Sweet Poison: How the World's Most Popular Artificial Sweetener is Killing Us--My Story (Paperback)

~ (Author) "It was a day like any normal day..." (more)
Key Phrases: aspartame issue, truth about aspartame, methyl alcohol toxicity, United States, Mary Stoddard, Air Force (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sweet Poison reveals the truth: aspartame is toxic. Read it and learn. Then take action!" - May Nash Stoddard, founder Aspartame Consumer Safety Network --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

When Janet Hull, a certified nutritionist, learned her life-threatening illness was caused by aspartame poisoning, she investigated the substance.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: New Horizon Press (September 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882822020
• ISBN-13: 978-0882822020
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #239,917 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

126 of 133 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting case study, but full of inaccuracies, April 26, 2000

By	Michael Vanier (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sweet Poison: How the World's Most Popular Artificial Sweetener Is Killing Us - My Story (Hardcover)

I fully agree with the central premise of this book: that aspartame is dangerous and should be avoided. The author's case study of how she traced her case of Graves' disease to aspartame toxicity makes for interesting reading. However, her description of the biochemistry and neuroscience involved in the effects of aspartame is full of inaccuracies. For instance, she states that the "methanol component" of aspartame binds the two amino acids (phenylalanine and aspartic acid) together. This is simply false; in fact, aspartame is composed of a phenylalanine residue bonded to an aspartic acid residue via a peptide bond identical to what you find in proteins; the phenylalanine residue is modified by the addition of a methyl group on its C-terminus (so COOH becomes COOCH3). Methanol is not a "part" of aspartame, but is formed when aspartame is digested. The author's description of the blood-brain barrier "squeezing out toxins" is particularly absurd. I wish she had asked a biochemist to proofread the book, because the mistakes weaken her credibility substantially. That's a shame, because the point she makes about the hazards of aspartame is an important one.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful, worth the read., August 2, 2006

By	Julie Nelson (Utah) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was having thryoid problems after my second daughter was born. I was drinking Diet Dr. Pepper for an energy boost every day. This book caught my attention because of the author's thryoid disfunction. I read the book and stopped using aspartame.

My hair is no longer falling out, and my engergy and thryoid levels are back to normal.

My 3 year old daughter is epileptic, and several months before reading this book her seizures took a sudden turn for the worst. She started having 15-30 seizures a day, and even had 2 grand mal seizures. I was terrified by the increase in seizure activity and wondered what had caused the change.

Reading about how aspartame can cause seizures/grand mal seizures, I checked the vitamins I was giving my daughter.

Because it was fall, and I wanted her to be healthy during cold and flu season,I had started giving her several fruit flavored vitamin c chewables and 1 chewable multi vitamin. Checking the labels I discovered they all had aspartame as an ingredient.

It was hardly coincidence when I realized the increase in seizures was around the same time I started these vitamins. I threw out both bottles. It has been 6 months and my daughter has not had another grand mal seizure, and her seizures dropped from 15-30 a day down to 0-3 on a typical day. I was also able to drop 2 of her 3 seizure medications.

Aspartame is very dangerous, I had no idea.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Aspartame: The Poison They Don't Want You To Know About, January 6, 2006

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

For the past 2 years or so I had been feeling worse and worse as time went on. Headaches, neurological symptoms such as losing feeling in my arm and face, and the scariest of all, I was having trouble thinking straight. I really was beginning to feel like a different person and there were times that I felt like I was going insane.

Am I exaggerating?? I really wish I was, but sadly that was not the case. After speaking with my primary care doctor several times and having had tests done, I noticed that my symptoms improved at times, but nothing significant. I tried to put my finger on what the problem was, and one day while doing a search online, I found that some people who chewed Orbit gum were complaining of symptoms similar to mine. I had been chewing sugarless gum for years, and I never thought twice that what I was chewing could be hurting my body, potentially for the long term. After reading more, I immediately stopped using all products with aspartame/Nutrasweet/Equal and within a few short weeks I started feeling better.

During my initial research regarding the link between aspartame and the symptoms I was experiencing, I stumbled upon the book "Sweet Poison" by Janet Starr Hull, the story of how she found out that aspartame was the cause of her very own health problems and her research behind how this original ulcer drug got into nearly every type of food we eat every day.

Hull's story is very interesting, and anyone that wants to find out more about the story of how aspartame got into the United States food supply would be able to probably pick some bit of relevant information from this text, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out how sloppy the writing is. It's really a shame, because you get the point that the author really does care about educating the masses, but she would have been so better off if she had more people edit this book before it was published.

My favorite parts of this book relate to the story of the shady way in which aspartame got on the shelves of supermarkets around the country and how it probably should have been stopped long, long ago. It's just a sad realization that the corporations control America and it's not a new trend. The original fights to get aspartame FDA approved date back to the 1970s, and through loopholes and political tricks that is exactly what happened in the 1980s.

If you want to learn more about the history of aspartame and the story of an individual that had an adverse reaction to this drug, this is a nice read but it's very sloppy. Sometimes you will get done reading a paragraph and just say to yourself that the writing is outright POOR.

Some people will read this book and just say it's a bunch of hogwash and they have never had a bad reaction to a diet soda, but I can tell you from personal experience that this chemical CAN cause major problems so buyer beware.

In the battle between calories and chemicals, I'll take the calories, at least I can pronounce sugar more easily than many of the chemicals you see when you turn the label over of far too many foods that are purchased every single day.

*** RECOMMENDED