Aspartame is just two amino acids, and there's no evidence that its harmful.
But it's been suggested by some researchers that one of the amino acids in aspartame releases methanol when it disintegrates, which the liver turns into formaldehyde, which is apparently, a known carcinogen.
No researcher I've ever talked to has even hinted that aspartame is at all harmful.
Of course, it's possible--but then there are a lot of additives and ingredients in foods that are dangerous. Hell, maybe they should ban high fructose corn syrup FIRST!
I actually drink a lot of Diet Coke because I was always a soda addict and I don't want the HFC or the calories--plus, it seems to clear the cobwebs away when I write. (I've never liked coffee much.)
So I probably drink more than is reasonable, but the only evidence that I know of that it's harmful is a study in which they gave enormous amounts of it to rats, and it caused cancer. But the amounts, apparently, were inhumanly high, when compared on a relative scale. So it became a dead issue.
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