Aspartame may have idiosyncratic toxic effects for some people; however, there are few case reports published in the medical literature. We present two case reports in a pair of siblings, one with a vestibular and the other with a cochlear toxicity to
aspartame. The cochlear toxicity is the first case to be reported, while the vestibular toxicity is the second case to be reported.
CASE PRESENTATION: A 29-year-old white female had a 20-month history of
nausea and
headache, progressively getting worse with time and eventually to also involve
vomiting,
vertigo, and
ataxia. She was extensively evaluated and diagnosed with a
vestibular neuronitis versus a chronic
labyrinthitis and treated symptomatically with limited success. In response to a newspaper article, she stopped her
aspartame consumption with total cessation of her symptoms. Fifteen years later, her then 47-year-old white brother had a 30-month history of an intermittent, initially 5-10 minute long episode of a mild
sensorineural hearing loss in his right ear that progressed over time to several hour episodes of a moderately severe high-frequency
sensorineural hearing loss to include
tinnitus and a hypoesthetic area in front of his right tragus. After a negative magnetic resonance scan of the brain, he remembered his sister's experience with
aspartame and stopped his consumption of
aspartame with resolution of his symptoms, although the very
high frequency hearing loss took at least 15 months to resolve. For both, subsequent intentional challenges with
aspartame and unintentional exposures brought back each of their respective symptoms.
CONCLUSION: