The Safety of Aspartame
New York Times, editorial 21 February 2006

"... new alarm was raised by a large study in laboratory rats conducted at the European Ramazzine Foundation in Italy. The study found a statistically significant increase in lymphomas, leukemias and other cancers in rats that were fed aspartame for a lifetime and compared with rats that were not. Excess cancers were found even in rats fed doses equal to 20 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, well below the 50 milligram level currently deemed acceptable for humans in the United States.

[recall here the item in January's newsletter: "Combining food additives may be harmful, say researchers" (Guardian, 21 Dec 2005 )

"Researchers at the University of Liverpool ... reported that when mouse nerve cells were exposed to MSG and brilliant blue or aspartaine (Nutrasweet) and quinoline yellow in laboratory conditions, combined in concentrations that theoretically reflect the compound that enters the bloodstream after a typical children's snack and drink, the additives stopped the nerve cells growing and interfered with proper signaling systems. The mixtures of the additives had a much more potent effect on nerve cells that each additive on its own." ...
"... 'The results indicate that both combinations are potentially more toxic than might be predicted from the sum of their individual compounds,' "]

Wireless Frequencies as Pollution
from an article by Adria Vasil, Now 9-15 March 2006, "Wi-Fi's electric shock".

"According to stats from sweden and Briton, about 2 or 3 percent of the population suffers from potentially debilitating electro-hypersensitivity, or EHS. Symptoms are all over the map and include nausea, headache, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, tinnitus and rashes, to name a few." (I think that this list includes all the most common symptoms.)
   "Researchers also say that many more, over a third of us, are a little electro-sensitive and just don't know it, blaming restless nights (etc. While I agree with the opinion of these researchers, the author here is again a little misleading. It is some researchers, the researchers that he is quoting, not "researchers" in general. Sorry to be picky/pedantic.) ...
    A professor of environmental science at Trent, Magda Havas, found... "her work with people with MS, diabetes and other illnesses documents how many found their symptoms improved when their environments were electrically cleaned, so to speak, by placing capacitors (filters) throughout the homes. ...
     "A report by Britain's Health Protection Agency's radiation division last fall was publicly smeared by the Department of Health there for suggesting that those with EHS stay away from electrical appliances. ..."

"Studies suggest B Vitamins Don't Prevent Heart Attack"
New York Times, 13 March 2006

Actually, we are talking folic acid, B12 and B6 here. This combination of vitamins reduces blood levels of homocysteine. High blood levels of homocysteine correlate with the incidence of heart attack (it is a "risk factor). However, recent studies showed "no clinical benefit of the use of folic acid and vitamin B12 (with or without vitamin B6) in patients with established vascular disease."

Homocysteine is an amino acid, but is is not found in proteins. It is an intermediary substance in the transition of the two sulphur containing amino acids, methionine and cysteine, when the body changes the one into the other. "Homocysteine is a variant of the amino acid cysteine, differing in that its side-chain contains an additional methylene (-CH2-) group before the thiol (-SH) group.Homocysteine is formed from S-adenosyl methionine by a two step reaction pathway. It can be converted back to methionine, or converted to cysteine or taurine via the transsulfuration pathway." (source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homocysteine)