Why I Avoid Aspartame
A lot my clients come to me with complaints of anxiety, depression, sleep issues, fogginess, headaches, migraines & more. Mental health disorders are extremely prevalent and most of the time are caused by a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors. Food and mood are more related than a lot of people recognize – nutrients are needed for the synthesis of ATP (energy), the production of neurotransmitters, the composition of your gut microbiome and much more. Analyzing the diet and lifestyle of my clients allows me to paint a picture of what they might be missing (or maybe overconsuming), to aid in these processes. My goal is ultimately to discover the root cause of someone’s health concerns over time and address them with nutrition and lifestyle interventions that are specific to their needs. While that typically takes time to discover and intervene, nobody is upset with some symptom reduction in the meantime!
I know a lot of people obsess over nutrition labels – our eyes dart right to the calories, fats, sodium, sugar etc. As a clinical nutritionist I recognize that we should be mindful about how much of these things we eat (although a lot of the best foods don’t have a nutrition label at all…hint: whole vegetables and fruits). However, I prefer to focus on the ingredients list of packaged items. One of my grad school professors said that we shouldn’t eat food that our grandmothers wouldn’t recognize as food on an ingredients list (she pointed out that her grandmother would have scoffed at the concept of cheese puffs). While I typically don’t like to tell people to follow rules and restriction regarding food, there is validity in her statement. I’m a big believer in “everything in moderation” because this is a large part of healing your relationship with food – not restricting and getting into an unhealthy cycle of restrict and binge because you never give in to the occasional craving.
When someone comes to me complaining about mood disorders, sleep issues, anxiety, headaches, fogginess etc. I tend to ask about their consumption of artificial sweeteners. We’ve become so obsessed with the concept of reducing sugar intake that we see the terms “sugar-free” or “zero calorie” on an item that is clearly sweet (looking at you diet soda), and assume that it’s “healthy”, or at least not “bad” for us. It’s not a surprise that people who experience those health concerns turn to sweet-flavored foods to cope in times of need, as we know that indulging can lead to temporary feelings of joy.
If you struggle with anxiety, mood disorders, sleep issues, mental fog, and headaches/migraines, I invite you to be curious about the ingredients you’re regularly consuming. Is aspartame on that list? Maybe it’s hiding in your cereal, chewing gum, diet beverages, yogurt, & more. Removing this ingredient from your diet is certainly no fix-all, but it’s a fairly easy step you can take to towards better health.
If the relationship between food & mood is something you want to explore further, I’m currently accepting new clients!
Cheers to your health and happiness!
References
Choudhary , A., & Lee, Y. (2018, June). Neurophysiological symptoms and aspartame: What is the connection?. Nutritional neuroscience. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28198207/
Czarnecka, K., Pilarz, A., Rogut, A., Maj, P., Szymańska, J., Olejnik, Ł., & Szymański, P. (2021, June 7). Aspartame-true or false? narrative review of safety analysis of general use in products. Nutrients. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8227014/
Wilk, K., Korytek, W., Pelczyńska, M., Moszak, M., & Bogdański, P. (2022, March 16). The effect of artificial sweeteners use on sweet taste perception and weight loss efficacy: A Review. Nutrients. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8954878/