Yes aspartame can cause migraines. I too can not eat it. It is in all gums...other than bubble gum now.

I agree it should be removed from our foods and drinks!

Have you noticed that many products now, even tho they are listing the first ingredient as SUGAR and including Sucrolose as part of the last few ingredients? Why do we need aspertame or sucrolose in pickles?! I got some very nice hot cocoa and the first ingredient was sugar, so I stopped reading, later on the head ache came. I read the whole label and there it was sucrolose! (splenda) Please read your labels.

I agree, there is sugar in just about EVERYTHING...

hidden in

Breads

pickles (mostly the sweet type) People have a salty sweet preference food manufacturers have learned

Ketchup (there is a new low sugar one by Heinz)and other sauces.

Low fat dressings (can be very high in sugar)

Most tomato pastes and sauces like Ragu etc. Hunts makes a no sugar added one. Sugar is added to recipes to counter the acids from tomatoes

Cocoa as already noticed

Reading labels can be a REVELATION!

Honey is also in alot of things. Honey is FRUCTOSE, and many people are fructose intolerant. So watch for this ingredient.
It is not a healthy alternative for 1 in 3 people who have fructose issues!

i love aspartame. diet coke before aspartame was nasty, and it's going to take more than anecdotal evidence to convince me its unsafe

It doesn't adversely effect everyone, just enough peeps, that it should NOT be added, automatically, to things we consume. The same with MSG..

still don't have much to lose by stopping eating anything with aspartame and see what happens. it may be why i have headaches almost every day. then again nothing may change. we'll see.

I chew sugar free gum like a beast. I'm sure if there was a glow in the dark meter of aspartame in one's body, you'd need sunglasses to look at me.

I started chewing the gum to curb the intense burning/pain of burning mouth syndrome that I have. I never drank large quantities of sugar free cola (drank the sugary stuff), though as it's been pointed out, aspartame, MSG, etc are in virtually everything these days.

mrsD, as you know I'm also a label reader. It's great to be conscious of what we're ingesting.

With all said, I don't know if aspartame causes me headache. I think I just am prone to headaches (before the chewing gum, I was getting headaches regularly anyways, think it's safe to say I can't avoid them easily). I do know of 1 type of gum in particular that happens to be sugar free (aspartame) that eases the burning in my mouth, so I stick with what works - relieving the burning for me is more important than worrying about the aspartame!

I am also pro-eliminate something in your diet that's unnecessary to see if it works, so have at it with trying to avoid the aspartame and good luck! I'm on a current campaign to avoid trans fats entirely (and I can only go by the amount that's disclosed on labels - I'm aware below a certain % they don't need to mention it). I found food in the USA at grocery stores (which differs slightly in some cases, entirely in others from our food selection in Canada) had zero trans fats for the most part (at least the foods I was looking at). Canada doesn't seem to have cracked down as much on Trans (!). Some things I look at the label on, shake my head, "Why is it that this HAD to contain trans? Surely they could have avoided the Trans by removing something!".

Good luck again!

I found this little comment many years ago somewhere on the Internet.

"After ingestion, aspartame is broken down into aspartic acid,
phenylalanine, and methanol.

Methanol is oxidized into formaldehyde and then to
formic acid, which is considered responsible
for the toxic effects of methanol.

Despite arguments that aspartame intake should not affect
blood methanol concentrations, animal studies have
reported the accumulation of formaldehyde adducts derived
from aspartame in tissue components.

This might be one explaining factor for reports on headaches
linked to the intake of aspartame."

jackD


p.s. The phenylalanine might be good for MS folks - I am still looking into this.

it takes about 5 minutes, and then I get a drunken feeling like I am confused and off balance and that lets me know I had some. 5 minutes later my head is banging! its an awful headache and it sends me to bed. it takes me at least a day to recover.

I found Aspertame in my COLD PILLS! its the chewable benedryl stuff that melts instantly. Yep, there it is. Aspertame. No wonder benedryl gives me a headache!

I have become such a staunch label reader. I cant do MSG nor artificial sweetners. Splenda, aspertame, equal its all the same to me. Almost instant day blowing headache followed by that washed out feeling for most of the next day. The same as if I was poisoned. ICK!

thank you everyone for your responses. as of right now i am no longer giving my children the sugar free drinks or any other products with aspartame. as for me i will make the changes a little more slowly to adjust to less sweetness. i can't use much real sugar do to diabetes.