Don't eat the lead paint, or do......

We’ve all be told as children not to eat lead paint, or for that matter just to not eat paint in general. There are a lot of obvious things out there that we shouldn’t be putting into our bodies, but what about the not so obvious things? My mother has rheumatoid arthritis, something she swears she got from drinking diet pop in her 20’s. Some diet sodas, yogurts, gums and a number of other everyday foods contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, the culprit my mother blames. And although I love and respect my mother a well-educated RN of 25+ years, her assumptions (as the cause of many a let’s say disagreement between us) are not always sound. So I decided to do a bit of investigating....

What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune process caused by rheumatoid factors (RF), groups of auto-antibodies such as IgM, binding to the Fc region of IgG.¹ This forms complexes, which then begin to become deposited in areas such as the joints causing chronic inflammation through a type III immunopathology response.^2,3 The chronic inflammation is cause by IgM-IgG complexes activating complement cascades and the activation of multiple other pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines along the way such as IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α.³ Rheumatoid arthritis also has links to genetic, (example: HLA-DR4) and environmental factors which can vary the severity of the symptoms.^1,3

What is Aspartame?

Aspartame is a synthetic sugar substitute which was approved by FDA for use in foods in 1981.⁵ It breaks down into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol when ingested.⁶ According the Aspartame Information Center's website, it is nearly 200 time as sweet as sucrose, and is currently used in over 6000 products world wide.⁶

What I found out:

Surprisingly there wasn't much scientific support for linking rheumatoid arthritis and aspartame in a negative way. There were a lot of personal accounts of physicians and people that have felt arthritic relief after they stopped eating foods containing artificial sweeteners including aspartame. One journal article out of Italy studying angiogenesis had found that aspartame caused a temporary 2 fold increased IL-6.⁸ Another article supported aspartame as a therapy, showing that it bound to RF preventing complex formation with IgG.⁹ I also read a few conspiracy theory's about how the dangers of aspartame are a big cover up by the FDA.¹⁰

So the science is leaning me to one side, and although I believe conspiracy theory's, I do trust my mother, so personally, even though I'm not entirely convinced aspartame isn't completely fine for me, I'll avoid it. Better safe than sorry. So, will you have that extra packet of Equal in your morning coffee? At least it's not as bad as lead paint, or is it? What's your opinion?

References:

1. Kindt T.J., Goldsby, R.A., Osbborne, B.A., 2007. Kuby immunology 6th ed. W.H. Freeman and Company. New York. p. 411-412.
2. Cohen J.J. 2012. Immu 7630: an overview of immunology. University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus School of Medicine. http://www.immuno4ever.org/ (September 3, 2012).
3. McInnes I.B., Schett G., 2007. Cytokines in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. Focus on Cytokines and Cytokine Therapies. Nature Publishing Group. 7: p. 429-442. http://www.nature.com.hsl-ezproxy.ucdenver.edu/nri/journal/v7/n6/pdf/nri2094.pdf (October 21, 2012).
4. Dresser, K. 2005. Rheumatoid arthritis. Department of Biology, Davidson College. NC. http://www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/immunology/students/spring2006/dresser/ra.html (October 19, 2012).
5. GAO 1987. Food additive approval process followed for aspartame. United States General Accounting Office, GAO/HRD-87-46, p. 4. http://www.gao.gov/assets/150/145477.pdf (October 17, 2012).
6. The Calorie Control Council, ed. 2012. Aspartame information center. http://www.aspartame.org/ (October 17, 2012).
7. Walters D.E., 2001. Aspartame, a sweet-tasting dipeptide. Dept. of Biochemisty and Molecular Bilogy, Finch University of Health Sciences The Chicago Medical School. http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/aspartame/aspartameh.html (October 17, 2012).
8. Alleva R., Borghi B., Santarelli L., Strafella E., Carbonari D., Bracci M., Tomasetti M., 2011. In vitro eddect of aspartame in angiogenesis induction. Toxicology in Virtro 25: 286-293. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0887233310002249 (October 13,2012).
9. Ramsland P.A., Movafagh, B.F., Reichlin M., Edmundsom A.B., 1999. Interference of rheumatoid factor activity by aspartame, a dipeptide methyl ester. J. Mol. Recognit. 12:249-257. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10777254 (October 13, 2012).
10. 2012. Aspartame conspiracy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy (October 19, 2012.)