There was a woman Nannie Doss and her second husband would complain and complain about weird symptoms. His doctors chalked it up to “allergies” (well food reactions). He died, and at the funeral her first husband joked that it wasn’t the food but the woman that caused the “allergies” because he was cured by their divorce.
Long story short, 20 years later they tried the wife as a serial poisoner
Man that woman got rid of a LOT of people including several husbands, a mother, a few of her kids…They called her the giggling granny.
Not that this has anything to do with anything, but it DOES make you think huh?
Just because the studies that have been done so far do not prove a clear case of aspartame triggering migraines doesn’t mean that it doesn’t. I certainly don’t have migraines because I read about it online, most people will not even look online until they have a problem. I’m not looking up “leg pain and aspartame” because I’m not having leg pain only when I have aspartame.
I had migraines related to aspartame, and realized it, before I even had internet.
The other problem is how long the studies last and who the participants are. If aspartame only triggers migraines in people who already get migraines then selecting a random group of people is not going to give the correct results to what they’re looking for. What if they’re choosing people with no history of headaches on purpose so that people won’t be having headaches triggered by unknown causes?
Also, I didn’t start having aspartame headaches until I had been drinking it for quite a few years, so having even a one year trial could be not long enough. Aspartame doesn’t always trigger migraines just as other triggers don’t always spark headaches.
I do know, for a fact, that if I avoid aspartame I rarely get a migraine and if I ingest it regularly I usually have one.
I’ve never seen (or really looked for!) a functional explanation for the connection. I wonder if it has vasoconstrictive or dilation properties. Or if it is similar to how caffeine withdrawal or sulfites can cause headaches.
I can imagine a subset of people prone to migraines or other brain chemistry issues (there was the article showing sensitivity in people with mood disorders- seratonin pathway maybe?) being uniquely sensitive, perhaps in combination with other diet or lifestyle issues.
Interestingly, aspartame is listed on the Mayo CLinic fact sheet for migraines.
I think I’ve provided enough peer reviewed information for you to withdraw lumping my assertions in with the anti-vax crowd. Clinical studies may eventually disprove the connection, but to claim that that stating a connection is pseudoscience and the spreading of harmful misinformation is patently not true.
It seems like everyone is making this thread about Aspartame, but have you considered the temperature of the beverages? I always drank hot coffee in the mornings and drank diet soda and I’ve used Aspartame for years and never had problems with headaches. The only time I have a problem with headaches is when I drink something really cold first thing in the morning. Maybe it was brain freeze?
If you want to experiment, try drinking a warm & cold diet soda at different times of the day and see if there’s a difference.
I have to go with Aspartame as well. I remember drinking a diet soda when they started using it in the 80’s and was struck immediately with a headache. The second and third time as well. I’ve avoid it ever since.
