There’s good news on our fight to take back control of our diet and our health. In two landmark news stories we see that New York and New Mexico are working to get known toxins out of our foods.

In New Mexico, eleven legislators have demanded that the previous government approval of Aspartame be withdrawn. They cite the fact that the sweetener is metabolized into methanol and formaldehyde and that when heated releases diketopiperazine, a chemical known to cause brain tumors.

In addition, they note that when Aspartame was originally developed it was approved as a biological weapon:

"It is unacceptable that a chemical considered in 1979 by the Pentagon for a biochemical warfare agent two years later be approved for adding to 6000 USA food products and more than 500 medications, including children's vitamins and aspirin."

The FDA’s own report from 1994 listed 92 symptoms that have been associated with Aspartame. Among these were breathing difficulties, depression, weight gain, vision loss, rapid heartbeat and hair loss. At the time of the report this chemical accounted for 75% of all adverse reactions that were reported to the Adverse Reaction Monitoring System! We can only hope that New Mexico’s demand is met.

In the meantime, New York is primed to become the first US city to can all but minute quantities of trans-fats from being used in its restaurants. The Board of Health agreed to the plans in late September which will require that no restaurant food contain more than ½ gram of the fats.

Trans fats (aka partially hydrogenated oils) have been causing concern among those in the health field due to their contribution to heart disease and high cholesterol. New York’s 24,000 restaurants will have until July to comply with the new standards.

With our growing knowledge of nutrition and wellness, it is vital that more cities follow suit and begin to demand that known toxins such as aspartame and trans-fats be removed from our foods.  Our health and vitality depends on our regaining control of what we consume and what we allow companies to put in our foods.