ASPARTAME AND SEIZURE SUSCEPTIBILITY - RESULTS OF A CLINICAL-STUDY INREPORTEDLY SENSITIVE INDIVIDUALS

The high intensity sweetener aspartame has been implicated anecdotally in seizure provocation. This possibility was investigated with a rand omized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. After an e xtensive search, 18 individuals (16 adults and 2 children) who had sei zures allegedly related to aspartame consumption were admitted to adul t or pediatric epilepsy monitoring units where their EEG was monitored continuously for 5 days. Aspartame (50 mg/kg) or identically enpackag ed placebo was administered in divided doses at 0800, 1000, and 1200 h on study days 2 and 4. All meals were uniformly standardized on treat ment days. No clinical seizures or other adverse experiences were obse rved after aspartame ingestion. Mean plasma phenylalanine (Phe) concen trations increased significantly after aspartame ingestion (83.6 mu M) as compared with placebo (52.3 mu M). Results suggest that aspartame, in acute dosage of similar to 50 mg/kg, is no more likely than placeb o to cause seizures in individuals who reported that their seizures we re provoked by aspartame consumption.