The Hits Keep Coming Against Nutrasweet

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A study released in early September indicated that aspartame (Nutrasweet) can cause cognitive disability in mice and this was in turn, could be passed to their offspring. That press release was quickly followed by an impressive case review study of boys who had diagnoses of autism. The cases ranged from serious early onset autism to symptoms of milder “Asperger’s” symptoms.

A very significant increase in the development of autism was found among children whose mother regularly consumed diet sodas sweetened with aspartame. Here’s an excerpt from the full report:

The safety of aspartame, a leading sweetener used in diet sodas, other diet beverages, and over 6000 dietary, pharmacologic, and other products over the past 40 years, has been the subject of intense debate since before it entered the marketplace. In 1981, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of aspartame as a tabletop sweetener and, in 1983, as an ingredient in diet sodas and other products.

Aspartame rapidly became the leading diet soda sweetener used in the U.S; diet soda consumption doubled, and aspartame consumption increased 17-fold, over the next 8 years. By the end of 1983, however, the FDA had received numerous complaints of adverse reactions among aspartame consumers. Prominent complaints included headache, anxiety, and depression.

These and other neurological problems—including irritability, mood disorders, cognitive problems, and seizures—were subsequently reported to be increased among users of diet sodas/beverages and other aspartame-sweetened products, which are leading vehicles of aspartame intake in the U.S.

Impaired cognitive performance and increased anxiety-related behaviors also developed in aspartame-fed animals. Such reports contributed to the prolonged controversy over the safety of aspartame. While a review of this debate is beyond the scope of this report, we highlighted some of the results.

Compared with male controls, males with autism in our study had more than tripled odds of having been exposed daily—gestationally and/or through breastfeeding—to either diet soda itself or comparable doses of aspartame from multiple sources. These exposure odds were the highest among cases with non-regressive (early onset) autism.

These associations do not prove causality. Taken in concert, however, with previous findings of increased prematurity and cardiac impacts among infants and children exposed daily to diet beverages and/or aspartame during pregnancy, they raise new concerns about the potential neurological impacts, which need to be addressed.