Aspartame As A Source Of Phenylalanine

Aspartame is a high intensity, low-calorie artificial sweetener and is 180-200 times as sweet as natural sugar. It is used in low-calorie soft drinks, sugar-free chewing gum, cereals like biscuit, bread, cakes, pastries, jam, jellies, marmalade, flavored milk, yogurt, ready to serve tea/coffee and a table top sweetener. Its sweetness makes it less suitable for baking than other sweeteners. Aspartame breaks down into natural residual components-aspartic acid, methanol, phenylalanine. It further breakdown products including formaldehyde and formic acid. As its breakdown products include phenylalanine, aspartame must be avoided by phenylketonuriacs (PKU), and must be labeled as a source of phenylalanine. It’s acceptable daily intake is 40mg/kg
body weight. The sweetener has a slow onset as well as longer taste. 1 gram of aspartame is equal to 4 calories, because very small quantity is added to sweeten tea and coffee, the calories amount to almost nothing. Some cases of CVD are reported even after befits of aspartame.