Tumors in the control group

A total of 20 females from the aspartame group developed visible tumors -- 67% of all females on aspartame. Seven males from the aspartame group developed visible tumors -- 23% of all males on aspartame.

Females hit harder than males

The total number of rats with tumors in the aspartame group was 27 – 20 females and 7 males. The percentage of females-to-males was therefore 20/7 or 286%, which coincides with the observation of H.J. Roberts, M.D, author of Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, that females are more affected by aspartame than males by a 3:1 ratio.

Other adverse effects

In addition to tumors, the rats in my aspartame group developed other adverse effects, including neurological, eye, and skin disorders, thinning and yellowing fur, and one mutation.

Is aspartame safe?

The US ADI allows for human consumption of 50 mg/kg of aspartame per body weight per day, which is equivalent to about 20 12 oz. cans of diet soda.

The FDA claims that it is safe for a 150 lb. (68 kg) human adult (male or female) to drink up to 20 12-oz. cans of diet soda per day. The acceptable daily intake (ADI) set for the European Union (EU) is 80% of the US ADI, so a 68 kg human adult in the EU could consume up to 16 cans of diet soda per day.

In my protocol, the male rats were given the equivalent of 65% of the US ADI and 80% of the EU ADI. My female rats were given the equivalent of 70% of the US ADI and 90% of the EU ADI. By FDA mandate, the US ADI is supposed to be one-hundredth of the smallest amount that causes any effect injurious to health.

When you consider the aggregate of observed adverse effects documented in this report, I believe that the levels of aspartame my rats received have been shown to be injurious to health. The amount of aspartame approved for use by the FDA under its own guidelines should therefore be at most 1/100th of the amount received by my rats. My male rats received about 34 mg/kg/day and my females about 45 mg/kg/day. The ADI for human males and females should therefore be less than 0.34 mg/kg/day and 0.45 mg/kg/day, respectively.

The equivalent amount of soda for human and females participating in my experiment would be about 13 and 14 12-oz. cans of diet soda per day, respectively. The maximum amount of soda consumed by human males and females under my proposed aspartame ADI levels should therefore be at most 0.13 and 0.14 cans, or about 1/8th of a can of diet soda per day.

However, if the tumor rate observed in my study is considered valid, then aspartame should be removed from the marketplace altogether. According to the pro-aspartame authors of The Clinical Evaluation of a Food Additive: Assessment of Aspartame, “If the additive is found to cause cancer in either animals or humans at any dose, it is banned from use as a food additive, as a result of the Delaney Anticancer Clause of 1958.”