I hate to say it, but that really isn’t a scientific test. Aspartame has a specific taste. How do you know that you aren’t becoming depressed because you expect to become depressed whenever you taste that particular flavor?
In order to establish a real effect, you would have to consume aspartame in a form where you really cannot taste it, and you would have to have a placebo control. The aspartame and sugar pills would be randomized, so that someone other than you knows which is which, and the results would need to be recorded each day when you take one of the random pills. Only after you have consumed enough pills for the effects following consumption to be analyzed statistically, would you be able to scientifically determine if aspartame has an effect on you.
This would be similar to a double blind study often used for drug studies. It is a well established fact that people will experience certain effects if they expect them to occur. Double blind studies are supposed to control for that effect.
I like the taste of Splenda over aspartame. Aspartame breaks down when subjected to heat, and doesn’t taste very good that way. And for some reason, I prefer real sugar in coffee.
To me aspartame tastes just like sugar. I cannot recognize it as distinct from sugar, corn sweetener, or acesulfame K or most of the -ols in any product. I can discern sucralose, saccharine and xylitol, but even those in formulations for beverages confections and medicines can be difficult to discern, well, I can always pick out saccharine...
I can tell the difference between Pepsi and Coke, (Pepsi has cinnamon and clove notes) but I can’t taste the difference between Splenda Coke and Equal Coke, or between a novel diet beverage I’ve been told and believe was sweetened with Splenda and one that wasn’t.
Maybe I am getting some subtle clue I’m not consciously aware of, but the results are very consistent even if I think I’ve succeeded in avoiding aspartame.
Not sure how I could do a double blind test, but I have done a half-blind test.
Agreed. But I have no doubts that null and void, and others, will take issue with that fact.
It is a well established fact that people will experience certain effects if they expect them to occur.
Absolutely. And this is why any scientific test should be conducted exactly in the manner you suggested. For example:
During a four-month period, subjects received either aspartame, sugar or a placebo and underwent physical and psychological testing. Some subjects were given doses of up to 45 milligrams per kilogram of body weight--the equivalent of 17 to 24 12-ounce diet beverages for males and 14 to 19 12-ounce drinks for females. In the general population, most Americans who consume aspartame take in 3 milligrams per kilogram of body weight a day, the equivalent of one or less 12-ounce diet beverage. Despite the high consumption of aspartame, the 48 normal subjects showed no changes in mood, memory, behavior, electroencephalograms (which record the electrical signals of the brain) or physiology that could be tied to aspartame, Dr. Spiers found. Although some subjects reported headaches, fatigue, nausea and acne, the same number of incidences were reported by subjects taking placebo and sugar as those taking aspartame.
Study reaffirms safety of aspartame
The aspartame induced headache is, at least from what I've read, the most common complaint regarding aspartame. There has never been any substantiated, reproducible evidence that aspartame causes headaches, or that aspartame causes harm to humans in any way - provided that one doesn't abuse the ingredient. Just about everything can be dangerous to human health if it is consumed in excessive quantities.
So, the scientific evidence available at this time tells us that experiencing headaches or depression from aspartame is either psychosomatic in nature, or that something else is causing these results. Some researchers claim that a folate deficiency could be responsible. There is evidence that folate deficiency can explain many of the symptoms attributed to aspartame use. But, for some unknown reason, people experiencing these symptoms continue to blame aspartame, for which there is no legitimate scientific evidence to support their beliefs, rather than the more likely cause that sound science supports.
People can talk themselves into supporting all kinds of things, and then adopt a fixed mentality that no amount of evidence to the contrary will shake. This thread serves as a solid example of that very thing.