We have a daughter – Laura born 15/06/94 so she is nearly 3 now.
In October 96 we weaned Laura off baby fruit juices onto the more everyday sort of fruit squashes e.g. Ribena. We were very aware of the high sugar content of many of these squashes with the link this has to dental health problems. We saw juices in the supermarket labeled “No Added Sugar” and thought this seemed to be an answer to the problem fruit juice and no excess sugar to trigger dental problems.
In late December 96 Laura developed a rash, particularly on her extremities and lower abdomen; her hands were very badly affected.
We took her to our local GP and this resulted in a diagnosis of eczema; the Doctor prescribed an application of topical cream, and recommended taking Laura off dairy milk onto Soya Milk. Laura drinks little milk anyhow so that seemed a strange diagnosis we were unhappy with this and decided to look further into possible causes.
The condition became more advanced and a further visit to the GP saw us with a different topical cream and reassurance that it was indeed eczema.
Around that time I subscribed to an Internet provider but due to PC limitations only used the service to access e-mail. One night I was reading an e-mail from a fellow member of the local Friends of The Earth group in which he sent me details of Mission Possible and Aspartame. As I read I saw similarities with the problem we encountered with Laura, I looked at the label on our “No Added Sugar” concentrate and sure enough found Aspartame on its list of contents. Taking Laura off the substance, saw the rash has all but gone within 14 days, but for the first 5 or so days, (Aspartame free) she was like someone in withdrawal, aggressive and craving the substance.
I passed this information to our GP practice and the local newspaper, the former simply added it to Laura’s case notes and the newspaper is treating it as too hot to touch. I sent the case history to the Times and Independent neither followed it up.
We are convinced that Aspartame is the trigger for Laura’s problems, we suspect it is in children’s toothpaste – unlabeled and many other products e.g. low fat yoghurts and Tesco’s Clear Apple Juice.
Consumption of both resulted in an almost instant rash and return of behavioral problems.