suffer from migraine headaches, you need to use some other sweetener
besides aspartame to help you lose weight. Aspartame is the
sweetener found in products such as Equal and NutraSweet. Even though
there's no definitive word yet on aspartame's role in a number of
other physical conditions, the link between it and migraines seems
undeniable according to many studies over the past couple of decades.
Although aspartame is used in Equal and NutraSweet, aspartame itself
isn't actually the sweetening agent. Rather, it releases a
neurotransmitter in the brain and as such, in a sense, aspartame
is actually a drug.
New England Journal of Medicine conducted studies on the subject
and found a link between heavy use of aspartame, especially in diet
drinks, and people with migraine headaches. These studies,
and one in particular, showed a strong correllation between those
who get the attacks and aspartame. Specifically, it found
that those studied who did not consume aspartame experienced a migraine
on 24% of the study dates; those who consumed aspartame experienced
a headache on 33% of those days.
suggests that an astounding 90% of all migraines are precipitated
by allergic reactions to additives in food or the food itself. His
study further suggested that aspartame is the most common migraine-causing
additive. One other study found that 10% of migraine
attacks are linked with aspartame consumption. Perhaps most
significant is a University of Florida study which showed that aspartame
increases migraine frequency in 50% of patients.
overwhelming evidence, there's no conclusion yet about why migraines
are affected by aspartame. The most likely culprit is seratonin,
affected by aspartame consumption.
Here's the real irony of the matter. Even though consuming
aspartame causes more migraines, stopping your consumption too abruptly
and then re-starting can actually make your headaches worse. So
if you do decide to cut the aspartame to stop your headaches, make
sure it's a commitment that you know you can stick to.
We should mention
that Monsanto, the people who make NutraSweet and Equal, deny
any established link between migraines and their products. However,
keep in mind that they have their profits to consider. They
point to a study conducted at the Duke University Medical Center
that studied people who felt aspartame was causing their headaches,
and found no connection. Most of the other studies, though,
seem to have definitively established this link. And with
other sweeteners, such as Splenda, now available, there's no need
to continue with aspartame, especially if you suffer from migraine
reluctant about giving up aspartame in your diet drinks, you can
of course conduct your own experiment. Remember that even
if something is a trigger for one person, it might not be for another.Therefore, just keep a log of when you get migraines, and also when
you consume products with aspartame. After a couple months,
you should be able to see for yourself if your diet soda is bringing
on more migraines. If so, give it up and try products with