I decided to dig a little deeper, to figure out if I was really going to die from drinking a little too much pop.

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1981 after studies found that it was generally safe. It is used in diet sodas, gum, certain medications, some desserts and even some breakfast cereals! It is considered an alternative to sugar, which can cause problems of its own, such as obesity and diabetes.

Before aspartame was approved by the FDA, it was of course tested. In the beginning, it was approved because scientists found that it was safe. They continued doing tests since then to verify what they found, as well. Although people may say that aspartame is unsafe, the FDA has never found anything that conclusively links aspartame to specific health problems. There is, however, one exception.

If you look at a can of die soda, you may notice that there is a warning on the label. Why would a company put a warning on a product if it's supposed to be safe? For a small part of the population, aspartame has been proven to cause serious health problems. For people who suffer from PKU (phenylketonuria), aspartame may be very dangerous.

PKU is a rare disease which affects roughly one in every 10,000 people. Aspartame contains a substance which sufferers of PKU are unable to digest. Fortunately, aspartame is so powerful that only a small amount is used in pop and other foods, and therefore it is unlikely that a person who is diagnosed with this disease will die from the aspartame. It has also been noted that people with liver disease or high blood pressure, something that young people do not generally have to deal with, may have a hard time digesting aspartame.

After reading this, you may still be concerned. It should be understood that aspartame is not a threat to the general public, but to reassure you, I offer this fact: In an 8-ounce class of milk, the amount of phenylalanine (the dangerous citric acid found in aspartame) is the same as in an 8-ounce glass of diet pop.

Still worried? For more information, you can check out these websites:

"Is Aspartame safe for my child?" http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_fit/nutrition/aspartame.html
"Is Aspartame Safe?" http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qa-adf9.html
"Can we tell if Aspartame is safe?" http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro00/web2/Chivers.html

p.s. Aspartame is often sold as NutraSweet(tm) or Equal(tm), by the way.