fake sugar and the brain, soda and the body

Factual Questions
1

I was told that fake sugars (saccarin, nutra sweet - I don’t know if sucralose is included) inhibit brain functions in some way (I know, vague, but this was all I got) and therefore can make you a little stupid. I decided to give up fake sugars to see if this is the case.

I took my fake sugars almost exclusively as nutra sweet in soda. Therefore, I haven’t had soda for almost a month. Now I haven’t experienced any change in my mental functions. Also I haven’t felt any physical changes from not drinking soda.

So my questions are these:
Has anyone heard that fake sugars are bad for the brain? If so, does it include sucralose?
What is so bad about drinking soda (fake sugars or real)? Is there any reason I should continue to not drink soda if I’m not feeling an differences? Did I not wait long enough?

2

The simplest answer is the best one. Artificial sugars don’t make you stupid or change your mental functions.

3

Nutrasweet (aspartame) is contraindicated for those suffering a certain metabolic disorder. Other people have complained that it gives them various problems, such as headaches, diarrhea, etc., but this has not been confirmed by studies. Saccharin was shown to be carcinogenic in certain animals, but, once banned, it has been re-allowed on the basis that it is not carcinogenic in man and the animal studies were flawed. Sucralose passes through the digestive system and thus has no effect on the body.

4

Thank you for actually contributing what you know to answer my question, barbitu8.

5

BTW:
link
Perhaps it’s not credible, I’m not sure. He doesn’t give full citations, but he does at least name sources of his information.

6

My friend once told me something vague about aspartame crossing the blood-brain barrier. Whether or not this is true, I don’t know. Why it is bad, I don’t know.

7

Cecil’s column on aspartame.

Please do not go by scary non-medical sites on the Internet. And especially not those by people who write books called Psychic Dictatorship U.S.A..

There is simply no good evidence that artificial sugars as a class or individually cause stupidity, or any similar problems.