Artificial Sweeteners and Their Serious Side Effects

| Modified on Jan 05, 2023
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Equal and NutraSweet (Aspartame) and Splenda (sucralose) are used as artificial sweeteners in thousands of products, often without our knowledge. If the label says "Sugar-free" or something similar, buy something else. Government and drug company studies report that artificial sweeteners are safe.

On the other hand, there are adverse reports of the side effects of artificial sweeteners from across the globe.

Many people may be 'allergic' to artificial sweeteners since some suffer severe side effects and others do not. If someone does not want to sweeten with sugar or honey, stevia is a safe substitute. Avoiding artificial sweeteners is another reason to avoid processed foods since many contain Aspartame or sucralose.

Most chewing gum contains Aspartame; children, especially, should not be allowed to chew this gum.

Reported Side Effects of Aspartame and Other Artificial Sweeteners

  • Herpes outbreaks, genital and oral, have been reported to occur within 20 minutes.
  • Congenital disabilities
  • Blurred vision
  • Gastrointestinal problems
  • Lupus
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Escalation of Alzheimer's Disease
  • Seizures, dizziness, and migraines
  • Problems with blood sugar increases
  • Weight gain

Conclusion

Each person is unique. The Mayo Clinic reports, "Allergies occur when your immune system reacts to a foreign substance..." 1

Artificial sweeteners certainly qualify as a 'foreign substance.' Allergic reactions range from mild (sneezing and sniffles) to severe (anaphylactic shock, inability to breathe, and death). Some allergic reactions occur very quickly; others get stronger over time with each additional exposure.

Continue reading below to see our extensive feedback from readers who have experienced serious side effects from artificial sweeteners like Aspartame.

Sources

1. Mayo Clinic Staff. Allergies. 1/29/13.

Related Links:

How to Detox From Aspartame and Other Artificial Sweeteners


The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.

Aspartame Articles

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Posted by Carly (Usa ) on 01/15/2014

Here is a really interesting link to read about aspartame. It is hard to believe there are still people out there saying it is safe to ingest! http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/jan03/012203/02p-0317_emc-000199.txt


Aspartame Articles
Posted by Susan (USA)

ASPARTAME POISONING
Below is an article on aspartame poisoning that's been floating around the internet for years now. We think you'll find it extremely informative.

------
From: [email protected]
Date: Sunday, December 13, 1998 7:54 AM
Subject: Could be very important information on our health...

Sent to PLANETNEWS: WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE and the MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS FOUNDATION F.D.A. ISSUING FOR COLLUSION WITH MONSANTO

An article written by Nancy Markle (1120197)

"I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on ASPARTAME marketed as 'NutraSweet', 'Equal', and 'Spoonful'. In the keynote address by the EPA, they announced that there was an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus, and they did not understand what toxin was causing this to be rampant across the United States. I explained that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject.

* When the temperature of Aspartame exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME coverts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. (Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants). The methanol toxicity mimics multiple sclerosis; thus people were being diagnosed with having multiple sclerosis in error. The multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, where methanol toxicity is.

* In the case of systemic lupus, we are finding it has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially among Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. Also, with methanol toxicity, victims usually drink three to four 12 oz. cans of them per day, some even more. In the cases of systemic lupus, which is triggered by ASPARTAME, the victim usually does not know that the ASPARTAME is the culprit. The victim continues its use, aggravating the lupus to such a degree that sometimes it becomes life-threatening. When we get people off the ASPARTAME, those with systemic lupus usually become asymptomatic. Unfortunately, we cannot reverse this disease.

* On the other hand, in the case of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, (when in reality, the disease is methanol toxicity), most of the symptoms disappear. We have seen cases where their vision has returned and even their hearing has returned. This also applies to cases of tinnitus.

* During a lecture, I said, "If you are using ASPARTAME (NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc.) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss - you probably have ASPARTAME DISEASE!" People were jumping up during the lecture saying, "I've got this, is it reversible?" Some of the speakers at my lecture even were suffering from these symptoms. In one lecture attended by the Ambassador of Uganda, he told us that their sugar industry is adding ASPARTAME to the sugar! He continued by saying that one of the industry leader's son could no longer walk - due in part to product usage!

* We have a very serious problem. Even a stranger came up to Dr. Escapist (one of my speakers) and myself and said, 'Could you tell me why so many people seem to be coming down with MS?' During a visit to a hospice, a nurse said that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence.

* Here is the problem. There were Congressional Hearings when ASPARTAME was included in 100 different products. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, but to no avail. Nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets. Now there are over 5,000 products containing this chemical, and the PATENT HAS EXPIRED!!!!! At the time of this first hearing, people were going blind. The methanol in the ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde in the retina of the eye. Formaldehyde is grouped in the same class of drugs as cyanide and arsenic - DEADLY POISONS!!! Unfortunately, it just takes longer to quietly kill, but it is killing people and causing all kinds of neurological problems.

* ASPARTAME changes the brain's chemistry. It is the reason for severe seizures. This drug changes the dopamine level in the brain. Imagine what this drug does to patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease. This drug also causes Birth Defects.

* There is absolutely no reason to take this product. It is NOT A DIET PRODUCT!!! The Congressional record said, "It makes you crave carbohydrates and will make you FAT". Dr. Roberts stated that when he got patients off aspartame, their average weight loss was 19 pounds per person. The formaldehyde stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs.

* Aspartame is especially deadly for diabetics. All physicians know what wood alcohol will do to a diabetic. We find that physicians believe that they have patients with retinopathy, when in fact, it is caused by the poison. ASPARTAME keeps the blood sugar level out of control, causing many patients to go into a coma. Unfortunately, many have died.

* People were telling us at the Conference of the American College of Physicians, that they had relatives that switched from saccharin to an ASPARTAME product and how that relative had eventually gone into a coma. Their physicians could not get the blood sugar levels under control. Thus, the patients suffered acute memory loss and eventually coma and death. Memory loss is due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are neurotoxic without the other amino acids found in protein. Thus it goes past the blood brain barrier and deteriorates the neurons of the brain.

* Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon, said, "The ingredients stimulates the neurons of the brain to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees. Dr. Blaylock has written a book entitled "EXCITOTOXINS: THE TASTE THAT KILLS."

* Dr. H.J. Roberts, diabetic specialist and world expert on aspartame poisoning, has also written a book entitled "DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE." Dr. Roberts tells how ASPARTAME POISONING is escalating Alzheimer's Disease, and indeed it is. As the hospice nurse told me, women are being admitted at 30 years of age with Alzheimer's Disease.

* Dr. Blaylock and Dr. Roberts will be writing a position paper with some case histories and will post it on the Internet. According to the Conference of the American College of Physicians, "We are talking about a plague of neurological diseases caused by this poison."

* Dr. Roberts realized what was happening when ASPARTAME was first marketed. He said "his diabetic patients presented memory loss, confusion, and severe vision loss". At the Conference of the American College of Physicians, doctors admitted that they did not know. They had wondered why seizures were rampant (the phenylalanine in ASPARTAME breaks down the seizure threshold and depletes serotonin, which causes manic depression, panic attacks, rage and violence).

* Just before the Conference, I received a FAX from Norway, asking for a possible antidote for this poison because they are experiencing so many problems in their country. This "poison" is now available in 90 PLUS countries worldwide. Fortunately, we had speakers and ambassadors at the Conference from different nations who have pledged their help. We ask that you help too. Print this article out and warn everyone you know. Take anything that contains aspartame back to the store. Take the "NO ASPARTAME TEST" and send us your case history.

* I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of ASPARTAME, knows how deadly it is. They fund the American Diabetes Association, American Dietetic Association, Congress, and the Conference of the American College of Physicians. The New York Times, on November 15, 1996, ran an article on how the American Dietetic Association takes money from the food industry to endorse their products. Therefore, they can not criticize any additives or tell about their link to MONSANTO. How bad is this? We told a mother who had a child on NutraSweet to get off the product. The child was having grand mal seizures every day. The mother called her physician, who called the ADA, who told the doctor not to take the child off NutraSweet. We are still trying to convince the mother that the ASPARTAME is causing the seizures. Every time we get someone off of ASPARTAME, the seizures stop. If the baby dies, you know whose fault it is, and what we are up against. There are 92 documented symptoms of ASPARTAME, from coma to death. The majority of them are all neurological, because the ASPARTAME destroys the nervous system.

* ASPARTAME DISEASE is partially the cause behind some of the mystery of the Dessert Storm health problems. The burning tongue and other problems discussed in over 60 cases can be directly related to the consumption of an ASPARTAME product. Several thousand pallets of diet drinks were shipped to the Dessert Storm troops. (Remember that heat can liberate the methanol from the aspartame at 86 degrees F). Diet drinks sat in the 120 degree. Arabian sun for weeks at a time on pallets. The service men and women drank them all day long. All of their symptoms are identical to ASPARTAME poisoning. Dr. Roberts says "consuming ASPARTAME at the time of conception can cause birth defects". The phenylalanine concentrates in the placenta, causing mental retardation, according to Dr. Louis Elsas, Pediatrician Professor - Genetics, at Emory University in his testimony before Congress.

* In the original lab tests, animals developed brain tumors (phenylalanine breaks down into DXP, a brain tumor agent). When Dr. Escapist was lecturing on ASPARTAME, one physician in the audience, a neurosurgeon, said, "when they remove brain tumors, they have found high levels of ASPARTAME in them".

* Stevia, a sweet food, NOT AN ADDITIVE, which helps in the metabolism of sugar, which would be ideal for diabetics, has now been approved as a dietary supplement by the FDA For years, the FDA has outlawed this sweet food because of their loyalty to MONSANTO.

* If it says "SUGAR FREE" on the label - DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!!! Senator Howard Hetzenbaum wrote a bill that would have warned all at risk pregnant mothers and children of the dangers of ASPARTAME. The bill would have also instituted independent studies on the problems existing in the population (seizures, changes in brain chemistry, changes in neurological and behavioral symptoms). It was killed by the powerful drug and chemical lobbies, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting public. Since the Conference of the American College of Physicians, we hope to have the help of some world leaders. Again, please help us too. There are a lot of people out there who must be warned, *please* let them know this information."

One reader's response to the above article:
5/2/2006: Nicole from Miami writes us, "While I believe that aspartame is unhealthy, publishing the "Nancy Markle" letter as some kind of substantiated report is beyond irresponsible. There is no Nancy Markle. No one has found her, ever. http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/aspartame.asp
Do right by your readers and publish facts supported by studies. Include footnotes and sources. Don't publish anectodal writings and emails, presenting them as facts."

---------------------------------

2/23/2007: Diane sent us the following link and excerpt from the FDA web site dated August of 2002:

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/02/Aug02/080102/98f-0052-her0001-vol5.txt

From: Betty Martini [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 11:25 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected]; Jaffe Lyle D Cc: info-anzfa.gov.au; annette.king-ministers.govt.nz; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Open Objection to approval of Neotame, Docket Number 98F-0052 abd 99 F - 0187, Request for Hearing. All studies on Neotame meaningless because they are based on aspartame which was never proven safe. Original statute of limitation defense voided by rebir

Dockets Management Branch HFA - 305 - Certified Mail Food and Drug Administration 5630 Fishers Lane Room 1061 Rockville, Maryland 20852

To Docket Management/FDA

A new legal case shows the US may recover 3 times its costs when a company's frauds on the FDA cost the taxpayers money. It is likely that frauds by aspartame producers have cost taxpayers billions of dollars. By lying to the FDA a chemical poison has been marketed in 100 countries creating one of the largest plagues in world history. We have epidemics of autism, ADD, Alzheimers, MS symptoms, lupus, diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, behavioral and psychiatric problems, sudden death, seizures, brain tumors, blindness, etc., all discussed and documented in Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic by H. J. Roberts, M.D., (www.sunsentpress.com).

During the approval process of aspartame on which Neotame is based the original manufacturer lied to FDA. One of the most famous neuroscientists on the planet , John Olney, M.D. did the studies on the excitotoxin aspartic acid, 40% of aspartame (literally stimulates the neurons of the brain to death - as written on the back cover of Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. ). He found that it caused lesions in the brains of mice. He told Searle but Searle didn't come clean to you - the FDA. Obviously, FDA would not want an excitotoxin on the market to destroy the brains of consumers? Right?

But the manufacturer continued lying and deceiving the FDA.

Transcript of Document Number 3 from Congressional Record, Voluntary Submission, Confidential Trade Secret Information (12/28/70). This document is psychomanipulation, how they would convince you that assumptions were true. But here is the last paragraph:

"With the spoon-for-spoon, we have no way of estimating maximum likely abuse and hence need to utilize data based on almost complete conversion to DKP. If we include this use in the original FAP, we stand a good chance of ending up with nothing in the short run and nothing in the long run whereas the other approach would give us something in the short run and quite likely as much as we would ever get in the long run. I think it becomes very important for us to start to get our sweetener into commercial channels as soon as possible to minimize the incentive that people now have to work on other sweeteners. Action in the US will tend to influence the outcome in other countries as well."

They concealed the almost complete conversion to DKP, the brain tumor agent because they knew you wouldn't approve it. Lies, lies and more lies.

FDA toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross said:

"Failure to report to the FDA all internal tumors present in the experimental rats, e.g. polyps in the uterus, ovary neoplasms as well as other lesions." (Gross 1987a, page 8).

"Animals which had died were sometimes recorded as being alive and vice versa.. These include approximately 20 instances of animals reported as dead and then reported as having vital signs normal again at subsequent observation periods." (Gross 1985, page S10835).

Wilson, l985 - Dr. Adrian Gross, FDA Toxicologist and Task Force Member:

"They (G. D. Searle) lied and they didn't submit the real nature of their observations because had they done that it is more than likely that a great number of these studies would have been rejected simply for adequacy. What Searle did, they took great pains to camouflage these shortcomings of the study. As I say filter and just present to the FDA what they wished the FDA to know and they did other terrible things for instance animals would develop tumors while they were under study. Well, they would remove these tumors from the animals."

Dr. Gross was not the only FDA toxicologist. There was Dr. Jacqueline Verrett who was also a member of the Task Force that investigated the authenticity of Searle's research. She believed the original aspartame studies were "built on a foundation of sand". (Testimony of Dr. Jacqueline Verrett, FDA Toxicologist before the U.S. Senate committee on Labor and Human Resources, regarding "NutraSweet Health and Safety Concerns." ( Nov 3, l987) . She testified the flawed tests conducted by Searle - used as the basis of FDA approval - were a "disaster" and should have been "thrown out". She said she believed the studies left many unanswered questions about possible birth defects and the safety of aspartame. She let it be known that the team was instructed not to be concerned with, or comment upon, the overall validity of the study. She said a subsequent review discarded or ignored the problems and deficiencies outlined by her team's original report. She said: "serious departures from acceptable toxicological protocols" that her investigative team noted in the reevaluation of these studies were also discounted. She warned that any of the improper practices would compromise and negate a safety study of a food additive. Verrett declared the data in the study was worthless, and the safety of aspartame and its breakdown products have therefore not been determined.

Dr. Verrett emphasized that aspartame is in the marketplace without basic toxicity information. She said there ware no data to assess the interactions with DKP, excess phenylalanine, other aspartame metabolites, additives, drugs or other chemicals. In her testimony, Verrett elaborated on DKP problems, including significant increases of uterine polyps and changes in blood cholesterol. DKP is formed when liquids in particular are presweetened with aspartame. The production of DKP is vulnerable to increase in temperature, and higher temperatures produce increasingly amounts of DKP. She reminded members of the Congressional Committee "that is why initially, aspartame was not intended or not planned to be used in liquids because of this decomposition.. it was decided it was too unstable to be used in hot preparations, hot liquids and also in diet drinks."

Dr. Richard Wurtman of MIT testified in congress in l985 how the phenylalanine in aspartame as an isolate is neurotoxic and goes directly into the brain. FDA knows that, of course, as it tried to remove it from all supplements during the era of the Dietary Supplement bill.

Title 18, Section 1001 of the Criminal Code which declares: "Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative or judicial branch of the Government of the United States , knowingly and willfully -

* (1) falsifies, conceal, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact: * (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; * (3) or makes or uses any false writing or document knowingly the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned.

FDA chief counsel Richard Merrill recommended to U.S. Attorney Sam Skinner a grand jury investigate Searle for "apparent violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act 21, USC 331 and the False Reports to the Government Act, 18 USC 1001, for their willful and knowingly failure to make reports to the FDA required by Act 21 USC 355 (i) and for concealing material facts and making false statements in reports of animal studies conducted to establish the safety of aspartame."

The manufacturer was powerful, and two U.S. Prosecutors were hired by the defense team and the statute of limitations expired. Aspartame was approved when Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes over-ruled the Board of Inquiry report of the FDA refusing approval.

Now they want a new patent. As Dr. Jeffrey Bada, a peptide chemist, told me when he first reviewed the formula of Neotame "they just scrambled the formula, same dangerous breakdown products," etc.

Monsanto Communications Director Nancy Nevin said about Neotame in l998: "Compositionally it begins with aspartame, but a simple enhancement to the dipeptide base of aspartame uniquely and markedly changes its sweetness. It is 40 times sweeter than aspartame." Monsanto's Nick Rosa in l998 also said that Neotame is "based on the aspartame formula".

Dr. H. J. Roberts who has declared Aspartame Disease to be a global plague and published the new medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, www.sunsentpress.com, wrote the Dockets Management Branch on March 3, l998 about Neotame saying:

"The timing and self-serving corporate interests of this petition are suggested by the fact that the patent on aspartame expired several years ago.

The approval of any analog of aspartame for human use MUST be challenged. In my opinion, there is already sufficient evidence for aspartame products to be withdrawn from the market as an "imminent public health hazard" NOW!"

He also said: "As a physician and citizen, I am appalled at the thought of American consumers being again subjected to an anticipated repeat of the aspartame fiasco" ......

Discussed even in the medical text on page 770 - 771 is: Neotame: Will History Repeat Itself?

"The Monsanto Company petitioned the FDA on January 23, 1999 to approve its high intensity sweetener, N-[N-(3.3-dimethybutyl)-L-a-aspartyl]-L-phenylalanine 1- methyl ester, as an all purpose sweetener and flavor enhancer. This analog of aspartame (on which the patent had expired), named Neotame, is 30-60 times sweeter than aspartame.

The author submitted detailed letters of professional opposition to such approval - dated March 3, 1998, February 25, 1999, and April 10, 1999 - pending additional data about the safety of this chemical in humans. He concluded with this opinion:

"I am a totally corporate-neutral physician, who is concerned about the ongoing exposure of the population to aspartame and numerous other chemicals that were approved without adequate long term studies by corporate-neutral investigators and politically neutral regulators. Let me repeat: I anticipate a public health tragedy if the aspartame problem is allowed to be repeated in the case of Neotame without these safeguards!"

Remarkably and coincidentally, my novel projecting a public health scenario caused by a fabricated analog of aspartame was published. It is titled, THE CACOF CONSPIRACY: LESSONS OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM (Sunshine Sentinel Press, 1999). When conceived a decade earlier, the author had no knowledge of Neotame."

All lies are reborn via this new application plus any new ones. Statute of limitation defense is voided by rebirthing this poison. Any studies on Neotame are meaningless because they are based on aspartame which was never proven safe!

Just imagine how much aspartame the government has bought. Equal even has the Presidential Seal. And think how much Diet Coke has been bought by the government.

The tax-payers are owed BILLIONS, and Title 18, Section 1001 is rings loudly.

Aspartame disease is now a global plague, and the medical text gives 20 years of experience with this deadly chemical poison being on the market, drug interaction, chemical hypersensitivity and the legal implications of mass poisoning the people. Dr. James Bowen wrote you 18 years ago that aspartame is mass poisoning of the American public and more than 70 countries of the world. (www.dorway.com). He has Lou Gehrigs just like many of those who served in the Persian Gulf and drank diet pop laced with aspartame, that also interacted with vaccine. Millions of babies have been murdered in their mother's womb. Aspartame support groups contain the comments from the outraged public who have been poisoned. Aspartame Detoxification Centers are now in America and Canada. Case histories are being collected for class action.

Enclosed are the documents that give the evidence the FDA was lied to and knows aspartame is a chemical poison. As you well know, it should never have been approved. Some of your documents t are on www.dorway.com And your Board of Inquiry report saying not to approve aspartame is on www.greatfallspro.com along with Dr. Olney's testimony to the Board of Inquiry and the l985 congressional record. You can purchase from Bob Flint (Mission Possible Maine) actual CD's of these documents. Read the horror stories at the Aspartame Toxicity Center, www.holisticmed.com/aspartame

All it takes is one drop of Neotame on the market and the statute of limitations is voided!

Betty Martini, Founder, Mission Possible International , 9270 River Club Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30097, www.dorway.com Deadline August 8, 2002 CC: ANZFA, European Union

Enclosures:

Dr. John Olney's Study on Aspartic Acid, 1970 Secret Trade Information Government Record Statements admitting manufacturer Lied to FDA"

-----------------------------------------

Here's another email that we received on aspartame perils.

Aspartame's extreme, and highly fatal carcinogenesis, Dr Jim Bowen

Carcinognesis! I am one of the only few "Nutra Sweet Dissidents" to ever see the first (original) pre-marketing Aspartame toxicity studies. It has to be strongly emphasized! These first studies were done at only 1/1000th the legally required Aspartame dosage levels. (And for only sixty days!) The law specifies that one hundred times the "greatest possible maximum human consumption" must always be used in pre-marketing testing of animals. This law is entirely conservative, because it only allows for only a ten fold species to species variation of effect, and only a ten fold variation of individual effect within a given species: In order to protect all humans who may ever ingest a given chemical! Only 3 cans of pop per day (level) scaled down the weight of each given animal species, was ever used, in spite of the thousands of ways Aspartame is presently dosed into us, even being "sneaked" in with yogurts, chewing gums, etc! (The FDA recently got a law enacted that "ASPARTAME" does not now even have to be at all mentioned on the product label itself!) The phenyl alanine isolate poisoning from Aspartame is exemplary of why this legally mandated testing standard, (even if followed,) is inadequate protection for human beings. PKU (phenylketonuria) is a human enzyme deficiency, leading to severe brain damage even if even a small amount of a balanced mix of proteins containing significant phenyl alanine content is consumed! Moreover, all the tested animals metabolize phenyl alanine outside the brain, while the human being metabolizes it inside the brain, and at its brain enzyme sites, with extreme damages resulting, (even in non PKU "normal" humans) from the bolus of Phenyl alanine isolate obtained from a single can of Aspartame pop! Both concepts are inadequate in the case of Aspartame because: 1. Aspartame is a highly synergized methyl alcohol poisoning, and all the test animals used have the proper enzyme channels to harmlessly break down methanol without processing it through the Methanol>formaldehyde>formic acid>carbon monoxide toxic axis. This entire toxic axis is the only way methanol, from Aspartame, can be at all metabolized in humans. The "hangover" after drinking alcoholic beverages, (which contain only small traces of methanol,) is a small example of this toxicity, (even though the ethyl alcohol itself, is a specific, and the most highly effective antidote known, for methyl alcohol toxicity.) "Excitotoxins" also markedly increase the severity of their poisonings, as the two indicated factors of greater molecule size, and other incorporated toxic chemistries increase in their molecular makeup! Moreover in methyl esters like Aspartame, the larger the ester, and the more highly toxic its other components, the far worse will be the poisoning from each methyl ester. Aspartame maximizes these two extreme toxicities! 2. Because the Aspartic acid is a dicarboxylic amino acid, (and therefore a powerful neural excitoxin!) Aspartame then will also form its own diketopiperazine entity while sitting in solution, or even while being digested. This DKP form is an extremely far more highly chemically reactive, and an even far greater and stronger polymerization agent, than the parent chemical in every case. DKPs therefore, are the major substrate class used in synthesizing plastics! The DKP form of Aspartame was (in even that minuscule dose, and for only 60 days) found to be number one chemical ever identified to cause brain cancers in rats! (Even when the other chemicals tested were used at maximal dosages, and over lifetime test periods, in the animals tested.) Just 1/1000th the legally mandated dose of Aspartame, ingested for only 60 days, caused the highest incidence of brain tumor in rats, that any chemical ever tested at any dose, ever caused! The Aspartame "dicarboxlic amino acid neural excito toxicity" is also molecularly maximized, when given the two factors mentioned above, (which also maximize the methyl alcohol toxic axis toxicity.) Medically well known examples of the extreme damage from these two factors and chemical classes, are "Guam Parkinson disease," and "Prince Edward Island shell fish: Domoic Acid" poisoning, both of which have caused extreme neurological disease epidemics in Guam (And all around the World's Oceans), and Prince Edward Island, with lifelong neural sequelae, and also additional disease generations, occurring in those epidemic's victims!( Just as Aspartame also always does!) For a clearer presentation of the even greater picture of Aspartame's extreme toxicity, Plz get Ch 7 of "Sweet Mystery in The Present Darkness: What Ever Happened to We Scientists Who First Spoke Out Against Aspartame?" from wnho.net, www.aspartame.ca, or dorway! (It is freely available, for free!) Billions of Victims"is also "free" on those sites! While I was driving cab in Denver: Upon hearing this, one of my fares screamed out: "Doc! You are sure right! Within a year of the time we started drinking Aspartame pop, three of my immediate family members experienced brain tumors, even though there had never before even been a single brain tumor in our entire known family tree. Moreover, all three then were dead within the year following, in spite of all which medicine, surgery, and radiation had to offer them!" (This is because Aspartame so damages and defocus es the entire immune system!) The first six months after they put "Nutra Sweet" into our "diet" pop and soft drinks, the US brain cancer occurrence rate jumped 10%, and the US diabetes "new case" rate 30%! In those first low dose Aspartame: FDA pre-marketing studies the infant monkeys ONLY showed up with a 100% incidence of Grand Maul epilepsy! Those human subjects then tested at only "three cans of Aspartame pop" level per day for just sixty days, also showed an immediate 250% increase of "all physical complaint" incidence. Two of the sixty people used as Aspartame test subjects, then immediately developed highly malignant cancers: One Breast carcinoma, and One Bone sarcoma. Both test subjects were dead within the year following, in spite of all which medicine, surgery and radiation had to offer them! The Food and Drug Death Association (FDA) comment: "Well, that's all just insignificant!" When they then went ahead and marketed Aspartame under the influence of Reagan, Rumsfeld, and Dr Arthur Hull Hayes!(Hayes refused, but was, at that time, BLACKMAILED into approving Aspartame, by godfather Rumsfeld!) These names, along with the Bushes, who are the primal New World Order force, amongst all this human "Aspartame devastation" should live in Infamy!

Sincerely, James D. Bowen MD

Replied by Dietdude
(Hollywood, Ca)
03/08/2012

It's a little difficult to take an article seriously that is screaming bloody murder about a sweetener that is consumed on a daily basis by MILLIONS of people with no noticeable side effects. While I agree some people clearly have a reaction to Aspartame, I've been drinking diet cola since I was 11 (I'm now 37) in quantities you wouldn't believe and I've never noticed ANY of the side effects listed in this raving and ranting article. My IQ is at least 138 and somehow I managed to get my honors degree in engineering without my brain exploding due to Asparatame "destroying my neurosystem".

Honestly, I think you'd have more luck convincing people about the potential dangers of artificial sweeteners if you toned it down a bit instead of telling people they're going to die if they continue to drink Diet Coke or Pepsi. It's not doing your argument any good. I know I quit reading halfway through it. It's just too much for someone that drinks the stuff daily with no noticeable side effects to even remotely start to buy into. I'm sure there have been some people that have had bad reactions to it, but a LOT of people have died from eating peanuts. That doesn't make all peanuts bad.

Worse yet, you lump ALL sweeteners into this argument. Sucralose is so new, I haven't seen any reliable studies on it yet. Saccharin was NEVER proven to cause cancer in anything but a rat (I've used it in tea products since I was about 5 and again no noticeable effects) and that was only when the rat was fed 5x it's body weight in Saccharin. No human would ever take that much in and because it doesn't stay in the body, it's not addictive.

Finally, you overlook the most glaring horrible truth there is. The alternative (short of giving up anything sweet forever) is SUGAR. And sugar causes everything from obesity (and not indirectly by creating 'cravings for carbs'... Pure nonsense in my opinion as well; it keeps me from wanting more actual sugar) to diabetes over time by decreasing resistance to insulin in large quantities. Diabetes can kill you just as dead as any artificial sweetener and it's virtually guaranteed by middle age if you eat nothing but sweets your entire life (it also rots your teeth which no artificial sweetener does).

Replied by Timh
(Louisville, Ky, Usa)
03/09/2012
2048 posts

Dietdude, I agree on your stance. The natural health community needs to avoid subjective interpretations and emotional indulgences concerning "possible" food additives dangers. If we go too far in the careful direction we get labeled fanatics. But problems of objectivity remain; and they remain because, typically, physicians do not monitor or evaluate individual tendencies or proclivities, or symptoms in regards to the use of additives and "artificials". The medical/pharmaceutical industry keeps our symptoms in the category of "psychological" "allergies" and treats symptoms w/ prescription meds, while protecting the food industry. So we consumers are really in a jam; and the only safe course is individual awareness.

A few weeks ago I admitted myself in ER for extreme exhaustion and got billed as "good-to-go" but see family doc ASAP. I knew my condition had worsened from "chronic fatigue" to "extreme exhaustion" w/ rapid loss of muscle tissue, so I searched "wasting syndrome" and knew that my existing problems of detoxifying alcohols was the culprit. I had been using an herbal tincture extracted in alcohol and let it vaporize in fresh-brewed coffee for daily enemas. Evidently the short duration of steaming was not enough to rid the alcohol and I was suffering from metabolic acidosis. I discontinued the culprit and recovered quite rapidly. Fast forward a few weeks and tried an amino acid product w/ added Xylitol for sweetener and BAM I went down immediately. I supplement zinc and niacin to help in alcohol detox but this isn't enough so I began the coenzymated form of niacin NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) yesterday to help restore my alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme function. I have drunk an occasional diet dr pepper w/ less side effects; sucralose gives headaches, salivation, and impotence.

So, heredity and personal history (preexisting conditions) influence our disposition to additives. As for Aspartame, all babies born in the USA are screened for phenyleukuria, the gene responsible to metabolize phenylalanine an amino acid member of Aspartame that is absent in a small % of population. When it comes to the sugar alcohols like Aspartame, Sucralose, Xylitol, Sorbitol, etc. It all comes down to individual enzyme activity. If either of the enzymes alcohol dehyrogenase or aldehyde dehydrogenase is taxed or malfunctioning there can be serious consequences. It is reported in scientific literature that these two enzymes have varying degrees of activity in the population. Some people can "drink like sailors" while others can't even have a diet cola. So we each have to monitor our own symptoms carefully. As for prevention of alcohol related illnesses I recommend supplementing niacinamide, riboflavin, zinc, and molybdenum in particular, in addition to a good multi vit/min daily to help rid the body of harmful metabolic waste, and for people like myself who don't respond to the regular nutritionals, coenzymated forms will be necessary.

Replied by Citygirl27
(Richardson, Tx, Usa)
06/03/2012

Aspartame was created and introduced by G D Searle. Monsanto may have become later involved, but it was brought to the FDA and to market by G D Searle.

http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htm to get the info

Replied by Man
(Sojouring America)
03/04/2014
★★★★★

Yeah. I will scream "bloody murder" against Aspartame and what ever other name they are hiding it under now. These criminals put this garbage in to the food supply just like these criminals put fluoride into the water supply. It is a forced medication of the population.

I think people should have what want. If people want this kind thing, they ought to have it. But, I have seen and read enough about it, and I am satisfied with people's whose writing I have read.

All one man has to do is get on the internet and do a quick You tube video search on this and look for a reputable man such as Russell Blaylock and see what he says about this chemical.

I have read Dr. Russell Blaylock's report on it and that is enough for me. But then there's the Mercola's writings, and although he has his own agenda selling his products what he says still matches and confirms Blaylock's writings.

Blaylock says it is a 'excito-neuro-toxin' just like MSG is a 'excito-neuro-toxin'. It looks like a stealth forced medication of human beings who can not distinguish between their left hand from their right hand just like the book of Jonah tells us.


Dr. Betty Martini's Response

Posted by Betty (Duluth, Georgia) on 09/29/2008

I'm answering the information on aspartame. It says Betty Martini does not exist. Yes, I do exist and have my own web site, www.mpwhi.com I'm the founder of Mission Possible World Health International. We are a global volunteer force in 39 nations warning about aspartame. I work with the world experts. An email I wrote after lecturing for the World Environmental Conference, was signed by Nancy Markle, and made world news. Front groups tried to say it was a hoax, but its not. Since lecturing H. J. Roerts, M.D. declared aspartame disease a world epidemic and wrote a medical text on it, and in fact, dedicated it to me. Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, www.sunsentpress.com The entire story of the World Environmental Conference is on www.dorway.com/nomarkle.html including my invitation to speak. Finally a movie was made to investigate called Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World. So please change your web site. Anyone who wants to know about aspartame can contact me and we have an aspartame information list on www.mpwhi.com scroll down to banners.

Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder
Mission Possible Intl
9270 River Club Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097
770 242-2599
www.mpwhi.com, www.dorway.com and www.wnho.net
Aspatame Toxicity Center, www.holisticmed.com/aspartame

P.S. At the time this happened NutraSweet was owned by Monsanto. Try as they did to get people to think it was a hoax so many people walked out of wheelchairs, regained their sight, lost their fibromyalgia, etc. that they couldn't put out the fire and sold the NutraSweet Company. One of those people who walked out of her wheelchair was Cori Brackett, co-founder of Sound and Fury Productions who went on to make the film Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World. The world experts are in it as well as victims and myself.

EC: Thanks for contacting us, Dr. Martini. The information has been updated.

Replied by Betty
(Duluth, Georgia)
09/29/2008

I should also mention that not only do I exist, Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum, but also James Bowen, M.D. exists. In these feedback comments it mentions that neither I or Dr. James Bowen exist. If you go to www.dorway.com and on the right side click on Doctors Speak Out under Miscellaneous you will see some of Dr. Bowen's articles. A lot are also on www.wnho.net

Dr. Betty Martini, D.Hum, Founder
Mission Possible International
9270 River club Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097
770 242-2599
www.mpwhi.com, www.dorway.com and www.wnho.net
Aspartame Toxicity Center, www.holisticmed.com/aspartame

Please public stop saying we don't exist, we all exist. You can even call at the above number.


Reader Feedback

113 User Reviews
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Posted by Paige (AR) on 01/04/2023

Aspartame is toxic poison it just be banned. Class action is needed.

I am new here, I found info on aspartame, this stuff needs to be banned. My child had been drinking these sugar free bubble drinks for a month or more now, more than he should have. He started having serous sickness. It mimicked severe anxiety and ocd type tics. I don't know how else to explain it. I have been horrified. Everyday the last 2 weeks trying to understand what it is and why. I finally put it together. When I looked at the back of the box on these carbonated water drinks it's all aspartame. The symptoms made it all clear. This stuff is toxic poison. I am considering filing a law suit.


Reader Feedback
Posted by Connie (Al) on 05/02/2018

I had years of sickness all the symptoms I had. Finally found out what was causing it. Been off Aspartame for 2 years. I drink veg smoothies in the morning and lots of water. I have been drinking some diet Pepsi because they took out the Aspartame was doing good then I started the symptoms again but this time it is worse. Doctors couldn't figure it out. I don't know if I will survive this. I looked at the Pepsi bottle and it said Aspartame. I never heard they were changing it back. I can't drink one swallow of aspartame and here I didn't know I was drinking it. They are killing people. It has got to stop.


Reader Feedback
Posted by Jd (Houston, Texas) on 05/18/2017

Here's my experience with Aspartame use. I drank 3 diet cokes a day for over 10 years. I began having pain behind my eyes, blood sugar crashes, tingling in my fingers, flashes of light in my eyes, with worse vision. I had a blood test and there was nothing unsual. After reading about Diet Cokes and Aspartame I quit all diet drinks, that was a month ago. I had 2 weeks of horrible withdrawal finally all the bad symptoms are now gone. Its all about Sales and making money with no regard for consumers it seems with Aspartame. I will NEVER drink a Diet drink again.


Reader Feedback
Posted by Becky (Rienzi, Ms) on 11/09/2016

I'm a 61 year old wife, mother, and grandmother. I've been on a very successful weight loss program this year losing 35 lbs. my goal being 40 lbs. I stick to all natural as best to my knowledge. About 3 months ago I was introduced to these small tubular packets of powder and bottles of water enhancer drops. They were so convenient I didn't bother looking at the ingredient label. About 4 weeks ago I noticed slight pain in my upper body. This pain progressed to the point I couldn't lift my arms. I went to my doctor yesterday and he was completely puzzled. He's secluded me for an MRI. After leaving his office I stopped by a local store and the cashier told me the same thing happened to her dad when he started drinking Diet COKE. She said he stooped the cokes and the symptoms went away. To make a long story shorter, I've been off the artificial sweetener just over 24 and the pain is "GONE"!!! I've called the doctor, canceled the MRI and thanking God for sending me to that little cashier with the answer to my problem!!

Folks read your labels and pay attention to what you put in your mouth...


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Posted by Lyndee (Clinton Township) on 09/13/2015

Aspartame:

I never ate yogurt but tried the fat free/low fat. Pretty soon I was ordering 2 cases per week. Then would also buy gogurt. I ate nothing else. I would even eat them in my sleep. I went from 135 lbs to 230lbs in about a year. I stopped buying it and even with no exercise and a small amount of protein I lost 110lbs in 6 months. The addiction is real.


Reader Feedback
Posted by Deb (Redwood Park, South Australia) on 01/28/2015

Hi everyone, just to let you know of my experience with aspartane.....I like a cigarette every now and again and have a fear of bad breath, so I was eating 2 boxes of eclipse mints a day for years.........my symptoms well that's epic in itself. They thought I had diabetes, virtigo, numbness of left side of my face affecting top lip, gums and teeth, under my eye, etc. etc. etc. I don't think I need to go on, but I'm not well.......HELP......I frequently go to the chiro, and have constant acupuncture; any other suggestions?


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Posted by Carol Waters (Kannapolis Nc) on 12/12/2014

I drank Crystal Light exclusively for about 3 years and the more I drank it the more I wanted. I drank about 10 glasses a day. When I saw a video about Aspartame including some of the symptoms of it (like severe joint pain) I quit cold turkey. My knees used to hurt so badly that when I stood up I couldn't walk right away. I had to stand for a few seconds before I could walk, and I was in my early 40's! My vision had also diminished significantly during those 3 years, etc. I decided to quit all at once and I never thought I'd have immediate and disturbing and scary side effects from stopping. My hands and fingers felt like they were extremely swollen and I couldn't close them. I couldn't do normal things like grasp a zipper or even had problems picking up and changing my young kids. I had vertigo so badly that I could not get up and had to call my husband to come home from work. I had severe anxiety an nausea. I never ever go to the doctor, but during that first week off Aspartame I went to the doctor (I think they thought I was crazy) and the ER. These symptoms have never before or sense ever happened to me. I was "coming off of" the chemical Aspartame and it was slamming my body.


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Posted by Chip (Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste, Costa Rica) on 10/14/2013

I am writing because I am a victim of aspartame poisoning. One of the main reasons I now live in Costa Rica is that I was crippled enough by Aspartame that I could no longer work.

My story starts in September 2001, when I had a MRI of the brain due to an ear injury. It showed that my brain was intact. Then I fast forward to February 2004, the first Saturday of that month I had 6 instances or vertigo, something I had never had before.

By the end of the month the episodes of vertigo had morphed into what became constant symptoms. About 4 seconds of numbness in my left cheek, followed by 15 seconds of loss of all muscular control of my right side (this incuded word slurring) then about 25 seconds of hot flashed up and down my left arm. By the beginning of March these "episodes" were happening about 30 times a day.

I saw numerous Doctors and no one knew what they were. By May they were happening about 75 times a day. Then about the middle of May I developed an excrutiating pain in my neck. I was taking 2 percosets just to sleep at night. In desparation I went to a chiropractor, he was the husband of a friend of mine. He spent more time going over my history and symptoms then all of the doctor I had seen up to that time. He told me that he might be able to help my neck but he did not have a clue about the "episodes" I was experiencing.

The last Thursday of the month I went in for my first adjustment. Before he started he showed me a can of diet coke and went over the ingrediants. (I had told him earlier that I was drinking over a six pack a day. My office was next to a Sam's Club and I would get a 25 oz. cup of Diet Coke to go with lunch and fill it back up to sip at work during the afternoon, then drink one or two cans at home at night. ) Anyway, he was very anti-aspartame and convinced me to give up Diet Coke on the spot. By Saturday the pain in the neck was gone and the frequency of the episodes were way down. I had my last episode on June 14th. The only sysmptom I had left was the thumb and adjacent 2 fingers on my right hand were numb. (Later MRI's showed a large (1.6CM lesion) on my spinal cord in my neck, it was covered in scar tissue.)

I had several MRI's trying to figure out what the problem was. Doctors told me that I had many small lesions in my brain and that much of my cerebullum had been destrioyed. On the urging of a West Palm Beach Neurosurgon I saw a Neurologist at the University of Miami and she declared that I had MS. I tryed to explain that I thought it was the Aspartame, but she would not listen. She tried to get me to take one of the MS Disease Modifying Drugs, but I refused. At this point my medical insurance would no longer pay for me to go to Miami, so I returned to a Neurologist I had already seen in West Palm.

Over the next 5 years I would get annual MRI's and saw several more Neurologists, they all would look at the latest MRI and declare that the damage showed that I had MS. Over this time I started to have lot of other neurological symptoms. I could not easily pee, my right leg became very weak, as did my right arm. In December 2010 I retired and moved to Costa Rica, however I would periodically returnm to the U.S. to see a Doctor.

In December 2012, after I had turned 65, I went to see a Doctor at the Cleveland Clinic. She looked at my latest MRI and tried to get me to take one of the MS Disease modifying drugs. I refused and she said that if I got another MRI she would see if anyone at the Cleveland Clinic could come up with a different recommendation. I again explained that I thought Aspartame caused my problem in 2004. She would not listen.

In April 2013 I finally had a complete set of head, neck and spine MRI's at the Cleveland Clinic's high res machine. The neurologist looked at them but also compared them to everty MRI (I had the copies) which I had had done since 2004. She was blown away because the damage that was shown in 2004 was identical to the damage shown on the latest set of MRI's. As a result she declared that I had MS type damage but I did not have MS. She said that MS was a progressive disease and the to have no progression for 9 years meant I did not have MS. I asked about the fact that I had more symptoms now then I had in 2004, and she explained that nerve damage was like that. Damage would occur then the symptoms would show up much later.

I apologize for the many typos, but I can not use my right hand and hunt and peck with my left. I think the neurologist concurred that it was aspartame poisoning, but she said that because she was with the Cleveland Clinic that she had to follow the FDA's stance that Aspartame is safe. I do not believe so.

In closing, I was the Commanding Officer for 2 different nuclear submarines. I credit Admiral Rickover with teaching me to not accept the pat answers but to always get to the root cause. I think that Aspartame caused my symptoms. Over the last 2 years I have not gotten better, but I have not gotten worse either. I truely thank Dr. Quartel, the Chiropractor, who convinced me to give up Aspartame.

If there are any question I will be glad to answer, until they get too much. My email is cjosliniiiatyahoo.com.

Replied by Timh
(Ky, Usa)
10/15/2013
2048 posts

@Chip: Thanx for your Aspartame testimony, maybe it will help prevent others from the (over) consumption of this man-made ingredient. IMHO, since not all aspartame users experience the severity you have, admits several or many factors which combine and contribute to a degree of sensitivity to the chemical. Zinc, Molybdenum, and Niacin deficiency can cause the incomplete detoxification of the wood alcohol in Asp; liver disease could also be a big factor in this case.

In alternative medicine, like you experienced at the chiro, the emphasis is placed on addressing the underlying causes of the specific disease and through health promoting diet & supplements, and many unconventional remedies seek a cure. So there's this psychological aspect of focusing one's attention from the gruesome details (like you reported) of the disease and fallowing bad side effects, to one of solutions and cures. This web-site is a local (worldwide actually, but local virtually) testimony of people who have endured the same type situation you did until they got introduced to alt med. I am one of these neglected folks.

There are effective protocols for improving brain health (search by disease and also Nootropic supplements). I have listed several common nutrients and herbs which improve brain health here on E.C. somewhere. From where you are now, there could be two phases of treatment to improve your condition: Beginner and advanced. Any improvement would be nice to see, since you have such advanced condition.


Reader Feedback
Posted by Alison (Dallas, Texas) on 04/12/2013

I'm a chronic gum chewer and Coke Zero drinker or I can now say I WAS since I kicked those a few days ago. I'm having muscle twitches and extreme fatigue so far. After reading the above comments I guess I can expect to feel that for the next 55 days? Great! It will be worth it though. After only 5 days I haven't needed to sleep with my humidifier and my husband said I haven't snored the last two nights! I'm looking forward to feeling better and better each day. For those looking for healthier alternatives to make detoxing from aspartame easier I have switched from Orbit gum to Pr gum which is aspartame free. I switched to Zevia diet soda which is sweetened with stevia and it is better than I thought it would be. Amazon offers a rainbow pack where they send a case that includes 2 cans of every flavor they offer. I now use monk fruit sweetener to sweeten my coffee in the morning. The only other sugar free item I used sometimes was sugar free maple syrup. From now on I will just use regular maple syrup. This has made my transition easier even though the detox side effects have been rough. Reading the posts here was very helpful as I thought I was getting some form of facial bells palsy with the muscle twitches on one side of my chin! ?! Crazy that one chemical can reek havoc on your system and the FDA allows it. I will be filing a complaint as well.


Reader Feedback
Posted by Travis (Northern Ky) on 03/07/2013

I just found out about this website a week ago. Some of the stuff seems pretty far fetched but some hits the nail on the head. This being one that I truely believe. I quit smoking about 3 yrs ago and started chewing gum to get over that habit, so now thats my habit mainly cause I feel I have sour breath. I am going to try the peroxide mouth wash method to remedy that. But back to my point I have been chewing the crap out of gum with aspertame in it and have been trying to cut down/stop and noticed that I have been getting some of these symptoms but most people have wrote about diet soda but havent read much about it being in gum, I guess the amount in the gum could cause the same effects?. Hopefully I kick this habit and these side effects roll out with the habit.


Reader Feedback
Posted by Jenny (Columbus, Oh) on 06/27/2012

This site has been a Godsend to me over the past week. About a week ago, I began worrying that the muscle spasms and difficulty swallowing I had been having was related to MS. The next day, I went from drinking 5-6 diet cokes a day to drinking 1. I have been a very heavy diet coke drinker for many years. The next day, I began having even more symptoms. I began having heart palpitations, shakes, dizziness, insomnia, etc. I plan to stop the diet coke altogether later this week and I am scared to death I will have more symptoms. I feel I need to do it though, otherwise I really will make myself sick.

Replied by Timh
(Louisville, Ky, Usa)
06/28/2012
2048 posts

It's been reported that the big champion MS promoter Michael J. Fox was once awarded a truck-load of diet cola for doing a commercial for the manufacturer way back in the day when he was in good health, which really helped launch the Aspartame - MS connection. This observation has been disputed and I haven't researched it, but have little doubt because the profit industry always does the cover-ups and MJF seems to intentionally indulge and exaggerate his condition while on camera. MJF associates have reported this while saying he's just fine most-times.


Reader Feedback
Posted by Pat (Marion, Wi) on 05/16/2012

After consuming multiple two liter bottles of diet coke daily for 30 years, it was suggested to me that my pain symptoms could be aspartame poisoning. I quit dc within a day and for a while everything was improving... My mind was clearer, the pins and needles in my face are gone, I could stand longer, and I could go on. However, two weeks into detox and I am having serious muscle spasms, confusion, and red ant sting after effects in my legs. I must say that my desire for real food is coming back. I do have two questions: 1) Are there any recommendations besides a good multiple vitamin and 2) how long does withdrawal take?



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