The list of reasons not to use aspertame are mounting higher and higher every year. The American Diabetes Assoc study showing that it doesn't affect insulin levels was funded by the manufacturer so take it a grain of salt. Now there are several lawsuits over it's safety.
An article from last month.
FDA Studies Show Aspartame Link to Brain Tumors
Mission Possible is seeking New York and New Jersey plaintiffs for
litigation on aspartame.
ATLANTA (PRWEB via PR Web Direct) April 12, 2005 -- Consumer rights advocacy
group Mission Possible is leading a campaign to fill a product liability
lawsuit with New York and New Jersey residents whose brain tumors may be
linked to the consumption of the artificial sweetener aspartame
(NutraSweet/Equal/Spoonful, etc.).
"Neither congressional hearings or repeated petitions calling for a ban have
stopped aspartame manufacturers from exposing the public to this sweet
poison. In fact, aspartame producers are reporting increased sales and
boasting the marketplace addition of 'neotame,' a new aspartame product,"
explained Mission Possible International Founder Betty Martini.
For 16 years, the FDA resisted pressure to approve aspartame due to safety
studies linking the artificial sweetener to numerous adverse reactions,
including the development of brain tumors in animal studies. In 1977, FDA
investigator Jerome Bressler released a report describing how, in clinical
studies submitted to the FDA, Searle removed aspartame-induced brain tumors
that developed in lab rats and placed them back into the study. If the rats
died, Bressler reported, Searle would resurrect them on paper.
In a personal conversation with Martini and prominent aspartame experts,
Doctors H. J. Roberts and Russell Blaylock he admitted the studies were so
bad FDA removed 20% of the most damaging data of his report.
Three years after Donald Rumsfeld became CEO of Searle, aspartame was
approved for use in dry goods. To find out how he accomplished this feat,
click into the new movie, “Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World” and hear the
words of renowned Washington Consumer Attorney James Turner as he speaks
about President Reagan's Executive Order:
http://www.soundandfury.tv/pages/Rumsfeld2.html
Since its 1981 approval, the FDA has published a list of 92 symptoms of
aspartame poisoning, which includes headaches, vision loss including
blindness, seizures, neurological problems, cardiovascular problems and
death. The FDA admits adverse reactions to aspartame comprise about 80
percent of consumer complaints it receives each year. Martini has been
networking victims, scientists, and physicians under an umbrella of
scientific data and published medical literature that has been growing since
Mission Possible formed in 1992.
Having exhausted her executive and administrative remedies regarding the
removal of aspartame from the marketplace, Martini is convinced that,
"Litigation is the only way to spare consumers the misery of aspartame
poisoning." Martini's reasoning is supported in the outcomes of recent
product liability controversies. It was class action lawsuits -- not
government agency intervention -- that forced the epidemic of Vioxx-induced
heart attacks out into the open where the FDA had to take administrative
action, banning sales of the dangerous pain relief drug. Information from
the experts and in medical texts show aspartame is actually a neurotoxic
drug that interacts with other drugs and vaccinations.
The story of how aspartame was discovered and approved by the FDA has been
pieced together over the years through documents obtained by Mission
Possible. That aspartame overcame FDA neurotoxicity concerns and is now
found in over 7,000 commonly consumed foods, beverages and medical
preparations is a case study of how power politics trumps science and public
safety in the product approval process.
In one set of documents, aspartame producer G.D. Searle used poor people
from six third-world countries as test subjects for a study conducted in
1983/84. The data shows that, over the 18-month duration of the study, some
of the subjects developed brain tumors; others began to experience seizures.
In one case, a pregnant woman spontaneously aborted, began hemorrhaging and
then disappeared from the study.
The study showed that the numbers of people whose brains and central nervous
systems are adversely affected by aspartame are statistically significant
enough to warrant a review of its status as an FDA-approved artificial
sweetener. But the FDA was not provided with the results of the Searle study
nor was it allowed to review the clinical data.
A study was done at Kings College in England by Dr. Peter Nunn in 1999 on
aspartame and brain tumors. Monsanto insisted that aspartame could not cause
brain tumors because it doesn't get in the blood stream even though Martini
says industry's own studies shows it does and released this information in a
report, which can be read at
http://www.rense.com/health3/asptumor.htm.
In the result of this study it said: "Interestingly, when we exposed human
brain tumour cells to nitrosated DKP the cells became more motile and their
rate of proliferation was significantly elevated. While it is somewhat early
to speculate, it is possible that the aspartame breakdown product may be
capable of enhancing the rate of malignant progression of pre-existing (and
possibly clinically silent, undiagnosed) tumours in the brain." This was
exactly what the famed neuroscientist Dr. John Olney said when he made world
news in l996 over the aspartame/brain tumor association.
Monsanto, the maker of the controversial bovine growth hormone that has been
linked to the development of cancer in humans and cattle, bought Searle (and
the rights to produce aspartame) in 1985. They sold in l999 to other
companies.
The prevalence of brain tumors in the U.S. has been increasing steadily
since the early 1980s. Today, about 70 percent of adults and 40 percent of
children are regular consumers of products that contain aspartame.
"There is not one shred of evidence to suggest that aspartame is safe. Yet,
our files are overflowing with studies and reports proving that aspartame is
a not a food additive but a neurotoxic drug that breaks down to a brain
tumor agent, DKP. And now, 25 years later, we have epidemic proportions of
people developing brain tumors and a full spectrum of other neurological
disorders," Martini said.
Aspartame's road to marketplace approval and its effect on public health is
extremely well documented. The aspartame story has been described in the
1,038-page medical text "Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic" by H.J.
Roberts, MD. (
http://www.sunsentpress.com). Excitotoxins: The Taste That
Kills by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., also describes these problems.
http://www.russellblaylockmd.com
Former aspartame-induced multiple-sclerosis sufferer Cori Brackett traveled
over 7,000 miles to interview physicians, scientists, attorneys and FDA
investigators about aspartame neurotoxicity and how then former (and now
current) Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used his political muscle to
achieve aspartame's FDA approval. The result is the powerful video
documentary "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World"
(
www.soundandfuryproductions.com).
The largest collection of aspartame-related studies, reports and case
histories available anywhere in the world can be found online at
http://www.dorway.com, the Mission Possible website. Aspartame Toxicity
Center is
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
New York and New Jersey residents who believe they may qualify as a
plaintiff in a product liability lawsuit against aspartame producers are
encouraged to contact Mission Possible at (770) 242-2599. To qualify, one
must be able to establish themselves as an aspartame consumer prior to
developing a brain tumor and fall within the three-year statute of
limitations.
Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
(although I never used that much).. I dont drink soda ever!! Not even during my off season!! Always water!..I dont know I love water, oh yeah and orange juice in the morning!! I do miss my orange juice, its been 4 weeks now with the clean eating & 8 more weeks to go!!!
, it is all very helpful! But now i have another question, Splenda is not artificial, is it?? 
