<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

On 22 Jul 1995 John & Di Bohmer wrote:

>                                      we thought we would ask
>if anyone has heard whether McDonalds soft serve ice cream is
>Gluten Free. ....
>        (We need to know as our 20mth old daughter kills for
>this pleasure...) ALSO, if anyone knows same for the caramel
>colouring in Diet Coke &/or Schweppes Diet Cola we would be
>most interested to hear from you...

It seemed to me after reading this post that the diet soda question was also
for their 20mth old daughter. Knowing that the blood brain barrier is not
fully developed in infants, I asked a Net friend to write a guest post. Mark
has spent a lot of time studying aspartame and MSG.

He mentions below an enclosure. It is 15K and I excluded it from this
mailing list post. It is a description of aspartame's breakdown products and
I can easily e-mail it to anyone interested. (Please address request to me
and not to the list.)

Don <[log in to unmask]>

***************

Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 21:42:20 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Gold <[log in to unmask]>

Hi!

I couldn't too strongly recommend that your daughter avoid products
that contain aspartame.  While there is obviously more to health than
avoiding a single product, aspartame (NutraSweet) is one of the worst
products to give to young children.  Regularly spiking the plasma
levels of aspartate and phenylalanine (i.e., Stegink 1987,
"Metabolism", Volume 36, page 1073) can significantly affect the
brain and child development.

I have enclosed a quick & dirty description of aspartame's breakdown
products.  I have a short article on aspartame that I can send to
you.  I also have a longer article that discusses the science and
history if you are interested.

Best regards,
                               - Mark
                            [log in to unmask]


P.S. - Fruit-sweetened sodas (which can often be purchased at
       natural food stores) would be preferable snacks as opposed
       to aspartame or sugar/fructose-containing sodas.