Excitotoxins

HOW MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, ASPARTAME (NUTRASWEET®), AND SIMILAR SUBSTANCES CAN CAUSE HARM TO THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES SUCH AS ALZHEIMER'S, LOU GEHRIG'S DISEASE (ALS) AND OTHERS.

The human brain is one of the most complex entities in the known universe. Within this three pound mass of jelly-like tissue there exist over ten billion nerve cells, billions more nerve pathways, and a million trillion connections. Often the brain is compared to a computer. But the organization of this remarkable organ is infinitely more complex than any computer system known. At best, it can be compared to a living computer.

Such a living computer would have to be able to change its circuits according to the problems to be solved, and, in addition, respond to thousands or even millions of outside influences. Plus, it must be able to protect itself from overloads, wear and tear, and even repair itself should injury result. It would have to learn to adapt in a span of milliseconds. But even more remarkable it must develop circuits that would make it capable of feeling. Not just rudimentary sensations, but be able to feel the deeper emotions of love, hate, wonder, compassion, jealousy, and all the other emotions that make us human. And it would have to have a curiosity about its own inner workings. This computer must be able to control the entire spectrum of the endocrine system, the immune system, and the circulatory system, and all the other systems of the body. Its feedback control systems must be exact, all the while computing a quadrillion other functions.

To fully understand all that we presently know about this remarkable organ would fill thousands of volumes. And what we still do not know about the brain would fill all the books in the Library of Congress. The purpose of this introductory chapter on the brain is to supply the reader with enough basic knowledge so that you will have a clearer understanding of the devastating effect of excitotoxins on this complicated organ.