Years ago, probably in the 1990’s, I used aspartame sweetener regularly. I stopped after I experienced vision problems. I had to start wearing glasses for close work for the first time. With all the controversy surrounding the sweetener over the years and the availability of Splenda and stevia, I sort of assumed manufacturers had stopped using it. No.
I recently started drinking half glasses of Diet Dr. Pepper a few times a day. After several months of this, I have started to experience a degradation of vision, including blurring and pronounced double vision, especially at night. I sometimes have difficulty seeing well enough to drive at night.
I found in a visit to the grocery that every soft drink on the shelves was still sweetened with aspartame.
Diet Dr Pepper
Are the vision problems just coincidental with advancing presbyopia, or is aspartame toxic? Most prominent medical web sites claim the sweetener is completely safe for anyone who doesn’t have phenylketonuria. Others document claims of vision loss and other symptoms associated with its use.
10 Possible Aspartame Side Effects Worth Knowing
There are claims that aspartame is 10% methanol, a common agent of blindness in consumers of poorly distilled alcohol. I think it is more likely that processes such as heating and metabolism in the human body covert aspects of the sweetner to methanol.
A review of the metabolism of the aspartyl moiety of aspartame in experimental animals and man
Stopped using any diet drinks. We’ll see if the side effect is reversible.