In 1985, Monsanto purchased G.D. Searle and made Searle Pharmaceuticals and The NutraSweet Company separate subsidiaries. As you shall see, that is exactly what it is. Dr Russell L. Blaylock, a professor of Neurosurgery at the Medical University of Mississippi, recently published a book thoroughly detailing the damage that is caused by the ingestion of excessive aspartic acid from aspartame. Too much aspartate or glutamate in the brain kills certain neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into the cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals which kill the cells.
Aspartic acid is an amino acid.
The excess glutamate and aspartate slowly begin to destroy neurons. The risk to infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and persons with certain chronic health problems from excitotoxins are great. The exact mechanism of acute reactions to excess free glutamate and aspartate is currently being debated. One common complaint of persons suffering from the effect of aspartame is memory loss. Ironically, in 1987, G.D. Searle, the manufacturer of aspartame, undertook a search for a drug to combat memory loss caused by excitatory amino acid damage.