pilot, I don't want to put my medical in jeprody by taking a chance
on having an unexplained seizure.

If you have phenylketonuria, I think you'd know already. And it
doesn't cause seizures.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disease/Phenylketo.html

--
Garner R. Miller
ATP/CFII/MEI
Manchester, CT =USA=

"Gene Seibel" wrote in message
om...
True. But how do we determine if we are part of that small segment?

What Garner said. It's one of those "if you need to ask, it doesn't apply"
things.

"Gene Seibel" wrote in message
om...
"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
"Rutger" wrote in message
om...

Aspartame has some very real, well-documented medical issues with it.
But
only for a relatively small segment of the population. The issues
should be
used to educate potentially susceptible people, but it wouldn't make
sense
to base a global ban on aspartame on those issues.

True. But how do we determine if we are part of that small segment? As
a pilot, I don't want to put my medical in jeprody by taking a chance
on having an unexplained seizure.

How about an explained seizure?

Better to use Splenda® (My family has made a 99% transition to this stuff
and it's great).

"Rutger" wrote in message
om...
Dylan Smith wrote in message
...
In article , Paul G
wrote:
Let's keep out of the debate over aspartame's safety. This is an
exercise in getting some primary source evidence. I just want to find
out if SWA does indeed have such a policy. Are there any crew out
there who can confirm or deny?

It sounds pretty silly on the face of it. Aspartame is consumed in vast
quantities - if it was dangerous, it'd have shown up by now.

Peanuts have been consumed in vast quantities for a long time too.
I've *never* personally known or even heard of anyone having having
any peanut allergy problems, yet we see all kinds of warnings labels
on products containing peanuts these days.

Aspartame metabolizes into 10% methyl alchohol, a potent neurotoxin,
in the human body. Methanol, as we know, then metabolizes into
formaldehyde. Nice stuff.

Here's just one of thousands of references:


You have fallen victim of a hoax. The 'thousands' of references are in fact
not written by any of the people who are claimed as the authors. They can be
traced to an individual calling herself "Nancy Markle" who invented a
non-existent world conference and wrote a bunch of bogus scientific papers
that were supposedly presented at the conference. It appears that this
person is a Sevia dealer who was disappointed that 'her' product was not
approved by the FDA and who has created a huge conspiracy theory where the
FDA has conspired with Monsanto in order to conceal the truth about
aspertame.

You can find more than 6000 sites and studies on the internet trashing
aspertame. None of the studies are real.


TI: Neuropsychological and biochemical investigations in
heterozygotes for
phenylketonuria during ingestion of high dose aspartame (a sweetener

Phenylketoneurics are the only people that have a legitimate cause to worry
about aspertame, but such persons must also avoid many other more common
foods such as milk, eggs, and hamburgers.

From The American Academy of Pediatrics:

http://www.aspartame.net/media/opinion/op_aspint.html

"Although a 330 ml can of aspartame-sweetened soft drink will yield about 20
mg methanol, an equivalent volume of fruit juice produces 40 mg methanol,
and an alcoholic beverage about 60-100 mg. The yield of phenylalanine is
about 100 mg for a can of diet soft drink, compared with 300 mg for an egg,
500 mg for a glass of milk, and 900 mg for a large hamburger (1). Thus, the
amount of phenylalanine or methanol ingested from consumption of aspartame
is trivial, compared with other dietary sources. Clinical studies have shown
no evidence of toxic effects and no increase in plasma concentrations of
methanol, formic acid, or phenylalanine with daily consumption of 50 mg/kg
aspartame (equivalent to 17 cans of diet soft drink daily for a 70 kg adult)
(1, 2).

The anti aspartame campaign purports to offer an explanation for illnesses
that are prominent in the public eye. By targeting a manufactured chemical
agent, and combining this with pseudo-science and selective reporting, the
campaign makes complex issues deceptively simple. Sensational web site names
(eg, aspartamekills.com) grab the browser's attention and this
misinformation is also widely disseminated via chat groups and chain
e-mail."

This hoax has also been debunked by the FDA, the American Academy of Health
and Science, and every other reputable health organization. If you have a
problem with aspartame, rest assured that you have a problem with a great
many other foods that people normally eat.

86% of all statistics are made up on the spot, and 76.3% of people believe
them without question....


"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Rutger" wrote in message
om...
Dylan Smith wrote in message
...
In article , Paul G
wrote:
Let's keep out of the debate over aspartame's safety. This is an
exercise in getting some primary source evidence. I just want to
find
out if SWA does indeed have such a policy. Are there any crew out
there who can confirm or deny?

It sounds pretty silly on the face of it. Aspartame is consumed in
vast
quantities - if it was dangerous, it'd have shown up by now.

Peanuts have been consumed in vast quantities for a long time too.
I've *never* personally known or even heard of anyone having having
any peanut allergy problems, yet we see all kinds of warnings labels
on products containing peanuts these days.

Aspartame metabolizes into 10% methyl alchohol, a potent neurotoxin,
in the human body. Methanol, as we know, then metabolizes into
formaldehyde. Nice stuff.

Here's just one of thousands of references:


You have fallen victim of a hoax. The 'thousands' of references are in
fact
not written by any of the people who are claimed as the authors. They can
be
traced to an individual calling herself "Nancy Markle" who invented a
non-existent world conference and wrote a bunch of bogus scientific papers
that were supposedly presented at the conference. It appears that this
person is a Sevia dealer who was disappointed that 'her' product was not
approved by the FDA and who has created a huge conspiracy theory where the
FDA has conspired with Monsanto in order to conceal the truth about
aspertame.

You can find more than 6000 sites and studies on the internet trashing
aspertame. None of the studies are real.


TI: Neuropsychological and biochemical investigations in
heterozygotes for
phenylketonuria during ingestion of high dose aspartame (a sweetener

Phenylketoneurics are the only people that have a legitimate cause to
worry
about aspertame, but such persons must also avoid many other more common
foods such as milk, eggs, and hamburgers.

From The American Academy of Pediatrics:

http://www.aspartame.net/media/opinion/op_aspint.html

"Although a 330 ml can of aspartame-sweetened soft drink will yield about
20
mg methanol, an equivalent volume of fruit juice produces 40 mg methanol,
and an alcoholic beverage about 60-100 mg. The yield of phenylalanine is
about 100 mg for a can of diet soft drink, compared with 300 mg for an
egg,
500 mg for a glass of milk, and 900 mg for a large hamburger (1). Thus,
the
amount of phenylalanine or methanol ingested from consumption of aspartame
is trivial, compared with other dietary sources. Clinical studies have
shown
no evidence of toxic effects and no increase in plasma concentrations of
methanol, formic acid, or phenylalanine with daily consumption of 50 mg/kg
aspartame (equivalent to 17 cans of diet soft drink daily for a 70 kg
adult)
(1, 2).

The anti aspartame campaign purports to offer an explanation for illnesses
that are prominent in the public eye. By targeting a manufactured chemical
agent, and combining this with pseudo-science and selective reporting, the
campaign makes complex issues deceptively simple. Sensational web site
names
(eg, aspartamekills.com) grab the browser's attention and this
misinformation is also widely disseminated via chat groups and chain
e-mail."

This hoax has also been debunked by the FDA, the American Academy of
Health
and Science, and every other reputable health organization. If you have a
problem with aspartame, rest assured that you have a problem with a great
many other foods that people normally eat.

C J Campbell wrote:
Phenylketoneurics are the only people that have a legitimate cause to
worry about aspertame, but such persons must also avoid many other
more common foods such as milk, eggs, and hamburgers.

You are wrong.

I was hospitalized three times, suffering from near-drowning in my own
saliva, before I put two and two together and realized that it was
aspartame that caused the severe excess salivation. This is an immune
system response to the chemical.

Once I stopped drinking diet soda (and was careful to avoid aspartame in
all other forms), the problem stopped. On a side note, I can't tolerate
stevia or more than about a half-can of a splenda-containing soda
either. Cyclamates, however, are fine for me.

There are plenty of people who have bad reactions to aspartame who are
not phenylketoneurics. They simply have different symptoms.

--
_Deirdre web: http://deirdre.net blog: http://deirdre.org/blog/
"Memes are a hoax! Pass it on!"

"Deirdre Saoirse Moen" wrote in message
...
C J Campbell wrote:
Phenylketoneurics are the only people that have a legitimate cause to
worry about aspertame, but such persons must also avoid many other
more common foods such as milk, eggs, and hamburgers.

You are wrong.

I was hospitalized three times, suffering from near-drowning in my own
saliva, before I put two and two together and realized that it was
aspartame that caused the severe excess salivation. This is an immune
system response to the chemical.

Once I stopped drinking diet soda (and was careful to avoid aspartame in
all other forms), the problem stopped. On a side note, I can't tolerate
stevia or more than about a half-can of a splenda-containing soda
either. Cyclamates, however, are fine for me.

There are plenty of people who have bad reactions to aspartame who are
not phenylketoneurics. They simply have different symptoms.

Yeah, even psychosomatic symptoms are real symptoms, aren't they.

C J Campbell wrote:
There are plenty of people who have bad reactions to aspartame who are
not phenylketoneurics. They simply have different symptoms.

Yeah, even psychosomatic symptoms are real symptoms, aren't they.

You know, there are people who do have *real* symptoms that aren't
psychosomatic -- and you don't have to be phenylketoneuric to have 'em.
No, they're not as threatening, typically, but they can be damn
annoying.

--
_Deirdre web: http://deirdre.net blog: http://deirdre.org/blog/
"Memes are a hoax! Pass it on!"

Deirdre Saoirse Moen wrote:
I was hospitalized three times, suffering from near-drowning in my own
saliva, before I put two and two together and realized that it was

And you are 1 data point out of 100,000,000 or so, and you
haven't really documented beyond doubt that it was the
aspartame. This is hardly a reason to ban such a benign
substance from airline cockpits. After all, if aspartame
were such a danger, automobile crash rates would reflect
this problem, and I'm willing to bet there is **NOT*** a
single case supporting this.

r5 wrote:
Deirdre Saoirse Moen wrote:
I was hospitalized three times, suffering from near-drowning in my own
saliva, before I put two and two together and realized that it was

And you are 1 data point out of 100,000,000 or so, and you haven't
really documented beyond doubt that it was the aspartame. This is
hardly a reason to ban such a benign substance from airline cockpits.
After all, if aspartame were such a danger, automobile crash rates
would reflect this problem, and I'm willing to bet there is **NOT*** a
single case supporting this.

I never said it should be banned from cockpits. I simply said there were
people, including myself, who had severely negative reations but didn't
have the phenylalanine problem.

--
_Deirdre web: http://deirdre.net blog: http://deirdre.org/blog/
"Memes are a hoax! Pass it on!"