As you relish that soft drink, energy boosters or even fruit flavored thirst-quenchers, you could be drinking slow poison without your knowledge. And this is so because many of us do not read warning messages at the bottom of the ingredient list, which is usually, given in barely readable print. If you see the words ‘contains aspartame’ or simply ‘contains phenylalanine’. That is a health warning.

The two chemicals are the principal ingredients in the synthetic sweetener used in most soft drinks. Aspartame is a compound of three components:
• Phenylalanine, 50 per cent
• Aspartic acid, 40 per cent
• Methanol, 10 per cent

Methanol, which many Kenyans are familiar with (after the notorious deaths from illicit drinks), is known to cause blindness and even death. Aspartame easily breaks down into the three components when it’s put into the liquids, stored for long periods or exposed to temperatures above 30 degrees centigrade

According to biochemical experts, the three chemicals break down further into formaldehyde, a well known nerve poison and cancer-causing agent; formic acid, a poison; and diketopiperazine, a brain tumor agent.

According to US institutes like the Mayo Clinic and the University of Maryland Center for Integrative medicine, people should consult their doctors before consuming foods or beverages containing aspartame or phenylalanine.

A strong correlation has also been established between aspartame and lymphomas-cancers of the lymphatic system. After aspartame degrades into formaldehyde, it blinds with and damages the DNA. Eventually, the DNA damage spurs cancer. The second by-product of aspartame degradation, aspartic acid makes the cancer mobilize and grow rapidly.

Thirty years ago, the National Soft Drinks Association of the United States, vigorously opposed the United States Food and Drug Administration when it banned aspartame as a sweetener in sodas arguing that aspartame in liquid form is unstable and easily breaks down into formaldehyde and formic acid, which are toxic to humans

In the USA babies are tested for phenylketonuria within the first month after birth. Its incidence is one to 15,000 live births. If the same ratio is applied to Kenya, with the current birth rate estimated at one million live births per year, only 66.66 babies with phenylketoria are born in Kenya per year. Although the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS) requires manufacturers of health products to label ingredients, it does not give specifications. “While the bureau states that labels should be legible, they do not define the font type, size or color on the label,” says James Kioko, director, metrology, testing and marketing surveillance.

Warning label on soft drinks bottles or cans are usually unreadable and small print, which exposes consumers to poisonous ingredients.