Aspartame (Artifical Sweetner)

There is such an abundance of good (and bad) information on the internet that I thought it would be reasonable to re-look at this sweetener based on scientific studies to date. Aspartame has been on the market in thousands of products (sodas, chewing gum, dairy products, and even many medicines) for 25 years. NutraSweet and Equal are popular brands.

If one looks at some of the myths surrounding this sweetener, one will find advocates of its link to headaches, seizures, mood changes, poor memory, allergies, lupus, brain cancer, and weight gain. (There are absolutely no good human scientific studies showing any link to any one of these).

What is Aspartame? It is composed to two amino acids (proteins), aspartic and phenylalanine (as the methyl ester). Aspartic acid and phenylalanine are also found naturally in foods containing protein, including meats, grains and dairy products. Methyl esters are also found naturally in many foods such as fruits and vegetables and their juices. Upon digestion, aspartame breaks down into three components (aspartic acid, phenylalanine and 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 way as when they are derived from common foods.

I sometimes get the impression that people look at ‘aspartame' as a ‘metal' that can't break down and accumulates as a whole product in the liver or brain etc. As you can see it is broken down in the digestive track into three recognizable components.

The science: To put at least some of the myth to bed, there was a major new study published by the scientists at the National Cancer Institute involving 340,045 men and 226,945 women, ages 50 to 69, participating in a research project by the National Institutes of Health.

Over the next five years (after careful dietary studies sorting out the high aspartame users and low aspartame users) they determined if there was any link to the use of aspartame and blood-related cancers such as lymphoma or leukemia, and brain tumors. NO LINK was found.

Thus, the only concern with aspartame seems to be our feeling that if "I have diet soda at lunch it means I can have a desert at supper."

A good web site people can check out on various topics that remain controversial is: http://www.quackwatch.org/. It explains the good (and bad) scientific knowledge surrounding a whole array of topics, without bias.