NutraSweet is anything BUT natural. In addition to potentially causing headaches it can also induce asthma attacks along with a host of other problems. Also, it really hasn’t been studied for “long term” effects. I was having headaches which ceased once I stopped using it.
There is a natural herbal sweetener that is not derived from sugar called Stevia. It has zero calories and no chemicals. Stevia is under scrutiny by the FDA for safety although it has been used in Europe for many years.
From the articles I’ve read it would appear that NutraSweet was very expensive to develop. As you know, you cannot patent an herb and so Stevia is a huge threat to the makers of NutraSweet and they will do anything and everything to prevent the product from being developed into an over-the-counter sweetener (including lobbying the FDA to disallow the distribution of the herb). Right now in the USA you can buy Stevia at the health food store but the label may not contain any information of product use as a sweetener.