Aspartame marketed as NutraSweet, E951 or 951, Equal, Canderel, etc. is a psycho drug that changes brain chemistry. Ralph G. Walton, M.D.. Medical Director, Safe Harbor Behavioral Health

Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. says:

"The dipeptide component of the molecule can alter brain chemistry, significantly changing the ratio of catecholamines to indolamines, with resultant lowering of seizure threshold, production of carbohydrate craving and in vulnerable individuals leading to panic, depressive and cognitive symptoms."

In one of Dr. Walton's papers he said further: "The neurochemical impact of aspartame on the brain is fairly complicated. Not only does it decrease the availability of the building block for serotonin (L-tryptophan), but one of the two amino acids that comprise aspartame, phenylalanine, is a precursor for another very important neurotransmitter, norepinephrine. Papers which I published in 1986 and 1993 discuss what I believe is the clinical impact (accentuating depressive illness) of altering the balance between these 2 neurotransmitters (norepinephrine and serotonin). "There is evidence that the therapeutic effect of antidepressants can be blocked by parachlorophenylalanine - a form of phenylalanine- one of the major constituents of aspartame. Administration of this substance has also been associated with aggression and binging."

So it has certainly been established aspartame changes brain chemistry, and interacts with anti-depressants. The phenylalanine in aspartame depletes serotonin triggering bipolar, suicidal tendencies, panic attacks, paranoia, hallucinations, schizophrenic, mood swings, insomnia, anxiety, etc.