Some people have suffered aspartame related disorders with doses as small as that carried in a single stick of chewing gum. This could mean a pilot who drinks diet sodas is more susceptible to flicker vertigo or to flicker induced epileptic activity. It also means that all pilots are potential victims of sudden memory loss, dizziness during instrument flight and gradual loss of vision. I've met people who had panic attacks using 3 Diet Cokes a day - in fact the owner of a magazine here in Atlanta. Phenylalanine in aspartame lowers the seizure threshold in the brain and blocks serotonin production.
Researchers attribute low serotonin levels inducing depression, rage and paranoia.
I just returned from lecturing at the World Environmental Conference. The keynote speaker from the EPA wanted to know what toxin was causing the epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus across the nation. I explained that I was there to lecture on methanol toxicity mimicking MS and rampant systemic lupus caused by aspartame. Aspartame destroys the nervous system. In the case of Joyce Wilson she was misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis, and she went blind - the methanol also converts to formaldehyde in the retina of the eye.