POTUS is a big fan of Aspartame-sweetened Diet Coke. I've always worried about that, although his health and cognition remain awesome.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-15398793/Artificial-sweetener-Diet-Coke-chewing-gum-trigger-heart-brain-damage-study-suggests.html

. . . Aspartame – found Diet Coke, Pepsi Max and Sprite, as well as products like Extra chewing gum – has long been linked to health concerns including cancer, high blood pressure and stroke.

Now, Spanish researchers say consuming high levels of the additive may also age the brain and stiffen the heart.

In a study on mice, higher aspartame intake – roughly equivalent to three servings every fortnight – was linked to around a 20 per cent increased risk of mild cardiac hypertrophy, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes thickened, as well as accelerated cognitive decline.

The researchers also found that body fat dropped by around a fifth in the animals.

Writing in the journal Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, the researchers at the Centre for Cooperative Research in Biomaterials in San Sebastián, urged officials to review current aspartame consumption guidelines.

They said: 'Aspartame does indeed reduce fat deposits by 20 per cent in mice, but it does so at the cost of mild cardiac hypertrophy and decreased cognitive performance.

'Although this sweetener may help achieve weight loss in mice, it is accompanied by pathophysiological changes in the heart and, possibly, in the brain.

In the study, mice were given a dose of 7mg of aspartame per kilogram of body weight. This was administered over three consecutive days every two weeks.

By comparison, the World Health Organization, the European Medicines Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration advise that people should consume no more than 50mg per kilogram of body weight per day. [Yes, that's more than SEVEN times the amount-per-body-weight used in the study -- and millions of people use or exceed that amount daily for DECADES]

Over a year-long follow-up, mice exposed to aspartame showed a reduction in heart output in both ventricles – falling by 26 per cent in the left ventricle and 20 per cent in the right.

The researchers also found septal curvature – the thick muscular wall separating the heart's right and left ventricles – was reduced by 25 per cent.

The mice showed 'signs of altered neurobehavior' and 'possible pathophysiological changes in the brain', the study said.

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