Aspartame: Friend or Foe?

with vitamins and minerals…

This question turns out to be not as simple as it seems. In a time of information it is imperative for people to cultivate the ability to learn how to search for reliable information. A couple of years ago I reviewed some articles in an effort to find valid information that would allow me to postulate a well-founded answer. This blog is a brief summary of the information I have collected through courses in organic chemistry, biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and the literature.

Discovered in 1965, permitted for limited use 1981, and accepted as a general sweetener in 1996, aspartame is approximately 180 to 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is composed of two amino acid residues and an alcohol, they are: phenylalanine (50%), aspartic acid (40%), and methanol (10%), respectively. You might already know this but amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, essential for appropriate cellular function. The commotion found in social media is mainly about methanol, also known as wood alcohol. It is true that, when digested, methanol gets oxidized into formaldehyde and then into formic acid. Formaldehyde, in high amounts, is mutagenic and carcinogenic. Formic acid, in high amounts, is poisonous to the central nervous system. However, it is important to acknowledge that low levels of methanol are normal among healthy humans given that fruits and vegetables contained methanol too, with fruit juice containing about 2.5 times the amount of methanol found in aspartame. The current recommendation of aspartame’s daily intake in America is 50mg/kg of bw, anything above that is potentially toxic. For example, a 12-oz can of soda contains about 182mg of aspartame thus, a 150 pound person would need to drink more than eighteen 12-oz cans of diet soda in a single day to reach toxicity levels. This is a lot of soda in a single day.

Most studies regarding aspartame have been done using animal test subjects. According to the American Cancer Society, animal studies are often performed at exceedingly high doses (4,000mg/kg bw) and the results these studies propose do not show a clear link between aspartame and any health problem. In fact, in 2009 the European Food Safety Authority concluded that the tumors in these studies occurred by chance given that the incidence of lymphoma and leukemia in high dose groups were within the reported historical range of controls. Human studies are more difficult to run, nearly all are small scale, and the majority has found no increase linked between aspartame consumption and cancer.

Furthermore, a study published in the Journal of pharmacology & pharmacotherapeutics in 2011, found that aspartame has anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antipyretic properties and proposes that it could potentially alleviate pain and immobility caused by the chronic inflammation of joints. While another study conducted in 2005 by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio showed that artificial sweeteners in diet drinks did not promote weight loss but rather promoted weight gain and obesity when compare to those who consume naturally sweetened drinks (animal studies have extensively shown time after time similar effects). Something slightly more concerning than aspartame is phosphoric acid, a compound commonly found in cola drinks regardless to their status as diet, regular, or Mexican. There is preliminary work showing how phosphoric acid depletes calcium stores in the body leading to lesser bone density, though the same studies speculate this decrease in bone density might also be caused by caffeine consumption, in this case, thought to inhibit calcium absorption.

So, after everything that has been said, is aspartame good or bad? If you suffer from PKU (phenylketonuria) then yes, you should abstain from aspartame due to its high phenylalanine content. For the rest of us, unfortunately in science/medicine conclusions are seldom absolute. In the words of biologist Katie Mckissick, “Always and never are never true in [science]. Except of course when you say it’s ‘never true,’ because in that case that ‘never’ is true.” So my conclusion is that aspartame is neither good nor bad. If you are a diabetic in need of constant blood glucose monitoring a diet soda might be appropriate for you. If you are struggling with weight management diet sodas and calorie-free foods won’t save you. If you are a post-menopausal woman then it is probably wise to have a moderate intake of milk, orange juice, calcium supplements, and plenty of strength training regardless of your relation with diet drinks. If you are an average person attempting to reduce sugar/calorie intake but want to drink something sweet then go ahead, grab a diet Dr. Pepper there is nothing wrong with that.

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