Neotame

Neotame is the latest addition to the stable of alien chemicals masquerading as sugar. This one is made by NutraSweet, a subsidiary of Monsanto, manufacturers of aspartame.. The compound is between 8,000 and 13,000 times sweeter than sugar and so can be used in very small concentrations, and so (unlike aspartame) is considered to be of no danger to those suffering from phenylketonuria.

Like aspartame, it is hydrolysed by esterases that are present throughout the body, producing de-esterified neotame and toxic methanol, but because only very small amounts of neotame are needed to sweeten foods, the amount of methanol derived from neotame is very small.

The main concern with neotame is the potential for gradual neurotoxic and immunotoxic damage from the combination of the formaldehyde metabolite (which is toxic at extremely low doses) and the excitotoxic amino acid. Even the manufacturer’s own one-day pre-approval studies of neotame revealed adverse reactions.

As usual, the general population is to be the guinea pig for a mass experiment on the toxicity of such alien molecules with no purpose other than profit for the makers, and the final toll on human health will probably not become clear for many years.