I have had severe adverse reactions to aspartame including but not limited to dizziness, vomiting, memory loss, severe migraine headaches and weight gain. I began experiencing these only 10 months after starting to consume diet soda drinks on a regular basis. It became clearly evident as these reactions became more severe, that the cause was aspartame. I worked at a convenience store that served up employees free diet fountain drinks and slushs. I began to notice when I wasn’t at work and I drank no diet drinks that the symptoms would ease off. I was curious and so I went on the internet and found a few articles dissing aspartame. I stopped taking anything with aspartame and all the symptoms cleared up. I know for a fact that it was the aspartame because I replaced diet with regular drinks (I love my cola). I didn’t have any adverse effects when drinking non-diet drinks in the same quantity. Also, whenever I am at a friends and all they have is diet, I will take one, only to suffer later. I decided not to take any more diet pop even if it is the only thing available and just drink water, juice, or coffee/tea. What I can’t understand is why they are still using aspartame when there are so many complaints about it and there are so many alternate and perhaps safer diet sweeteners on the market now (like DiabetiSweet, Erythritol, SPLENDA, and Stevia Sugar)? Some don’t even have the aftertaste associated with Aspartame. The reason is that it is cheaper, so it all boils down to company profit at the expence of consumer’s health.
Another story is that of my grandson. Any cough syrup or drink sweetened with aspartame makes him gag and vomit. Makes you wonder about what this additive is really doing to our children. Why are there so many kids now with A.D.D. and other learning disabilities, more than ever before? “You are what you eat”, that old saying really makes me wonder if the food industry hasn’t been slowly poisoning our children over the years with all their untested food additives. Scary thought.
I sent this info to several companies who were using Aspartame at the time (7 years ago now). They either didn’t respond or sent some form letter pointing me to a website that was pro-aspartame. Back then, the pro sites outnumbered the cons, and they were usually on the top of the search engine list. Now I am glad to see that the reverse is true, and that there are allot more con sites. Perhaps one day the companies that use Aspartame and other questionable food additives (like M.S.G.) will take heed and actually do the right thing for their customers and stop using these dangerous food additives. Some companies now even point out that their products are “Aspartame free”, so I guess there are responsible companies out there that are taking heed to all the negative publicity.
I notice there are those who are responding negatively, and say that Aspartame hasn’t affected them. I guess that is all well and good and if they want to continue taking Aspartame it’s their business, but to diss someone just because they have had a bad experience with Aspartame and blatantly ignore overwhelming evidence against the use of this substance is totally childish and irresponsible. You may have not had any ill effect YET from using Aspartame, but that doesn’t mean you won’t. Everyone has different tolerances to different substances. For example, I can put my hands in a corrosive substance and have no ill effect, whereas my wife breaks out in a skin rash. I have thicker skin is all. If I left my hand in long enough, I would eventually experience discomfort. So keep on taking Aspartame and drink a half – gallon of diet pop every day and get back to me in a year or two with YOUR story about the evils of Aspartame (you will definitely have one if your intake is that high). compumedic@interbaun.com