Aspartame is an artificial sweetener found in most diet, sugar-free and diabetic products that would normally contain sugar and has been marketed as a safe sugar substitute. Unfortunately, many diabetics and those seeking weight management have embraced the chemical so they can continue to consume the sweet foods they love.
Aspartame was one of those scientific accidents discovered in 1965 when a researcher tasted a powder being studied as an anti-ulcer drug and found it to be sweet. It was, however, not approved by the FDA for human consumption for many years because preliminary tests caused brain tumors in rats. Even with this early evidence of cell transformation and damage, aspartame was approved for many foods in 1983 and by 1996 all restrictions were lifted.
When aspartame is consumed in food or beverages about 10% of it is chemically changed to methanol in the small intestine. Methanol becomes formaldehyde which is a potentially lethal substance that causes rapid, shallow breathing, hypothermia, and in a few cases has been linked to the onset of deadly comas in some humans.
In 1998 a study was conducted in Spain that found formaldehyde produced by methanol breakdown from aspartame consumption collected in the brain, liver and kidneys in lab animals.
Aspartame use overall has been shown to be a leading cause of overeating and nutritional diseases because most foods that contain this artificial sweetener are either free of nutrients and/or filled with empty calories. Of course overuse of refined sugar also contributes to obesity but when used in moderation it usually carries few other long term effects unlike aspartame.
