Aspartame

Basics

Aspartame (trademarks include Equal, NutraSweet, and NatraTaste) is composed of aspartic acid and phenylalanine Substances formed by combining acids. The substance was discovered in 1965 by Jim Schlatter, a chemist at G. D. Searle & Co. Pharmaceuticals (now part of Pfizer). While testing a new anti-ulcer drug, Schlatter licked his finger to pick up a piece of paper, and aspartame was invented.

Aspartame is 180 to 200 times sweeter than sugar, so a very small amount of aspartame is enough to sweeten food or drinks. After digestion, aspartame breaks down into three components: aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and methanol (wood alcohol).

People with the rare genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU), which lacks the enzyme that breaks down phenylalanine, should avoid taking aspartame. If these people consume or consume foods or beverages that contain large amounts of phenylalanine, phenylalanine can accumulate in the body, which may eventually lead to nerve damage and brain damage. Normally, hospitals will perform PKU tests on newborns.

Uses

Because aspartame decomposes when exposed to heat, it is not usually used in baked or heated foods. According to the official website of aspartame, there are more than 6,000 products containing this substance, including carbonated soft drinks, soft drink powders, chewing gum, preserves, edible gums, snack platters, puddings, fillings, frozen desserts, and yogurt. , table spices, and certain medications (such as vitamins and sugar-free cough syrups, etc.). In 1981, the FDA approved the use of aspartame as a food additive.

Controversy

Among the various artificial sweeteners, the safety of aspartame seems to be the most controversial. Since artificial sweeteners were approved for use, 75% of the complaints received by the Adverse Reaction Monitoring System have been about aspartame. Among those who have encountered such problems, only 1 reported it to the relevant departments [Reference].

Although there is currently no officially recognized research showing that there is indeed a problem with aspartame, many consumer groups and individuals have objections to this. People blame aspartame for several health problems, such as headaches, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, memory loss, and dizziness. The substance is also thought to be linked to increased rates of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Critics of aspartame argue that although aspartame’s two amino acids are natural components of the human diet, when people consume these two amino acids in daily food , they are present in the body along with a variety of other amino acids, thus counteracting the side effects of these two amino acids. But when these two amino acids are present alone, as they are in aspartame, there is concern that they can enter the central nervous system in abnormally high concentrations.

A similar problem exists with methanol (wood alcohol), which is broken down into methanol (wood alcohol) after aspartame is digested by the human body. As for methanol in fruit juices and alcoholic beverages, these methanols are usually accompanied by large amounts of ethanol, which can eliminate the toxicity of methanol. 10% of aspartame is absorbed into the blood in the form of methanol. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that the daily intake of methanol should not exceed the 7.8 mg limit. However, 1 liter of a drink containing aspartame contains approximately 56 milligrams of methanol, eight times the recommended limit.

In 2005, the "European Journal of Oncology" published an article on aspartame research, which showed that aspartame can cause lymphoma and leukemia in female mice. It was also found that the lowest level of aspartame consumption that increased the incidence of lymphoma and leukemia in adult rats was equivalent to drinking eight cans (or two cans for young rats) of aspartame-containing soda drinks per day. The prevalence of brain tumors in animals that received aspartame was 12/1500, compared with zero in animals that did not receive aspartame.

On the other hand, studies in many groups show that aspartame is a safe sweetener and does not cause health problems.