Complaints include symptoms like headache, mood alterations, anxiety, irritability or depression, dizziness, insomnia, fatigue, and seizures. Considering the widespread distribution of aspartame in food products and the relatively high prevalence of migraine and seizures, it is prudent to include inquiries about aspartame consumption in the evaluation of patients with these disorders. Dr. John Olney, psychiatrist, neuropathologist, and professor at Washington University in St. Louis, has written extensively on the dangers of aspartame after he found a higher than normal rate of brain tumors in laboratory rats fed aspartame. Some members of the medical community have been alarmed by the methanol content of aspartame. Aspartame contains methanol as 10 percent by weight.
Methanol is a poisonous substance associated with blindness.
To date, studies have not adequately addressed the insidious issue of cumulative effects of aspartame combined with similar chemicals and food additives like monosodium glutamate.