The web is awash with all sorts of theories about aspartame. The company’s story is that it was designed as an anti-ulcer drug, and they realized it tastes sweet. But one theory that seems very interesting is that it was designed to be the world’s best ant poison, but they realized they could make more money with it as an artificial sweetener, so they marketed it as NutraSweet. Apparently it is extremely effective at killing ants. Some varieties of ants need it made into a solution, but others, like the capenter ant, can handle it raw. I would be very interested to find out if it is true, so if you have an ant problem, give aspartame a try, and report back and comment here. It sure beats the toxicity of other ant poisons, I would hope 