The diet industry was hit hard when saccharin was deemed carcinogenic. Aspartame was the next generation artificial sweetener, and it was pushed through the US Food and Drug Administration very quickly, before many scientists were convinced that there were no long-term side effects. I used to drink diet caffeine-free soda (yeah, I know, why bother), and when I quit I had a headache, similar to one that you get from caffeine withdrawal. There are a lot of questions concerning NutraSweet, enough that I do not allow my kids to consume anything with aspartame in it. Possibly paranoid, but the kids are worth being so.