Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)

An excerpt from my book Home Safe Home:

Aspartane (NutraSweet, Equal) is a "natural" sweetener made of phenylalanine and aspartic acid, containing "nothing artificial." In the body, these naturally occurring substances break down into the same amino acids found in any protein food. Sounds harmless, but it isn't.

The problem with aspartame lies in overconsumption and the fact that phenylalanine alone (without its companion amino acids) is not a normal part of the diet. Large doses of phenylalanine are toxic to the brain and can cause mental retardation and seizures in people with phenylketonuria (PKU), a genertic disorder. For others, the sweetener may cause chemical changes in the brain that could contribute to headaches, depression, mood swings, high blood pressure, insomnia, and behavior problems. In addition, it could cause your appetite-control center to malfunction, so your diet drinks could be causing more harm than good. Aspartame may also cause birth defects and is not recommended for use by pregnant women.

Because aspartame is found in so many products, it is very easy to overdose without realizing it. A child meets the FDA maximum safety limit by drinking only five cans of diet soda per day, a 150-pound adult would exceed the limit by drinking sixteen cans. That sounds ridiculous (how many people drink sixteen cans of diet soda each day?), but when you take a vitamin pill with aspartame, eat your breakfast cereal and hot cocoa with aspartame, have some aspartame-sweetened gelatin and a soft drink for lunch, chocolate pudding with aspartame for dinner dessert, and maybe another soda, it adds up very quickly. Children could easily consume twice the FDA limit every day and possibly develop learning impairments and behavior problems. Part of the problem with the current labeling for aspartame is that the actual amounts used do not have to be listed, so you really have no idea how much aspartame you are consuming.

Aspartame Consumer Safety Network
Advocacy organization with many articles on the dangers of aspartame.

Aspartame Toxicity Info Center
An extensive list of links about the health effects of aspartame.

Sweet Poison: How the World's Most Popular Artificial Sweetener Is Killing Us
Dr. Janet Star Hull's personal story of how she discovered her deadly case of Grave's Disease was cause by aspartame and more about it's dangers.

Aspartame: Is it Safe?
A detailed book on the health effects of aspartame.