Since I am new to this forum, please forgive me if I am dredging up a topic that has been talked to death. However, I would like to share some observations and warnings about the effects of Aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal).
Over the past 10 years I have read quite a lot from people complaining about various harmful effects of Aspartame, but I have not heard any reports of a particular set of symptoms that my wife has been observing in her clients.
My wife is a clinical psychologist. About 10 years ago she began to drink NutraSweet sweetened soft drinks herself. One day she was talking to her secretary and the secretary commented that since she (the secretary) had started drinking diet drinks she noticed that she was making more typing errors and had become more forgetful. This immediately rang a bell with my wife, because she had observed some of the same effects in herself but had not related it to the diet drinks.
Recognizing that her secretary was a very observant person, my wife carefully interviewed her and compared her complaints with what she was observing in herself. The following are the primary symptoms:
- Headaches — Usually described as a dull throbbing. Over the counter pain relievers seem to have little effect.
- Dizziness — Especially when standing up rapidly.
- Forgetfulness — This only affects short- to moderate-term memory, not long term. For example, you are not going to forget your mother’s maiden name, but you are more likely to forget that I just told you we have a meeting scheduled at 10:00. Basically, it seems to affect the transference of information from the immediate holding memory area into the medium term holding area.
- Irritation — This is usually not a dramatic effect, but the Aspartame seems to make some people more irritable and short tempered. Some people report that they can observe themselves becoming irritated and realize that they shouldn’t, but they can’t stop it.
- Motor skill impairment — This is the effect her secretary observed regarding the deterioration of her typing skills. A smaller number of people report clumsiness such as bumping themselves and dropping things.
- Word selection problems — It is difficult to find the right words to express a thought.
When my wife and her secretary compared symptoms, they found that they had these in common. Naturally, they both stopped drinking diet drinks immediately to see if the effects were due to the drinks. What they both found is that the symptoms _gradually_ went away. However, it took two to four weeks without Aspartame for all of the effects to cease.
Since observing this, my wife has begun to look for it in her clients and has been able to help a good number over the years by urging them to give up Aspartame sweetened drinks. She identifies Aspartame symptoms in 5% to 10% of her clients.
My wife and I suspect that a fair number of people who drink Aspartame sweetened drinks suffer from some or all of these symptoms. However, it is likely that individual susceptibility varies greatly. The symptoms are fairly subtle and come on gradually, making it difficult to connect with the diet drink. Also, the symptoms persist for several weeks after an individual stops the intake, so a brief test would not necessarily demonstrate an improvement.
What is really scary to us is how these symptoms would affect children. Imagine what memory transference problems would do to a child in school. Imagine what increased irritability would do to a child who is already having problems coping with difficult situations. And NutraSweet is getting hard to avoid. Not only is it in diet drinks, but it is now in breakfast cereal, ice cream, and chewing gum. I was in a restaurant a day ago that had NutraSweet sweetened pies!
Anyone who is experiencing any of these symptoms is urged to totally cease consuming Aspartame for a minimum of four weeks to see if the symptoms are Aspartame related.