Posted by: Craig
in Guest Bloggers on Wednesday Jan 7, 2009
This is a guest blog post. If you want to add a post here and run a website or blog you think will be useful to this site then feel free to contact me.
Aspartame has gotten a bad rap over the years. So, what exactly is aspartame and why are people scared to consume it? I want to provide you with a very basic break down of this sweetener. Simply defined, aspartame is an artificial sugar that has a very simple chemical compound make up. Aspartame contains two amino acids (phenylalanine and aspartic acid) and a methyl group (CH3). Ironically the flavors behind this combo work together to make a super sweet product that is 200x sweeter than sucrose, because the flavors by themselves are bitter or tasteless. This sweetener is marketed under a number of trademark names, including: Equal and NutraSweet, and it is an ingredient of approximately 6,000 consumer foods and beverages sold worldwide!
In the digestive tract, enzymes split aspartame into its 3 parts then the body absorbs the two amino acids and uses them just as if they had come from food protein. Caution needs to be taken when consuming this product because this sweetener contributes phenylalanine. Products containing aspartame must bear a warning label for people with phenylketonuria (PKU). PKU is an inherited disease that inhibits a person's ability to dispose of any excess phenylalanine. An accumulation of phenylalanine and its by-products are toxic to the developing nervous system, causing irreversible brain damage.
During metabolism, the methyl group of the aspartame molecule momentarily becomes methanol, a methyl alcohol, which is potentially a toxic compound. This breakdown also occurs over time when aspartame sweetened beverages are stored at warm temperatures. The amount of methanol produced would still be ok to consume, but you may not want to because the beverage has lost its sweetness. In the body, enzymes convert methanol to formaldehyde, another toxic compound and finally, formaldehyde is broken down into carbon dioxide. Before aspartame could be approved, the quantities of these products generated during metabolism had to be determined, and they were found to be below the threshold that would cause harm.
The big controversy of aspartame was a result of an Italian study that found aspartame caused cancer in female rats. This information fueled the controversies surrounding aspartame's safety. However, statements from the FDA and others indicate that such a conclusion is not supported by the data.
Kinsey Lowrey is a nutritionist who counsels individuals on achieving personal nutrition goals. She is also the nutrition expert at DietsInReview.com, where she shares education and guidance for incorporating healthy habits into your life.DietsInReview.com also provides healthy recipes, weight loss tools, health news and more than 475 diet reviews.
