Yes this is an interesting thought. Something like Aspartame, at least in a subset of the population, induces headaches. So it's interacting with something related to the brain in some people at least.
Doing some digging there are some case reports, not studies, of people suffering migraines from Sucralose (Splenda was used in the study).[0] The product safety people at McNeil Nutritionals (manufacturers of Splenda) in reply to these cases pointed out, rightfully in my opinion, that a couple of cases in millions of exposures is hardly concerning.[1]
However that's just saying it doesn't cause migraines, or on the off-chance it does nobody has proven it with a proper controlled study. But migraines are not performance on a Stroop task from the study. There could still be some interaction between Sucralose, or perhaps artificial sweeteners more generally, and Stroop task performance.
A more complex study design could nail it down I guess.
> Something like Aspartame, at least in a subset of the population, induces headaches.
Possibly, probably not:
> Headaches are the most common symptom reported by consumers.[8] While one small review noted aspartame is likely one of many dietary triggers of migraines, in a list that includes "cheese, chocolate, citrus fruits, hot dogs, monosodium glutamate, aspartame, fatty foods, ice cream, caffeine withdrawal, and alcoholic drinks, especially red wine and beer,"[66] other reviews have noted conflicting studies about headaches[8][67] and still more reviews lack any evidence and references to support this claim.[38][41][65]
(Don't make me copy and paste all of the citations. You know I'll do it.)
You are right to call me out on that it seems. I just looked into it further and this study[0] seems like pretty good evidence - double blind randomized crossover study with 48 "sensitive" and 48 control subjects - that there isn't any significant Aspartame effect.
after extensive self-experimentation, I whole heartedly agree with the findings of this research and highly recommend atomic fireballs prior to any important programming session
