My Aspartame Experiment

"It is an understatement to say that as a private citizen with a minimal research budget, my protocol was unlike that of any other study I have researched.
I separated 108 rats into two groups – an aspartame group of 30 females and 30 males, and a control group of 24 females and 24 males.
The study was conducted for two years, five months (about 125 weeks) from the end of May, 2002, through November, 2004, until the spontaneous death of the animals.
My experimental group received aspartame in the form of NutraSweet dissolved in their drinking water – two packets per each eight ounces of water (about 80 mg of aspartame per each eight ounces) – available 24 hours per day.
The male rats received about 34 mg/kg of aspartame per day. (A human male would drink an equivalent of about 13 12-oz. cans or 2.25 two-liter bottles of diet soda per day).
The females received about 45 mg/kg per day. A human female would drink an equivalent of about 14 12 oz. cans or 2.4 two liter bottles of diet soda per day.
My setup is shown to the right. (Not shown are the clay saucers and upside-down clay pots that served as the houses for the rats).
I observed and videotaped the rats for about 2 ½ years. I extracted digital photos from the videos and have documented the results in My Aspartame Experiment: Report from a Private Citizen; now available as a downloadable e-book."
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