Killing Our Brains

Since its release in 1997, Blaylock's book has inspired further research in which a variety of other papers by notable experts strongly support his claims that a "food enhancer" called monosodium glutamate (MSG) and an artificial sweetener called aspartame are linked to a wide variety of human brain disorders.

They are saying these two popular supplements may be related to such horrors as brain cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

It has long been suspected that these so-called "food additives" also are causing arthritis, lung, and reproduction disorders. They also are believed to cause allergic reactions in many people. Asthmatics are especially targeted.

What is scary about this story is that both MSG and aspartame are so widely used, it is difficult to find canned, frozen or prepared foods in the United States that do not contain either one or the other, and sometimes both, mixed with the ingredients. The Food and Drug Administration approved these products as safe for public consumption.

According to information supplied by Leading Edge International Research Group, a data collection organization, food manufacturers skillfully hide MSG behind many ingredient names that are printed on food packages. The names include: gelatin, calcium caseinate, textured protein, sodium caseinate, yeast nutrient, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed protein, carrageenan, maltodextrin, malt extract, natural food flavoring, bouillon, natural chicken flavoring, natural beef flavoring, broth, ultra-pasteurized, soy sauce extract, whey protein concentrate, pectin, and anything protein fortified, containing flavorings, enzyme modified, or seasoned.

Leading Edge also claims MSG reactions have been reported in soaps, shampoo, hair conditioners and cosmetics. In these products MSG is hidden in ingredients that include the words "hydrolyzed" and "amino acids," the report said.

An organization called Truth in Advertising also is expressing concerns that since 1997, farmers are even spraying MSG on growing vegetables, grains and fruit, although the reason seems unclear. The group suggests that the spraying may be going on so the industry can "propagate the fiction that MSG occurs naturally in food."

MSG, which has been around since its invention at the turn of the century, has been popular because of its ability to enhance the flavors in soups and other foods. It also covers taste in spoiling foods, thus gaining a false reputation as a food preservative.

James Schlatter, a chemist for the G. D. Searle Company accidentally discovered aspartame in the 1970s, while he was testing an anti-ulcer drug. Monsanto Corp. bought out Searle about 10 years later and continues marketing the chemical under the brand name NutraSweet.

Both MSG and aspartame are found in milk products, soft drinks, candy, chewing gum, health drink powders, some medications and in binders for nutrients, supplements and both prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

Here are some of the products known to contain aspartame: sugar-free foods, chewing gum, beverages, gelatin desserts, packaged sweeteners and ice cream; breath mints, cereals, cocoa mixes, coffee beverages, frozen desserts, juice drinks, multivitamins, pharmaceuticals and health supplements, instant teas and coffees, topping mixes, wine coolers and yogurt. Critics say aspartame also has been found in products where it is not listed on the label.

If this information is accurate, anyone who eats processed foods of any kind, shampoos their hair, or takes vitamins and nutritional supplements probably ingests large amounts of both MSG and aspartame daily without knowing it.
These two substances are called excitotoxins because they "excite" brain neurons due to their chemical similarity to neurotransmitters found in the body. Because of this, these chemicals turn into dangerous and addictive compounds that kill brain cells.

People enjoy the effect they get from excitotoxins because it produces a slight rush. For a brief time, the mind speeds up, the "victim" finds he or she is thinking more clearly and reacting more sharply. Experiments have shown that people become addicted to foods that contain large concentrations of both MSG, like the tomato paste used in pasta dishes, and aspartame, found in diet soft drinks.

The rush created by a mixture of aspartame and caffeine, which is found in many carbonated soft drinks and commercially sold coffee and tea beverages, is especially toxic.

Dr. Blaylock warns that the food additives we love so much are slowly killing our brains. While we think they are giving us a mid-day boost, the excitotoxins are busy stimulating the neural cells in our brains to death.

A Leading Edge report said experiments show that within 15 to 30 minutes after neurons suspended in tissue culture are exposed to high levels of glutamate, they swell up like balloons. The chemical process going on within the cell releases free radicals that kill brain cells within three hours, the report said.

Lower doses of glutamate produces the same effect, but it just takes longer; sometimes up to 24 hours before the cells die. "The normal concentration of antioxidants in the brain is not enough to handle the excess free radicals produced in this way," the Leading Edge report concluded.

In the 1995 report, author Mark Gold claims aspartame "accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death, as recently disclosed in a Feb. 1994 Department of Health and Human Services report."

There is a list of about 90 different reactions to this drug, including migraine headaches, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rash, depression, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, vision loss, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, vertigo, memory loss and joint pain.

Like MSG, the ingestion of excessive aspartic acid from aspartame appears to either trigger or intensify neurological disorders such as: brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, and diabetes.

Aspartic acid is an amino acid, which makes it appear to be a natural substance. However, when taken in its free form, or unbound to proteins, it causes a dramatic increase in the blood plasma level. As stated earlier, high levels of this poison excites brain cells and eventually kills them.

About ten years ago the FDA approved aspartame for public consumption, in spite of available evidence from the start that the product had dangerous side effects. At about the same time, the agency banned the import of stevia, a natural leaf that has been used for hundreds of years by the Japanese as an alternative sweetener. Stevia has never been shown to have adverse effects on humans.

In spite of the growing evidence that these additives are creating a society of zombies and people slowly dying of a variety of crippling disorders, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has allowed the production and distribution of them in our daily food supply.