What You Should Know about Aspartame and Migraines
If you had a migraine, it's better for you to avoid sodas. Diet
sodas sweetened with aspartame, at any rate. In case that word
doesn't ring a bell, how about NutraSweet? Equal? Little blue
packages in the sugar bowl on restaurant tables?
If you were to go solely by the information about aspartame that
you can find on the internet, you might every well think this
product was created by the devil himself. Truly, the amount of
web space devoted to attacking aspartame and its brand name
NutraSweet is phenomenal. The product has been vilified like
almost no other product on the market, blamed for everything
from memory loss to schizophrenia. Although the jury is still
out on aspartame's culpability in relation to many dangers,
there is no getting around the fact that aspartame has been
linked to migraines in many studies.
Aspartame is used in NutraSweet, an artificial sweetener. But
aspartame isn't really a sweetening agent. What aspartame does
is release an amino acid neurotransmitter in the brain called
aspartame. In essence, though approved by the FDA as a
sweetener, aspartame is really a drug.
The New England Journal of Medicine, a world-renowned medical
journal, has conducted studies that have found a connection
between heavy consumption of diet drinks sweetened with
aspartame and migraine headaches. One study in particular seems
heavily slanted toward finding a connection as those taking part
reported having headaches on 33% of the days in which the study
was conducted as opposed to the control group which reported
headaches on only 24% of the days.
One scientist who has conducted research came to the startling
conclusion that 90% of all migraines are caused by allergic
reactions to food or food additives. His findings also suggest
that aspartame is the most common food additive related to
migraines. Another study came to an equally amazing conclusion
that 10% of all migraines are related to aspartame consumption.
A study conducted at the Univ. of Florida came to perhaps the
most jaw-dropping conclusion of them all, finding that aspartame
increased the frequency of migraine headaches in over fifty
percent of the patients who took part in the study.
Despite all these studies, however, no conclusion has yet been
drawn which firmly establishes what it is about aspartame that
causes migraines in headache sufferers. The prevailing theory
has to do with a biochemical known as seratonin. You may have
heard that word before. Indeed, seratonin pops up quite in
medical stories as it seems play a part in conditions ranging
from appetite loss to mood alteration to sleep problems. When it
comes to migraines, seratonin is thought to play a part through
the lowering of levels of it in your body thanks to the effects
of aspartame, thereby exacerbating pre-existing conditions that
cause migraines. So it?s really no so much a case of aspartame
being the cause of migraines, but rather being a quick-drawing
finger on the trigger.
Believe it or not, but there's also a danger from ceasing your
intake if aspartame. Doesn't that figure? If you are currently
drinking a large amount of diet sodas or using a lot of
NutraSweet in your coffee or tea, the one thing you don't want
to do is suddenly stop for a few months and then go back. Many
people report that they quit having headaches after stopping
their use of products containing aspartame. Then they resumed
their use of aspartame and were unfortunate enough to find that
the headaches returned and were far worse than before.
Naturally, the makers of NutraSweet dispute any connection
existing between their product and migraines. Then again, they
dispute any connection between aspartame and any health concern.
The bottom line is that enough complaints have been filed with
the FDA and enough studies have been conducted to establish at
the very least a large amount of anecdotal evidence suggesting a
connection. And since even the big two soft drink makers have
products diet products that sweeten with Splenda? a sweetener
with no bitter aftertaste? there really isn't any reason at all
to take the risk.