hedelmissä ja hedelmämehuissa on nuo metyyliryhmät pektiiniin sitoutuneena ja siten ne on harmittomia ihmiselle. lisäksi niissä on suojaavia aineita kuten etanoli. jos näin ei olisi, olisi tomaatit ja omenat kai tappavaa myrkkyä.
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/methanol.html
"Methanol from aspartame is released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounters the enzyme chymotrypsin (Stegink 1984, page 143). A relatively small amount of aspartame (e.g., one can of soda ingested by a child) can significantly increase plasma methanol levels (Davoli 1986a)."
"Methanol and Fruit/Tomatos: Convince the World That a Poison is "Natural"
Monsanto/NutraSweet's all time favorite aspartame fairy tale is:
"In addition, exposure to methanol from many fruits, vegetables, and juices in the normal diet is several times greater than that from beverages sweetened with APM [aspartame]." (Butchko 1991)
This statement from NutraSweet scientists has been repeated countless times (AMA 1985, FDA 1984, Hertelendy 1993, Lajtha 1994, Monsanto 1999, Nelson 1996, Stegink 1981, Stegink 1983, Yost 1989, etc.). This is very convincing ... but deceptive and irrelevant!
It is well known that alcoholic beverages such a wine contain a large amount of ethanol, a protective factor which prevents methanol poisoning by preventing the conversion of methanol to the highly toxic formaldehyde (Leaf 1952, Liesivuori 1991, Roe 1982). Because alcoholic beverages contain protective factors which prevent chronic poisoning from methanol metabolites (formaldehyde, formate), comparisons between the methanol derived from aspartame and the methanol derived from alcoholic beverages are inappropriate.
Clinical reports and a small number of epidemiological studies appear to demonstrate that prolonged exposure to methanol air concentrations (in the workplace) of > 260 mg/m3 (200 ppm) can cause chronic methanol toxicity (Kavet 1990, Frederick 1984, Kingsley 1954-55). The weekly amount of methanol absorbed from a 260 mg/m3 workday exposure is (formula in Kavet 1990):
(260 mg/m3 * 6.67 m3/workday * 5 workdays * 60% absorption rate) / 70 kg adult
= 75 mg/kg weekly methanol
Note: While this seems like a high weekly methanol dose, please keep in mind that 1) much lower levels may cause toxicity in some individuals; and 2) that aspartame breaks down into an excitotoxin which will likely enhance the toxicity of methanol metabolites as described above.
However, the ingestion of a moderate amount of apples or oranges (or juice equivalent) per week leads to a similar exposure to methanol (Lindinger 1997):
(750 mg methanol (1.5 kg fruit) * 7 days) / 70 kg adult
= 74 mg/kg weekly methanol
Keep in mind that tomatoes may have more than five times the amount of methanol as that found in oranges (Kazeniac 1970, Nisperos-Carriedo 1990), so exposure to regular ingestion of tomatoes and tomato juice may produce very large amounts of methanol.
Lindinger (1997) points out that the amount of methanol released in the human body from a few apples or oranges is equivalent to:
"...0.3 liters of brandy (40% ethanol) containing 0.5% of methanol (compared with ethanol), which would qualify as significantly methanol-contaminated liquor."
Because of the high amounts of methanol in fruits/tomatoes, enough that would clearly cause chronic methanol poisoning, these foods must contain protective factors (as does alcoholic beverages). If they did not contain protective factors, we would be seeing widespread methanol poisoning for persons who ingestion fruits and tomatoes regularly.
The manufacturer showed that the protective factor in fruits cannot be ethanol by itself (Sturtevant 1985), but there are a myriad of chemicals in fruits which might serve as protective factors.
What did industry scientists know or should have known?
They knew that alcoholic beverages contain protective factors which prevent chronic methanol poisoning (Sturtevant 1985).
Because industry scientists regularly announced that certain fruits contain extremely high levels of methanol, they should have taken the time to find out that fruits have protective factors which help prevent chronic poisoning from methanol metabolites.
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Avoiding the Discussion of Chronic Methanol Toxicity
A number of Monsanto/NutraSweet public relations statements as well as statements from government officials imply that the amount of methanol obtained from aspartame is not toxic:
"From estimates based on blood levels in methanol poisonings, it appears that the ingestion of methanol on the order of 200 to 500 mg/kg body weight is required to produce a significant accumulation of formate in the blood which may produce visual and central nervous system toxicity" (Federal Register 1984)
Lajtha (1994) claimed that "blood methanol concentrations greater than 200 to 100 mg/L are required for clinical neurotoxicity or for measurable formate formation." Non-scientists on the Internet often make similar claims. Shahangian (1984) claimed that the amount of formate (methanol and formaldehyde metabolite) is not enough to cause toxicity.
This sounds very convincing until one realizes that the doses they are refering to are the single doses required for death or near death in humans! Monsanto/NutraSweet and persons promoting aspartame will avoiding discussing chronic, low-level methanol or formaldehyde poisoning because once this issue is raised it becomes apparent that the manufacturer did not conduct or even cite any legitimate studies on chronic, low-level methanol exposure in humans!
Only on very rare occassion will the manufacturer mention chronic methanol toxicity (Nelson 1996, Sturtevant 1985). When they do this, they always cite a study of infant monkeys (a species closely related to rhesus monkeys) (Reynolds 1984). A dose of 3,000 mg/kg of aspartame was given to the monkeys for nine months. This amounts to a daily methanol dose of 300 mg/kg -- a huge dose.
What Monsanto/NutraSweet fails to mention is 300 mg/kg of methanol has been estimated as the minimum single dose which can cause death in humans (Kavet 1991). If such a study were conducted on humans, nine months of daily ingestion of the minimum lethal single dose of methanol would clearly kill everyone in the study!. As pointed out by Roe (1982), methanol is significantly more toxic in humans than in monkeys or rodents. It is important to note that the free-form excitotoxin derived from aspartame and which will likely increase the formaldehyde/formate damage from aspartame, appears to be approximately twenty times more toxic in humans than in monkeys due to differences in excitotoxin metabolism (Olney 1988, Stegink 1979, page 90).
What did industry scientists know or should have known?
They knew that there was never a controlled, long-term study of methanol exposure in humans. Given that the manufacturer was expecting to dose the human population with aspartame for a lifetime and even generations, some might consider it criminal to sell a poison under these circumstances.
They should have known that an excitotoxin will likely increase the toxicity of the formaldehyde/formate based upon the way these chemicals produce cell damage and cell death. At the very least, the manufacturer should have exhausted all reasonable possibilities of synergistic reactions as opposed to using flawed research and flawed logic to explain away the countless cases of aspartame poisoning."