Susan Yarmey, a free-lance writer from Quincy, Mass., awoke on a hot July morning in 1984 with a large bump on her head and bruises all over her body.
“I had no recollection of what happened. There were marks on the wall, two wooden steps were broken and there was a nice gash on the wall where my head hit,” she said.
Yarmey’s doctors diagnosed her injuries as resulting from a “classic” epileptic seizure. She and Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscientist Richard Wurtman believe the incident may be connected to her consumption of the artificial sweetener, NutraSweet, know generically as aspartame.
“A friend in New York directed me to the possible effects of NutraSweet consumption…I was probably, at that particular time period, doing a liter and a half to two liters (of diet soda with NutraSweet) a day,” said Yarmey, who said when she stopped taking NutraSweet her problems disappeared.
Yarmey is not alone. Many NutraSweet consumers, particularly heavy users, who have suffered headaches, tremors, blindness, allergic reactions and seizures, blame NutraSweet for their ailments.
Wurtman says he personally is aware of more than 200 cases in which he suspects NutraSweet has caused health problems such as headaches, dizziness, and seizures.
Wurtman says the problem might be solved simply by stiffening the labeling requirements for NutraSweet products so that certain identified groups can monitor their intake.
“The groups I would identify are pregnant ladies, small children, people with a history of seizures and people who are taking certain drugs that interact with phenylalanine,” an amino acid in the sweetener, Wurtman said. Reported by Gregory Gordon, UPI Investigative Reporter