Last week, as my job interview was drawing to a close, the interviewer asked if I had anything else I wanted to add. Since I had been in there for an hour and felt rather comfortable with the woman, I said, "Well, I haven't had a Coke in over a week." She laughed, and from there we started talking about diet soda. She told me about a friend who decided Nutrasweet was addictive after trying to quit drinking Diet Coke. She got headaches, but she assumed they came from the caffeine withdrawal, so she started drinking tea to compensate. But the headaches didn't go away; the only thing she could think of was the artificial sweetener.

Nutrasweet, also know as aspartame, happens to be in the fiber dietary supplement I'm taking (my generic metamucil). Thanks to my college journalism professors, who stoked my inquisitive mind, I went hunting for some more info on aspartame. If I'm going to be ingesting the stuff, I want to know exactly what it is. Here's what I found:

• Aspartame (Nutrasweet) Toxicity Info Center -- The toxicity reaction samples are letters from former users citing the problems they had during and after their ingestion of aspartame.
• Aspartame.org -- the official aspartame information outlet. And on the flipside...
• AspartameKills.com -- Donald Rumsfeld, former head of the company that got the FDA to approve aspartame, has his picture right alongside Hitler's. Grain of salt, much?
• The Bitter Truth About Artificial Sweeteners -- "According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame: Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson's disease, alzheimer's, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes."
• Aspartame Dangers, from 321recipes.com -- Over 100 articles, many authored by doctors and nutritionists, on the effects of aspartame.
• Aspartame, from a natural health website, Mercola.com -- Among the interesting information on this site is a timeline of aspartame's development ("1971 - Dr. John Olney, a research psychiatrist, told Searle that aspartic acid caused 'holes in the brains of mice.'" And later, "1975 - Many of the test animals fed ASP developed large TUMORS. These were NOT reported to the FDA.") and an article explaining why this sweetener used in low-fat, low-sugar foods might actually encourage weight gain.
• Brain Tumors -- This reprint of a 1996 Minneapolis Star-Tribune article reports the results of a study that blamed an upsurge in the number of deadly brain tumors in the U.S. on aspartame.
• Examining the Safety of Aspartame -- an FAQ from the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.
• NutraSweet.com Information Center -- all about the branded version of aspartame, including a news article titled "Aspartame will not turn you into a toad."
• Aspartame Fact Sheet -- SafeFood.org says aspartame is safe, citing studies from a number of respected medical organizations as well as the FDA.
• Aspartame Fact Sheet -- from the International Sweeteners Association.
• Study reaffirms safety of aspartame -- From the MIT news office. "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."

All of that is to say that... I have no clue whether or not I should be taking any sort of aspartame. There were many more anti-aspartame sites, but they all seemed to be affiliated. And the pro-aspartame sites, well, who knows who is putting money in whose pockets for whose best interests? (I don't expect you to follow that sentence.) But at least I'm informed. Right?

Comments

[Jenny]

Wait, how did the job interview go?

[Julie]

Ah, the interview! It was with a placement company that specializes in IT and creative openings (I do mostly graphic design and production). I filled out a skills inventory, and I talked with the account manager for about an hour, showing her my portfolio and discussing my work experience. She was very honest with me; there are over 10 thousand people in their database. But I am in a very small niche. I've done web and print work recently (there was an exodus of print designers to the web when the boom started, so a lot of their print experience is out of date), and I'm good at both design *and* production (many only excel at one or the other). Plus, since my last two jobs have been at print shops, I have hands-on technical experience with equipment as well. I haven't gotten a call yet for any jobs, but it's a slow period anyway. But, hopefully, something turns up. And this is the second placement agency I've registered with, which doubles my chances since they each have different clients they work with.