Check out this video, Aspertame - Sweet Misery. This is only part 1. The remainder is available on YT (if you remember to continue...). Aspertame, a.k.a. Nutrasweet, a.k.a. Equal, turns to formaldehyde in your body.
Here is a written list of the side effects.
See this article. Here is an extract: Aspartame breaks down into methanol, amino acids and several other chemicals. The methanol is quickly absorbed and converted into formaldehyde. The methanol found in foods and alcoholic beverages is also absorbed, but there are "protective chemicals" in these traditionally-ingested foods and beverages that prevent the conversion of methanol to formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is known to cause gradual damage to the nervous system, the immune system and has recently been shown to cause irreversible genetic damage at long-term, low-level exposure. The calculated level of formaldehyde exposure is approximately 61.3mg for every liter of aspartame ingested. That is over twice the level necessary to cause irreversible genetic damage in humans and several times the level shown to cause chronic neurological, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and other symptoms in long-term industrial exposure research. The damage caused by formaldehyde from aspartame may be worsened by other aspartame breakdown chemicals, especially the aspartic acid.
Yummy.
