Aspartame is a common artificial sweetener that is highly controversial in terms of impact it may have on your overall health. Excess aspartame might excite your brain cells to a point of overstimulation – leading to exitotoxicity and brain cell death. Aspartame contains several amino acids that are capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier which can lead to neuronal destruction and damage. It contains aspartic acid, methanol and phenlyalanine. This videos explains the side effects of aspartame.