Any weight-conscious consumer - and there are more of them every day! - will frequently encounter the sweetener aspartame as a sugar substitute. Beyond dieters, controlling sugar intake can be vital for people with or at risk for diabetes. So it's natural to consider the safety of an ingredient found in a growing array of foods and beverages, from breakfast cereals to soft drinks to low-calorie desserts like Tropical Sno Lite Flavors. .
After studying the effects of hundreds of drugs, chemicals, foods and food additives very few substances have been scrutinized as closely as aspartame, or yielded such consistently positive safety results.
Government agencies, health organizations and respected centers of science have been involved in these studies. Their conclusions are remarkably uniform - aspartame poses no health risks to the general population.
Rigorous study
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that it has reviewed over 100 toxicological and clinical studies on aspartame. Based on this comprehensive analysis, aspartame is one of four sugar substitutes that carries FDA approval.
That's a worldwide point of view. Also pronouncing aspartame safe are the European Union's Scientific Committee for Food; the United Nations' Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives; the World Health Organization; and many, many more (some are listed at end of this article.) In all, more than 90 countries have approved aspartame.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Clinical Research Center has studied whether aspartame consumption leads to any physical and psychological effects different from the effects of sugar or a placebo. This 1998 project concluded that even large amounts of aspartame - much more than consumers typically take in during a day - showed no adverse impact on the health and well being of people in the study.
Experts agree that a small group of people with a rare hereditary condition called phenylketonuria (PKU) should restrict or avoid the ingestion of the amino acid phenylalanine, which is found in aspartame. This recommendation covers all sources of this common amino acid, which includes many foods that have no aspartame. The incidence of PKU is estimated at 1 in 16,000 among Americans. PKU can be detected by a blood test at birth, which is routinely administered to newborn babies in the U.S. (All packages of our products with aspartame carry a PKU alert, whether or not local law requires it.) It would be exceedingly rare for someone to have this disease and not be aware of it from birth.
Sweet without the sugar
When it comes to adding sweetness, just a little aspartame goes a long way. That's because aspartame is about 180 times sweeter than sugar. So calorie-conscious consumers can indulge their sweet tooth without disrupting their diet.
Most of us know someone with diabetes - there are an estimated 16 million in the U.S. alone. Many use aspartame to comply with a doctor's order to limit their carbohydrate intake. The American Diabetes Association has said that it considers aspartame to be an acceptable sugar substitute and a safe part of a diabetic meal plan.
Metabolic action
The name "aspartame" might sound a little exotic, but the main ingredients are two common dietary components known as amino acids. One is phenylalanine, mentioned above, and the other is aspartic acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and therefore play an essential role in nutrition for people of all ages.
The two amino acids found in aspartame occur naturally in a number of meats, grains and dairy products. For example, eight ounces of milk will contain over 400 mg of phenylalanine, and 3 ounces of chicken will have more than 1,000 mg. In comparison, an eight ounce diet soft drink will contain only 62 mg.
During digestion, aspartame yields a very small amount of methanol - as do many other food substances. The body converts this methanol to formaldehyde, which is instantly converted to formate. Formate is quickly eliminated as carbon dioxide and water.
All of this is routine, normal human metabolism. Even so, in recent years unfounded rumors have been spawned and spread, mainly through anonymous Internet messages, that wrongly associate aspartame with various health conditions.
While methanol in large doses is toxic, the small amount present in aspartame and a number of other foods, such as tomatoes and oranges, is easily metabolized by the body without any problems. Many of the foods we safely eat all the time contain small amounts of naturally occurring substances, like methanol, that in much larger amounts would not be safe.
The real danger is in the rumors themselves. They can cause consumers needlessly to forego the health benefits and enjoyment of foods and beverages that meet their requirements for reduced sugar and calorie consumption. They also cause needless worry and confusion, and provide incorrect health information to many in the greatest need of accurate information.
In July 2001, MayoClinic.com published an article entitled "Health myths: Debunking medical misinformation" that countered several medical falsehoods popularized via the Internet. Among these discredited rumors was aspartame as a health risk.
Numerous health organizations have published statements supporting the safety of aspartame. Information about aspartame safety can be found on the web sites of many of these organizations.
American Heart Association
Calorie Control Council
European Food Information Council
International Food Information Council
United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
