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at best!

Aspartame is a low-calorie sweetener which is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose. The rapid rise in aspartame’s popularity can be attributed to the many benefits aspartame provides to calorie-conscious consumers, including:

Aspartame Tastes Like Sugar

Studies conducted with taste-test panels show that many believe aspartame’s taste is very similar to the taste of sugar.

Aspartame Enhances and Extends Flavors

Aspartame has the ability to intensify and extend fruit flavors, such as cherry and orange, in foods and beverages. For example, aspartame makes chewing gum taste sweet up to four times longer than sugar-sweetened gum.

Aspartame Does Not Promote Tooth Decay

The American Dental Association has noted it “welcomes the development and FDA approval of new artificial sweeteners that are shown to be safe and non-contributory to tooth decay. . . . Aspartame is an FDA-approved, safe sweetening agent and flavor enhancer that can be substituted for sugar in the diet.”

Aspartame is Helpful for Individuals with Diabetes

Aspartame offers people with diabetes greater variety and flexibility in budgeting their total carbohydrate intake and allows them to satisfy their taste for sweets without affecting blood sugar, which helps them to comply with a healthful meal plan. In addition, consuming products with aspartame can result in fewer calories, which helps people with diabetes manage their weight.

Scientific Studies Show Aspartame is Beneficial in Weight Control

With nearly two out of three Americans classified as overweight or obese, taking steps to assure appropriate calorie intake is important for many people. Because products with aspartame are lower in calories than their sugar-sweetened counterparts, using products with aspartame together with regular physical activity can help with weight management. Read Studies…

Aspartame Can Be Part of a Healthful Diet

Aspartame can reduce or replace the sugar and calories in foods and beverages while maintaining great taste. Thus, aspartame offers one simple step to help people move closer to achieving a more healthful diet.

More About the Benefits of Aspartame and Low-Calorie Sweeteners

Low-calorie sweeteners provide consumers with many benefits, both psychological and physiological. Health professionals and consumers believe low-calorie sweeteners are effective for the following purposes: weight maintenance, weight reduction, management of diabetes, reduction of dental caries, and reduction in the risks associated with obesity.

Related articles:

• Aspartame – Overview
• Aspartame – Myths and Legends
  

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at best!

The overwhelming body of scientific evidence clearly demonstrates that aspartame, even in amounts many times what people typically consume, is safe and not associated with adverse health effects. However, over the years, some consumers have reported symptoms, which they believed were associated with aspartame. The FDA has investigated these allegations and concluded that there is no “reasonable evidence of possible public health harm” and “no consistent or unique patterns of symptoms reported with respect to aspartame that can be causally linked to its use.” In 1984, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reviewed 517 of these anecdotal reports and stated, “the majority of frequently reported symptoms were mild and are symptoms that are common in the general populace” and that “focused” clinical studies would be the best way to evaluate these complaints.

As a result, numerous scientific studies “focused” on the allegations were conducted by expert researchers at major academic institutions. The results of these studies overwhelmingly demonstrated that aspartame is not associated with adverse health effects, including headaches, seizures, changes in mood, cognition, or behavior, or allergic reactions.

Despite the overwhelming documentation of aspartame’s safety, unfounded allegations that aspartame is associated with a myriad of ailments, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and lupus, have continued to be spread via the Internet and the media by a few individuals who have no documented scientific or medical expertise. Recently, several governments and expert scientific committees (including the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Commission, the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency, the French Food Safety Agency and Health Canada) carefully evaluated the Internet allegations and found them to be false, reconfirming the safety of aspartame. In addition, leading health authorities, such as the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, The National Parkinson Foundation, Inc., the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Lupus Foundation of America, have reviewed the claims on the Internet and also concluded that they are false.

Check out these sites for more information about aspartame email/Internet hoaxes:

“Aspartame (NutraSweet): No Danger” (from the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation)
American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) Debunks Aspartame Myths

Other Reliable Health Sites:

www.healthfinder.gov (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
www.eatright.org (American Dietetic Association)
www.diabetes.org (American Diabetes Association)
www.ama-assn.org (American Medical Association)
www.mayohealth.org (Mayo Clinic)

Related articles:

• Aspartame – Overview
• Aspartame – Benefits

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Aspartame, used by more than 100 million people around the world, is found in more than 6,000 products. This low-calorie sweetener has been extensively researched and more than 200 studies have been conducted. Aspartame is approved for use in more than 100 countries.

Description: Aspartame is a nutritive sweetener made by joining two amino acids (protein components) — L-phenylalanine and L-aspartic acid, with a third component called a methyl ester group. Very little is needed for a sweet taste, making aspartame virtually non-caloric.

Relative Sweetness: 180 to 200 times sweeter than sucrose.

Metabolism: It is digested as a protein. The components are metabolized normally.

Assets: Aspartame has a sugar-like taste. It enhances some flavors and is appropriate for many applications. When aspartame is combined with other low-calorie sweeteners, they enhance each other so that the combinations are sweeter than the sum of the individual sweeteners.

Limitations: Aspartame is not suitable in applications that require prolonged exposure to high temperatures as it loses sweetness. However, it can successfully be added to recipes, and an encapsulated form is now available for commercial baking. It also is used successfully in beverages, but does lose its sweetness in liquids over an extended period of time. (The rate of change is gradual and is determined by temperature and acidity.) Persons with PKU (phenylketonuria) must restrict their intake of phenylalanine. As such, all U.S. products containing aspartame are labeled: “This product contains phenylalanine.”

Applications: It is approved for use in any category of food or beverage, including tabletop sweeteners, carbonated soft drinks, refrigerated and nonrefrigerated ready-to-drink beverages, frozen desserts and novelties, puddings and fillings, yogurt-type products, baked goods and candies.

Safety: Aspartame has been extensively studied in animals and humans for more than two decades. In 1981, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first approved aspartame, it noted: “Few 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.” FDA has affirmed the safety of aspartame 26 times over a period of 23 years.

Status: Aspartame is classified as a “general purpose sweetener” by FDA and is approved for use in all foods and beverages. Aspartame is approved for use in more than 100 countries and is the sweetening ingredient in 6,000 food and beverage products.

Related articles:

• Aspartame – Benefits
• Aspartame – Myths and Legends