Low Fat Meal Advice | The truth about Artificial Sweetener Aspartame

??Aspartame

Aspartame is an intense low calorie sweetener used to replace sugar in foods and beverages in more than 100 countries. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar and generally labelled on foods as ?E951? (International Food Information Council Foundation, 2003). Aspartame is marketed as a table top sweetener, specifically branded aSweet. It is also part of numerous foods on the market throughout the world, including soft drinks, desserts, and sweets. Aspartame is placed in foods as a sweetener which contains no calories therefore a replacement sugar which is believed to promote weight loss.

Composition and break down metabolites.

Aspartame is made up of two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Aspartame can be metabolised in several ways, it can be hydrolysed in the intestinal lumen to form Aspartame, phenylalanine and methanol, these are then absorbed into the intestinal lumen and reach circulation in a way that amino acids do. Alternatively Aspartame can be absorbed into mucosal cells, and then hydrolysed to aspartate, phenylalanine and methanol.

(Stegink et al in Tschenz et al, 1996).

(i) Aspartic Acid:

Aspartic acid is a naturally occurring amino acid; Aspartame contains approximately 40% aspartic acid. Before the approval of Aspartame it was believed that when Aspartame was consumed with foods which contain monosodium glutamate (MSG), it might cause an increase in plasma levels of Aspartame and glutamate this could potentially cause focal brain damage (Stengink, 1987 cited in Leon, 1996). However studies performed on neonatal mice reported hypothalamic neuronal necrosis when plasma concentration exceeded 1110 mmol/L. In humans, Stengink failed to find increases plasma aspartic acid until Aspartame dosage reached 100 mg/kg body weight. Which is the equivalent of consuming 12 Litre of an Aspartame sweetened beverage by a 60 kg person (Stengink, 1987 cited in Leon, 1996).

(ii) Phenylalanine:

Phenylalanine is an essential dietary amino acid found in the brain. Phenylaline counts for approxamitely 50% of Aspartame. Persons with the genetic disorder called Phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot metabolise the amino acid phenylalanine. This leads to dangerously high levels of phenylalanine in the brain (Leon, 1996). Some scientists have made claims that Aspartame causes a dramatic increase in phenylalanine after ingestion, however no research backs up this theory, also numerous other studies have proven that phenylalanine does in fact not increase plasma phenylalanine significantly enough to effect health. One such test administered doses of Aspartame at approximately 30 mg/kg/day which did not increase plasma phenylalanine con/c above those observed after eating a protein meal (Stegink & Filer ?(1989) cited in Butchko et al, 2001). Although the research proves that phenylalanine ingestion does not significantly raise Plasma levels, one account of a case study performed by John Cook disputes this research. In the study he consumed 6-8 diet drinks every day, gradually he began to show signs of memory loss, headaches, and extreme mood swings, also blood test showed phenylalanine level of 80 mg/L (Woodrow, Gold, 1995). Considering toxic levels of Phenylalanine are approxamiatly 1200milli[a1]? mole/L (Leon, 1996) After he stopped consuming Aspartame his conditions improved. This evidence is however not scientific proof and there is no data on the condition of the study for example other foods consumed, health status of the participant or the type of Aspartame food consumed.

(iii) Methanol:

Aspartame is made of about 10% methanol. Methanol is metabolised to formaldehyde and then to formic acid (Butchko et al, 2001). Formaldehyde is a toxin which is known to cause cancer, retinal damage, birth defects, and interferes with DNA replication (Barua, 1995). The FDA and NutraSweet say a serving of tomato juices contain up to six times more menthanol than the amount in an Aspartame sweetened beverage (International Food Information Council, 2003). Conversely some sources claim that menthanol is a cumulative toxin in the body. The absorption of methanol into the body is increased when free methanol is ingested. Free methanol is created from Aspartame when it is heated to above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Free menthanol does not contain ethanol which is the antidote which prevents menthanol toxicity. Ethanol is present in all fruits which enables them to be consumed without causing harm (Diener, 2008). In a study conducted by Trocho, et al (1998) it was found that Aspartame may be hazardous because Formaldehyde accumulates in protein tissue and nucleic acid (Trocho et al, 1998 cited in Butchko et al, 2001). Formaldeyhde is considered a deadly neurotoxin. An EPA assessment of methanol considers the substance to be a cumulative poison due to its low rate of excretion (Gold, 1995). Yet other studies have found the amount of Methanol required to produce sufficient formic acid which would result in toxicity is 200 to 500 mg/kg body weight. Which is the same as a 60 kg person consuming the equivalent of 240 -600 Litres of an Aspartame sweetened beverage (Leon, 1996). These theories and studies highlight conflicting conclusion, which leave a level of ambiguity and concern about this substance safety.

??Discovery of Aspartame

?The sweet tasting chemical was first discovered in 1965, when James Schlatter, a chemist of G.D Searle company was testing an anti ulcer drug (0?brien & Gelardi, 1985 cited in Casely & Dixon 2001). ?Aspartame was first approved as a sweetener in the United States by the FDA for use as a table top sweetener in 1981 and then in 1983 it was approved for use in carbonated drinks. In 1982 the UK also approved the sweetener for use in foods. Since then Aspartame has been used in numerous soft drinks and other low calorie and sugar free foods (Abbott laboratories, 1991).

? Consumption

According to The European Commissioners Report on Aspartame conducted by the Scientific Committee on Food, the consumption of Aspartame in Europe is reported as being approximately 21.3 mg/kg body weight per day for adults. ?This is well below the ADI set by The International Committee of Experts of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and The World Health Organisation (WHO) at 50mg/kg The FDA also established an ADI of 50 mg/kg body weight/day (European Commission, 2002).

Since its approval in 1983 Aspartame has become the most popular intense sweetener in the industry of low calorie products such as soft drinks and table top sweeteners. In 1981 when Saccharin was the only available intense sweetener on the market low calorie sweeteners made up only 5% of the soft drinks market. Now according to the American Calorie Control Council diet soft drinks account for 29% of America?s 200 million annual sales of soft drinks (The Food Institute, 2007). This significant increase is largely due to the introduction of Aspartame on to the market. The increasing consumption of Aspartame as the preferred intense sweetener is evident from the increasing uses of the product in low calorie foods particularly beverages. Between 1983 and 1987 the majority of diet carbonated drinks were sweetened with 50% saccharin and 50% Aspartame, each sweetener was present in approx 150mg/L. In recent years however two leading diet cola companies changed the mixture to 100% Aspartame formula. The change to using 100% Aspartame is due to its sweeter tasting quality. Other sectors of growth include desserts such as low calorie jelly, custards, low calorie hot chocolate, also sales of sugarfree chewing gum now exceed traditional sugar types (McQuillan, Heller, Corver, 1995).

? Controversy Surrounding Aspartame

To date numerous assessments and studies have been carried out on Aspartame evaluating its safety. Allegations from different sources claim that Aspartame is responsible for a large number of adverse health implications such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, epileptic seizures, headaches, and diabetes. An analysis of peer reviewed medical literature using medline was conducted in 1996 by Ralph G. Walton, MD Chairman, The Centre for Behavioural Medicine, North-Eastern Ohio University College of Medicine analyzed 164 studies on Aspartame, of those 164, 74 studies has Aspartame industry related sponsorship and 90 were funded without industry money. Of the 90 non industry related research, 83 illustrated one or more problems with Aspartame. Of the 7 studies which found no problems with Aspartame, 6 were conducted by the FDA. Given that a number of the FDA officials went to work for Aspartame after the approval including the former FDA commissioner, many would consider these research findings industry sponsored (Aspartame Toxicity Information Centre, 1996[a2]?). This research however have not been peer reviewed therefore cannot be considered as scientific. Under Freedom of Information the FDA are compelled to report all complaints they received from the public, in the report they admitted that Aspartame accounted for over 75% of complaints filed to the organisation. They claimed that over 7,000 complaints were filed since 1982 (Barua, 1995). Professor Alan Boob conducted a risk benefit analysis on the sweetener. The study began with the hypothesis that the substance is safe then used toxicity tests to reject the hypothesis. The conclusion of the data did not prove the compound was safe, but there was no data to prove it was unsafe (Renwick, 2007). This submits a level of ambiguity about the sweetener however the many substances on the market have been linked to a health ailment of some sort.? ?

Nevertheless

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