I have always been of the opinion that NutraSweet (as well as saccharin) has been allowed to stay on the market because the companies that make all this diet, sugar-free crapola (oops!) did not want to lose their business, nor do inveterate dieters and those on sugar-restricted diets want to lose their “easy” way to satisfy their sweet tooth.
Now, for the personal story. I was a Diet Coke fiend for many years. I could drink 2 liters a day, easy, never mind all the other stuff – diet pops, puddings, cookies, etc. When I was 26, I started having seizures, and was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. No evidence of head trauma, and the doctors could never give me an answer of where it came from. Medication helped, although the enormous amount of it I had to take was debilitating (every time I had another seizure, the neurologist upped my dosage). I was pretty much a potted plant at that point. I read an article (sorry, kids, I lost it years ago) and read in a book (Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book) about Aspartame’s connection to seizure activity.
I gave up Diet Coke and all other forms of NutraSweet then and there. Gradually my seizures decreased, and I weaned myself down from 1000 mgs a day to 400 of my medication, without my doctor’s okay (I know, I know, but the doctors dismissed my questions about Aspartame as silly, and I simply could not live the poor excuse for a life that 1000 mgs of Tegretol a day afforded me).
Coincidence? Maybe. But from 1000 mgs a day and at least one seizure a month, I take 400 and haven’t had a seizure in a year and a half (and it had been a year and a half, at least, before that one). I was frightened when I became pregnant about what the medication could do to the baby, but a seizure could have hurt him worse than the amount of medication. Luckily, he was perfect.
So that is the story of why I think Aspartame is bad for you. I’m not trying to run anyone’s life, just relating what happened to me. And yes, I gained some weight when I ditched NutraSweet. But for me, better that than seizures.