“In high school I was a big diet soda drinker. In 1983 I became pregnant with conjoined twins, then gave birth to our son and 2 daughters. I drank lots of diet coke during pregnancy with all 3 children. Thinking white sugar was bad for children I pushed sugar-free drinks, Crystal Lite, ice tea with Equal, and sugar free gum to protect their teeth. By the age of about 6 my daughter was diagnosed with colitis, my son at 6 was diagnosed with severe esophogitus and my youngest daughter also developed many abdominal problems. We spent a great deal of time in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. My son had to have back surgery due to a spontaneous stress fracture and spondylolysis.
“We spent time at Mayo clinic, Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Univ of Pennsylvania Hospital trying to get answers. My son has been diagnosed with eosinophilic esophogitus (he is allergic to all food) and cyclic vomiting, but my daughters are still struggling with intermittent abdominal pain. During this entire time artificial sweeteners were given freely to the kids. Who knows how much aspartame has played a part in their health but they were each born healthy and as the years past there health continued to deteriorate. Both of my oldest children have missed years of school and had to be on home education. Of course now, none of the children use artificial sweeteners but they have been on them for a lifetime. They have not experienced the improvements that I have but we are hopeful.” Kim Evans