# Aspartame and seizures in professional pilots
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 9, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252 "2012-04-09T13:40:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/1 "2012-04-09T13:40:07Z")
There are any number of scary web pages out there extolling the evils of the artificial sweetener Aspartame. Most of their claims seem to be solidly refuted by reputable published studies, but there is one claim - that artifically sweetened beverages have caused pilots to have seizures - on which I have been unable to find reputable info.
The claim is that pilots, in an attempt to stay hydrated in the very dry environment of high-altitude jet aircraft, were swilling Aspartame-sweetened soft drinks, and suffering seizures while at the controls. These seizures were attributed to the Aspartame. If I Google “aspartame pilot seizure,” I just get a bunch of scare sites.
Can anyone point to a reputable study published in a peer-reviewed journal that addresses this issue?
---
### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/2 "2012-04-09T17:01:15Z")
Better link to your report first.
But basically since medical science thus far hasn’t found evidence of seizures associated with aspartame in the general population, they’re less likely to look into seizures in pilots consuming aspartame. Not unless there’s credible evidence that the pilot subpopulation is having this happen.
---
### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/3 "2012-04-09T17:14:32Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Better link to your report first.
Sorry about that. [Here’s the one](http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29029) that got me started. Relevant excerpt:
> [@Global Research](#):
>
> Both the U.S. Air Force magazine “Flying Safety” and the U.S. Navy magazine, “Navy Physiology” published articles warning about the many dangers of aspartame including the cumulative deleterious effects of methanol and other reactions. The articles note that the ingestion of aspartame may make pilots more susceptible to seizures and vertigo (U.S. Air Force 1992). Many pilots appear to be particularly susceptible to the effects of aspartame ingestion, probably because of trying to stay hydrated in a low-humidity atmosphere. They have reported numerous serious toxicity effects including grand mal seizures in the cockpit.
---
### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/4 "2012-04-09T17:39:44Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> Sorry about that. [Here’s the one](http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29029) that got me started. Relevant excerpt:
That website does not inspire confidence as a source of rigorous scientific evidence.
My use of Google Scholar didn’t turn up any real legit science on the topic of aspartame and seizures in pilots, other than to note that this has been alleged but wasn’t definitively supported by the science by any means.
There may be more out there, but that’s my initial finding.
---
### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/5 "2012-04-09T17:48:53Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> That website does not inspire confidence as a source of rigorous scientific evidence.
Agreed; that’s why I was looking for other information from more reputable sources. Thanks for your input.
---
### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/6 "2012-04-09T17:56:21Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> . . . “aspartame pilot seizure,” . . .
Band name!
---
### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/7 "2012-04-09T17:57:48Z")
[Try this article](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/aspartame-truth-vs-fiction/). Makes an excellent argument fir the safety of aspartame.
Links from the article.
> **[Aspartame](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/399598)**
>
> This report examines the safety issues related to the nutritive sweetener aspartame, including possible toxic effects of aspartame's component amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine, and its major decomposition products, methanol and...
> **[Artificial sweeteners and the risk of gastric, pancreatic, and endometrial...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19661082/)**
>
> The present study adds further evidence on the absence of an adverse effect of low-calorie sweetener (including aspartame) consumption on the risk of common neoplams in the Italian population.
---
### Author:  [@Dr.Colossus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Colossus)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/8 "2012-04-09T18:23:23Z")
so, here’s something:
i have been suffering from arrhythmia for a few years now. it goes from no big deal to actually hurts pretty bad. i can feel my heart stop for a few measures and the subsequent re-starting beat is extra hard, and it hurts, and i rub my chest trying to, i dunno what. it scares me.
i went to the doctor and he was utterly dismissive. he said i just needed to keep my electrolytes up and exercise more. that my heart was just “tired” and needed rigorous exercising.
which, i do. i have to do a host of physical things all the time.
last summer, i was working in a warehouse reconstructing the [Cowbridge](http://www.malmesbury.com/malmesbury-history/967-cowbridge-house.html)mansion (weird, right?). it was a particularly hot summer and i was particularly active. the more active i was, the more my heart became erratic.
some days i was so weak i couldn’t do anything. sometimes i could feel my blood pressure drop and i would become faint.
i talked to a cardiologist (spoke with, \*not \*went to see via appointment) and he was equally as dismissive as the first doctor.
it was, at that point, affecting my day-to-day life, so i tried to figure some stuff out on my own.
i found [this](http://rense.com/general81/ahry.htm)dubious article about arrhythmia and aspartame.
scared the crap out of me.
rense is a dubious website, and i can’t find any corroborating evidence that supports the claim.
as an experiment, i did away with all aspartame (including gum. which WOW that’s not easy). i also cut out caffeine as a sort of accident consequence (no diet soda and i don’t drink coffee).
it helped a little.
i do believe something i’m ingesting is causing the problem–but i don’t know that it’s aspartame. i don’t know it’s not, either.
i’m currently leaning towards diphenhydramine as the culprit–which is in tylenol pm, which i take too much of because i have sleeping issues.
[this](http://www.ehealthme.com/ds/benadryl/arrhythmia), and some other reports, claim it can cause arrhythmia.
i was listed as “allergic” to Benadryl growing up because it “had an opposite effect” and made me wound up. as much as it relaxes me, i tend to agree as an adult–it makes my heart feel racier at times and makes me feel anxious.
sometimes, combined with emotional stresses, it makes me a nervous wreck.
writing this out as i am, i’m not real sure why i even take it. i need a better sleep aid.
anyway–
i have a lot of fear about what aspartame does, if anything. i can’t find much reliable data suggesting there’s a problem with it at all…but that’s my shpiel.
---
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [April 9, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspartame-and-seizures-in-professional-pilots/618252/9 "2012-04-09T18:25:40Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#):
>
> but there is one claim - that artifically sweetened beverages have caused pilots to have seizures - on which I have been unable to find reputable info.
You want to ask on [www.pprune.org](http://www.pprune.org), which is a messageboard for pilots.