Aspartame in the Diet

What type of products contain aspartame?

Aspartame is found in about 6000 products around the world, 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.

How can you tell there is aspartame in a product?

In the United States, all food ingredients, including aspartame, must be listed in the ingredient statement on the food label. Aspartame containing products may also be identified by the information statement, "Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine," on the package.

Can aspartame be used in cooking or baking?

Yes. Several tabletop sweeteners containing 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; this is not a safety issue - 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.

How do foods and beverages sweetened with aspartame fit into healthful eating?

Health experts agree that eating well and being physically active are keys to a healthful lifestyle. To help people achieve a more healthful lifestyle, the U.S. government provides “Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” which encourages consumers to “Choose beverages and foods to moderate your intake of sugars.” 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 sweetener, aspartame can reduce or replace the calories in foods and beverages while maintaining great taste, offering one simple step to help people move closer to achieving a more healthful diet. Simply substituting a can of diet soft drink for a regular soft drink saves about 150 calories; substituting a packet of low-calorie tabletop sweetener for two teaspoons of sugar three times daily (e.g., in coffee and tea and on cereal) saves about 100 calories a day and 4-oz. of aspartame-sweetened pudding substituted for regular pudding saves 80 calories.

Can aspartame help people lose weight?

Yes. Studies have shown that foods and beverages sweetened with aspartame can be an effective "tool" as part of a weight management program. Aspartame, however, is not a drug and does not stimulate weight loss. It does help make possible good tasting low- or reduced-calorie foods and beverages for those who wish to control or decrease their caloric intake. Researchers at Harvard Medical School have concluded that aspartame "is a valuable adjunct to a comprehensive program of balanced diet, exercise and behavior modifications for losing weight."

What is the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of aspartame?

The ADI, expressed on a mg/kg body weight/day basis, is a very conservative estimate of the amount of a sweetener that can safely be consumed on a daily basis over a person's lifetime. The FDA has set the ADI for aspartame at 50 mg/kg of body weight/day. The ADI for aspartame is the equivalent of a 70 kg (154 lb.) person consuming about 20 cans of aspartame-sweetened beverage or about 100 sachets of tabletop sweetener with aspartame per day.

Is it safe to consume more aspartame than the ADI?

Yes. The ADI is an important regulatory concept, which is frequently misunderstood. The ADI is a conservative estimated safe exposure level, which anticipates continuous lifetime exposure. It should not be regarded as a specific point at which safety ends and possible health concerns begin. In fact, FDA has said it is not concerned that consumption occasionally may exceed the ADI.

How much aspartame would a person have to consume to reach the ADI?

A 150-pound adult would have to consume about 20 12-oz. diet carbonated soft drinks, or 33 8-oz servings of powdered soft drink, or 42 4-oz. servings of gelatin, or 97 packets of tabletop sweetener each day to reach the ADI. A 50-pound child would have to consume about 6 12-oz. cans of carbonated beverage, or 11 8-oz. servings of powdered soft drink, or 14 4-oz. servings of gelatin, or 32 packets of tabletop sweetener each day to reach the ADI.

How much aspartame are people actually consuming today?

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, which is well within government guidelines.

How much aspartame are children consuming?

Because of their smaller size, children consume proportionately larger amounts of all food ingredients than do adults in relation to their body weight. The 90th percentile aspartame consumption by children between the ages of two and five is only about 10% of the ADI. Children need calories to achieve proper growth and development, and parents should supervise their children's diet to avoid dietary excesses or nutritional deficiencies.

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