The Natural Medicine Guide to Bipolar Disorder

“You can't just hand a bipolar person lithium and be done with her. I mean, you can—and that's exactly what is done for most bipolar people. But that's not treatment. That's not good care.”169
—LIZZIE SIMON, bipolar at 17, author of Detour

Food additives can produce a range of effects, from depression, insomnia, nervousness, and hyperactivity to dizziness, blurred vision, and migraines. Research has established that aspartame (an artificial sweetener), aspartic acid (an amino acid in aspartame), glutamic acid (found in flavor enhancers and salt substitutes), and the artificial flavoring MSG (monosodium glutamate) are neurotoxins.105 Aspartame and MSG are particularly implicated in depression.