I just read in a health magazine that this could cause extreme anxiety!! I think I believe it. I live on that stuff and have pretty much my whole life. I am going to stop drinking the diet soda and use splenda in my coffee and see if I notice a difference. Any thoughts on this?

Im not sure ..i do know aspartame gives me headaches i can have maybe one diet soda and be alright..but any more and i get a headache.
Of course caffiene will trigger anxiety,so unless your drining decaff that can do it too.

What magazine did you read that in and what evidence did they cite? That is a rumor that's been circulating for years but no study (that I am aware of) has ever found a connection.

I started having panic attacks way before I started using aspartame.

I have read that info regarding aspartame too but have also read that Splenda is no better. I hate to be so negative but anything fake or processed and not natural can not be good for us. I bought for the first time a popular powered fruity drink mix that is made with splenda and has no calories etc., and drank it straight for 2 days b/c it tasted soooooooooooo good and had the worst anxiety attack and weird depressions and feelings I've ever had and immediately started researching and cut it out completely. If you are trying to stay away from sugar, I've read that Stevia is the only natural safe thing.
I don't think we can post actual websites on here, but there is one regarding Splenda and Aspartame that talk about the horrors of it!

That's just my two cents!! :) :)
Healthy2b

I just read in a health magazine that this could cause extreme anxiety!! I think I believe it. I live on that stuff and have pretty much my whole life. I am going to stop drinking the diet soda and use splenda in my coffee and see if I notice a difference. Any thoughts on this?

Well, it's possible in some people because it contains phenylalanine, an amino acid. I read that L-Phenylalanine can also be converted into tyrosine. Tyrosine is converted into L-DOPA, norepinephrine, and epinephrine.

So I'm thinking it's the isolation of phenylalanine(which shouldn't be isolated from other aminos) that causes overproduction of norepinephrine and epinephrine which are basically adrenaline and as most people know, adrenaline is the big culprit in anxiety.