pharmaceutical industry is investing vast resources in the development of

May 31, 2006

FW from Steve Tvedten

" I consider it ironic, that the pharmaceutical industry is investing vast

resources in the development of glutamate receptor blockers to protect CNS

[central nervous system] neurons against glutamate neurotoxicity in common

neurological disorders, while at the same time the food industry, with the

blessing

of the FDA, continues to add great quantities of glutamate to the food

supply. "

-- C. Henneberry, Ph.D.

Director, Neuroscience Program

Conte Institute for Environmental Health

Alzheimer's: a neurodegenerative disease

There is an area of research for which the food industry, to date, has had

no comment, contradiction or excuse. These are studies, designed to identify

drugs with which to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and

Parkinson's disease -- diseases in which glutamic acid seems to play some

role.

Discovery that MSG caused lesions in specific areas of the brains of

laboratory animals and concomitant proliferation of neuroendocrine dysfunction

came

through interest in the brain. It was brain research that identified glutamic

acid as a possible, probable, and now certain neurotransmitter, transmitting

nerve impulses. Likewise, it was study of the brain that suggested that a

group of these neurotransmitters, specifically the excitatory amino acids

(EAA), possess properties that very likely play an important role in the

development of certain neurodegenerative diseases.(172, 229-236) Glutamic acid

and

aspartic acid are among the EAA that have great potential for involvement in

neuro-degenerative disease. Aspartame is approximately 40% aspartic acid.

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B.Olinsky, M.S.

Environmental Specialist

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