Ever heard of aspartame? If not, then you must read this post. People have often made the mistake thinking that aspartame is healthy since it is low on calories, but you would be surprised knowing that not all of it is true. This product is dangerous and can destroy a healthy lifestyle. Would you like to know more? Read on.
Aspartame is an artificial sweetener. All over the world, it is used by adding it to different desserts, drinks, chewing gym, yogurt and even cereals. Aspartame consists of aspartic acid and phenylalanine. They contain amino acids in abundance. While aspartic acid is produced by the body, phenylalanine is an amino acid that you can obtain from food.
Now that you know what aspartame is, read on and check out its side effects.
One of the most basic and common side effects of Aspartame is headaches. According to a popular study, a group of people who took aspartame suffered from serious headaches (1). In fact, headaches are quite frequent and painful when you increase your intake of aspartame. Therefore, be cautious and avoid this artificial sweetener completely.
You might be surprised reading this, but aspartame can trigger depression. It will make you feel weak, sad and unhappy. This artificial product is one of the biggest causes of depression in people, and they probably do not even know about it! However, you can protect yourself from this condition by keeping away from this ingredient. According to a study published by Honglei Chen, Principal Investigator from the National Institutes of Health, around 263,925 people who took diet coke that contains aspartame became victims of depression.
Aspartame also poses a higher risk of cancer (2). Even though it appears to be very safe, they always come with a laxative effect that makes you prone to nausea. Low-calorie sweeteners often lead to oral, ovary, breast, larynx and prostate cancer.
People usually tend to think that Aspartame is a low-calorie sweetener, and hence will help you shed those unwanted pounds. But how much of it is actually true? The answer is none! Aspartame will instead make you fat! It makes you crave for carbohydrates, and you ultimately end up putting on weight (3). The smartest thing you can do is have fruits whenever you feel like having more sweets.
Aspartame makes you prone to arthritis and joint pain too. In fact, joint pain is one of the symptoms of Aspartame toxicity (4).
One of the biggest side effects attached with aspartame is memory loss. According to a 2006 publication by the FDA, the agency didn’t come up with any sort of scientific evidence, but the conclusion was based on 100 clinic and laboratory students (5).
A lot of people have complained saying that Aspartame leads to anxiety and panic attacks (6). This condition is characterized by a sense of overwhelming panic, a feeling like everything is going overboard, trouble experienced while breathing, hot flashes or chills, etc.
Aspartame is also bad for your eye health. You could lose your vision because of aspartame (7). Most people have complained saying that aspartame makes your eyes weak and blurs vision.
If you are feeling dizzy and lethargic very often, there is a high possibility that your intake of aspartame has increased way too much. This is one of the major side effects you could face if you have added aspartame to your diet. There are other defects that come with aspartame such as epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, rashes, cramps, panic attacks, etc (8).
One could also experience stomach or abdominal pain as a side effect of aspartame (9). You can, however, treat this at home by drinking enough water, herbal tea, and getting enough exercise. Also, use hot water bags to reduce painful sensations.
The FDA has recently mentioned that 50 milligrams of aspartame is perfect for the human body, regardless of the body weight. However, if you calculate, you will realize that is still a lot of aspartame for your body. So make sure you use it as little as possible. Use this while making baked goods once in a while. That should help as well. If you minimize the use, you will be able to avoid the side effects too. Aspartame has always been an eminent part of most controversies. They were developed during that time when artificial sweeteners were banned, and the FDA had banned saccharin and sucaryl. There were lab tests showing that regular intake of aspartame leads to cancer and other diseases. However, the tests were conducted on laboratory animals. The debate still continues today. However, the consumption of artificial sweeteners is still making people conscious. You should also be careful of its intake, especially after knowing the number of side effects it comes with.
Do you take aspartame? Have you ever experienced these aspartame side effects? Let us know what your experience was like in the comment box given below. Till then, take great care of your health!