Aspartame and neurobehavioural symptoms: a bibliometric synthesis across four decades (1985-2025)

This bibliometric synthesis maps the global research landscape on aspartame (ASP) and neurobehavioral symptoms over a 40-year period (1985-2025). Working from 30 included records, we quantified temporal trends, authorship, journal distribution, study designs, and recurring thematic emphases. Interest in the topic has revived, with most records (approximately 60%, 18/30) published from 2015 onwards. The literature is dispersed across many outlets, and animal/in-vivo studies (56.7%, 17/30) outnumber human/clinical studies (30.0%, 9/30). Recurring domains were behavioral, cognitive, and memory-related outcomes, with proposed mechanisms including neurotransmitter disruption and oxidative imbalance. Despite this activity, a critical evidence gap persists, driven chiefly by the scarcity of adequately powered human data and by methodological heterogeneity. Larger human studies and methodological harmonization are needed to reduce uncertainty and to inform public-health policy. To our knowledge, this is among the first bibliometric syntheses focused specifically on the ASP neurobehavior literature; it is intended to complement, rather than replace, existing narrative and toxicological reviews of the field.