Ahhh, the sweet things in life - and no, I'm not talking about all of those Valentine's Day chocolates you ate yesterday! I'm talking about our discussion of high intensity sweeteners. Today's topic is Aspartame, perhaps the most maligned sweetener ever. And I'm going to put this out here now - if you really do believe all the tales of gloom that surround this sweetener, that's your perogative but I've researched and worked with this product and feel comfortable about its use.
Aspartame, chemically known as aspartylphenylalanine-methyl-ester, was created by accident in a lab in 1965. It is a dipeptide and is comprised of two amino acids: aspartic acid and phenylalanine linked together by a methyl-ester bond. It is digested and metabolized as a protein so it does have calories, but since it is 180-200 times sweeter than sugar, it is used in really small quantities so the caloric contribution is minimal. The downside of this product is its lack of heat stability and loss of sweetness over time however, these can be worked around by encapsulating the aspartame.
Now, for the elephant in the room - the safety of this product. The FDA approved aspartame for use in food in 1981 and it has been reaffirmed 26 times in the last 23 years. Over 500 toxicological and clinical studies have confirmed its safety and over 100 countries have approved its use. I will add this caveat - people who have phenylketuronia (the inability to process phenylalanine) cannot consume this product; therefore all products containing aspartame must carry a warning about PKU.
Aspartame is hydrolyzed into 3 metabolites - aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. The amino acids are simply broken down like every other amino acid we consume, so nothing interesting there. The methanol is broken down by the liver into formaldehyde, then to formic acid, and finally to carbon dioxide. It is this trifecta of methanol, formaldehyde and formic acid that are at the root of all of those websites proclaiming that aspartame is nothing but a poison. And while these ingredients would certainly cause you harm if ingested directly, they really don't pose a problem in the small quantities we are talking about. In fact, they all occur naturally in food or as by-products of food metabolism. As a matter of fact both citrus fruits and tomatoes produce a much higher quantity of methanol as a by-product of their metabolism and no one to my knowledge has dedicated a single internet page to either of those.
Claims have been made that aspartame is causes brain cancer, seizures, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, lupus, and multiple sclerosis. There aren't any studies that have been able to provide coroborating evidence for any of these claims. In fact, not only does the FDA proclaim its safety, but the National Cancer Institute, the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, the National Parkinson's Foundation, the Alzheimer's Association, the Lupus Foundation of America, the EU, Health Canada, and the UK (I could go on, but I won't) all say that aspartame is safe and does not cause these health problems. Here are the results of another study proclaiming aspartam's safety if you care to read it.
The reason aspartame is chosen over other sweeteners is because it intensifies and extends sweetness and fruit flavors. It is often added along with acesulfame potassium because these two products act synergistically, intensifying the overall sweetness and allow for a lower usage of both sweeteners. Also, aspartame does not ilicit an insulin response and so is safe for consumption by diabetics. It is found under the tradenames of Equal and NutraSweet.
Now that I've told you about aspartame, the good, the bad and the not-so-ugly, I hope you have a new understanding of this sweetener. The next post will be on neotame - of the 5, I'm pretty sure this one will be new to you!
Aspartame, chemically known as aspartylphenylalanine-methyl-ester, was created by accident in a lab in 1965. It is a dipeptide and is comprised of two amino acids: aspartic acid and phenylalanine linked together by a methyl-ester bond. It is digested and metabolized as a protein so it does have calories, but since it is 180-200 times sweeter than sugar, it is used in really small quantities so the caloric contribution is minimal. The downside of this product is its lack of heat stability and loss of sweetness over time however, these can be worked around by encapsulating the aspartame.
Now, for the elephant in the room - the safety of this product. The FDA approved aspartame for use in food in 1981 and it has been reaffirmed 26 times in the last 23 years. Over 500 toxicological and clinical studies have confirmed its safety and over 100 countries have approved its use. I will add this caveat - people who have phenylketuronia (the inability to process phenylalanine) cannot consume this product; therefore all products containing aspartame must carry a warning about PKU.
Aspartame is hydrolyzed into 3 metabolites - aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol. The amino acids are simply broken down like every other amino acid we consume, so nothing interesting there. The methanol is broken down by the liver into formaldehyde, then to formic acid, and finally to carbon dioxide. It is this trifecta of methanol, formaldehyde and formic acid that are at the root of all of those websites proclaiming that aspartame is nothing but a poison. And while these ingredients would certainly cause you harm if ingested directly, they really don't pose a problem in the small quantities we are talking about. In fact, they all occur naturally in food or as by-products of food metabolism. As a matter of fact both citrus fruits and tomatoes produce a much higher quantity of methanol as a by-product of their metabolism and no one to my knowledge has dedicated a single internet page to either of those.
Claims have been made that aspartame is causes brain cancer, seizures, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, lupus, and multiple sclerosis. There aren't any studies that have been able to provide coroborating evidence for any of these claims. In fact, not only does the FDA proclaim its safety, but the National Cancer Institute, the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, the National Parkinson's Foundation, the Alzheimer's Association, the Lupus Foundation of America, the EU, Health Canada, and the UK (I could go on, but I won't) all say that aspartame is safe and does not cause these health problems. Here are the results of another study proclaiming aspartam's safety if you care to read it.
The reason aspartame is chosen over other sweeteners is because it intensifies and extends sweetness and fruit flavors. It is often added along with acesulfame potassium because these two products act synergistically, intensifying the overall sweetness and allow for a lower usage of both sweeteners. Also, aspartame does not ilicit an insulin response and so is safe for consumption by diabetics. It is found under the tradenames of Equal and NutraSweet.
Now that I've told you about aspartame, the good, the bad and the not-so-ugly, I hope you have a new understanding of this sweetener. The next post will be on neotame - of the 5, I'm pretty sure this one will be new to you!
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