Wednesday, April 9th 2014 at 3:30 pm
Controversy continues to rage over the artificial sweetener aspartame. Since it was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1981, aspartame has made its way into more than 6,000 food items.
The FDA claims aspartame is safe but has set an acceptable daily intake of no more than 50 mg per kilogram of body weight. In other words, an adult weighing 165 pounds should consume no more than 3,750 mg of aspartame a day. A can of diet soda typically contains about 180 mg of the chemical. That means the FDA’s “safe” limit equates to about 21 cans of diet soda per day.
But is any level of aspartame really safe?
For decades researchers have claimed aspartame is responsible for headache, memory loss, mood changes, and depression. Consumer complaints back them up. Over 75% of adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA concern aspartame. Reported problems include headaches, migraines, vision problems, tinnitus, depression, joint pain, insomnia, heart palpitations, and muscle spasms.
Recently researchers from the University of North Dakota wanted to test the safe limits of aspartame over a short period of time. They found that at just one half of the FDA’s “safe” acceptable daily intake, aspartame caused serious neurobehavioral changes including cognitive impairment, irritable moods, and depression.[i]