These ideas are false. They are food and diet industry propaganda that make and keep us fat and sick. Lies by the food industry combined with bad government policy based on food industry lobbying are the major cause of our obesity and diabetes epidemic.
The safety of aspartame -- the artificial sweetener sold under the brand names Equal and NutraSweet -- has been the subject of many studies over the years. But despite all the hype about controversy, there is no aspartame controversy.