Can't live without your diet soda? It might be worse for you than you think. Aspartame can wreak havoc on your long-term memory.
By
Peter Rebhahn, published on March 01, 2001 - last reviewed on July 11, 2005
New research suggests that the artificial sweetener aspartame may
actually go to your head.
Anecdotal evidence that aspartame disrupts memory has been growing
since the sugar substitute was approved in the early 1980s, though
attempts to prove the claim have so far been equivocal. Previous studies
have tested memory by asking aspartame users to remember lists of words
or numbers -- tests of short-term memory. But according to Timothy M.
Barth, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Texas Christian University, those
studies focused on the wrong type of memory.
In his study of 90 students, Barth found that participants who
regularly drank diet sodas containing aspartame performed as well as
nonusers on laboratory tests. However, aspartame users were more likely
to report long-term memory lapses like forgetting details of personal
routines or whether or not a task had been completed.
"These people aren't crazy," says Barth. Instead, "the type of
memory problems they report are not the type of memories that have been
assessed in the typical laboratory study."
After reporting his findings at a recent Society for Neuroscience
meeting, Barth cautioned that he thinks it's premature to condemn
aspartame. But he does worry about the largely untested effects of
long-term use. Already, he has made some converts. "Several of my
graduate students who drank diet soda no longer do."
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