luckily for me, aspartame [for now, god-willing] seems to have no downside i can detect, IOW the things which addle me now were the same before aspartame was invented. splenda is a great sweetener, and since most of the stuff on store shelves [in the diet section] uses this [in USA], i find it helps me keep the poundage down. what lots of folk have forgotten, is that typical dietary quantities of refined carbs like white flour and white sugar are BAD for you, and in their own ways worse even than aspartame with its formic acid and whatnot.