{"id":99,"date":"2009-07-14T17:13:59","date_gmt":"2009-07-14T21:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/caloriecontrol.wpengine.com\/?p=99"},"modified":"2023-06-04T14:41:14","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T18:41:14","slug":"aspartame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caloriecontrol.org\/aspartame\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspartame"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Aspartame is a low-calorie sweetener that is one of the most rigorously studied ingredients in the food supply. Aspartame is used widely as a sugar replacer in a variety of foods and beverages, as well as some pharmaceutical products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Health experts agree that balanced nutrition and being physically active are keys to a healthy lifestyle. To help people achieve these goals, the U.S. government provides \u201cDietary Guidelines for Americans,\u201d which encourage consumers to \u201cChoose and prepare foods and beverages with little added sugars or caloric sweeteners.\u201d The World Health Organization also recommends a number of dietary guidelines to combat increases in chronic diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, cancer, and diabetes. One recommendation is to limit sugars added to some foods and beverages. As a low-calorie sweetener, aspartame can reduce or replace added sugar and calories in foods and beverages while maintaining great taste, offering one simple step to help people move closer to achieving a more healthful diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further, studies have shown that foods and beverages sweetened with aspartame can be an effective \u201ctool\u201d as part of a weight management program. Aspartame, however, is not a drug and does not stimulate weight loss. It does however, help make possible good tasting low- or reduced-calorie foods and beverages for those who wish to control or reduce their caloric intake. Researchers at Harvard Medical School have concluded that aspartame \u201cis a valuable adjunct to a comprehensive program of balanced diet, exercise and behavior modifications for losing weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rapid rise in aspartame\u2019s popularity can be attributed to the many benefits aspartame provides to calorie-conscious consumers, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aspartame is found in about 6,000 products globally, including carbonated soft drinks, powdered soft drinks, chewing gum, confections, gelatins, dessert mixes, puddings and fillings, frozen desserts, yogurt, tabletop sweeteners, and some pharmaceuticals such as vitamins and sugar-free cough drops. Like all food ingredients, aspartame must be listed in the ingredient statement on the food label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several tabletop sweeteners contain aspartame as the sweetening ingredient can be used in a wide variety of recipes. However, in some recipes requiring lengthy heating or baking, a loss of sweetness may occur. Note, this is not a safety issue \u2014 simply the product may not be as sweet as desired. Therefore, it is best to use tabletop sweeteners with aspartame in specially designed recipes available from the manufacturers of these tabletop sweeteners. Aspartame tabletop sweeteners may also be added to some recipes at the end of heating to maintain sweetness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aspartame is composed of two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalanine, as the methyl ester. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Aspartic acid and phenylalanine are also found naturally in protein-containing foods, including meats, grains and dairy products. Methyl esters are also found naturally in many foods such as fruits and vegetables and their juices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon digestion, aspartame breaks down into three components (aspartic acid, phenylalanine and a small amount of methanol), which are then absorbed into the blood and used in normal body processes. Neither aspartame nor its components accumulate in the body. These components are used in the body in the same ways as when they are also derived from common foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further, the amounts of these components from aspartame are small compared to the amounts from other food sources. For example, a serving of nonfat milk provides about 6 times more phenylalanine and 13 times more aspartic acid compared to an equivalent amount of diet beverage sweetened 100% with aspartame. Likewise, a serving of tomato juice provides about 6 times more methanol compared to an equivalent amount of diet beverage with aspartame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) is an important regulatory concept, which is frequently misunderstood. The ADI is a very conservative estimate of the amount of a sweetener that can safely be consumed on a daily basis over a person\u2019s lifetime. It is not a specific point at which safety ends and possible health concerns begin. In fact, occasional intake above the ADI is not of concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FDA has set the ADI for aspartame at 50 mg\/kg of body weight\/day. The chart that follows describes the approximate number of servings of various aspartame-containing products that an adult and child would need to consume to reach the ADI for aspartame. Aspartame is one of the most thoroughly studied ingredients in the food supply. It was tested in more than 100 scientific studies before the FDA approved it in 1981. The studies were conducted in laboratory animals and humans, including healthy infants, children, and adults, lactating women, people with diabetes, obese individuals, and people who are carriers of the rare genetic disease phenylketonuria (PKU). Upon approving aspartame, the FDA Commissioner noted, \u201cFew compounds have withstood such detailed testing and repeated, close scrutiny, and the process through which aspartame has gone should provide the public with additional confidence of its safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After FDA approval, extensive additional research has been done with aspartame, which further confirmed its safety for the general population. In fact, aspartame has been tested for more than three decades, in more than 200 studies, with the same result: aspartame is safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\nAspartame-containing Product<\/strong>\n<\/td> \nApproximate number of
servings per day to reach the ADI<\/strong>\n<\/td> Approximate number of
servings per day to reach the ADI<\/strong> <\/td><\/tr>\nAdult (150 lb.)<\/strong>\n<\/td> \nChild (50 lb.)<\/strong>\n<\/td><\/tr> Carbonated soft drink (12 oz.)<\/td> 20<\/td> 6<\/td><\/tr> Powdered soft drink (8 oz.)<\/td> 33<\/td> 11<\/td><\/tr> Gelatin (4 oz.)<\/td> 42<\/td> 14<\/td><\/tr> Tabletop sweetener (packet)<\/td> 97<\/td> 32<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Extensive market research has shown that aspartame consumption patterns for the general population and various subgroups are well below the ADI. Aspartame consumption by high-level consumers (90th percentile) in the general population, including children, is between 5% and 10% of the ADI. This means that 9 out of 10 people consume less than 10% of the ADI.<\/p>\n\n\n
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