Name: Aspartame, E951
Other names: Nutrasvit, sladex, N-L - aspartyl-L-phenylalanine methyl ether, E 951, E-951, Eng: E951, E-951, aspartame
Group: Food additive
Type: Enhancers of taste and aroma, sugar substitute, sweetener
Effect on the body: dangerous may be harmful
Allowed in countries: Russia, Ukraine, EU countries

Characteristic:
Aspartame is odorless white crystals with a pronounced sweet taste. Food supplement E951 is about 200 times sweeter than sugar or sucrose. Aspartame has no specific aftertaste or side aftertaste. The substance is readily soluble in water, alcohol, and has a low degree of solubility in fatty solvents. The melting point of aspartame is 246C-247C. When heated, the sweet taste of E951 additive disappears, and the substance itself is destroyed, therefore it is used only in the manufacture of products that do not need heat treatment. Already at a temperature of 30C, aspartame begins to decompose, forming formaldehyde and highly toxic methanol, therefore, so that products containing aspartame do not cause harm, you should not forget about this feature. Since aspartame needs much less than sugar to add sweetness to a product, its calorie content is not taken into account. Because of this, it is often used to make low-calorie and dietary foods. The food supplement E951 is obtained by the synthesis of L-amino acids (phenylalanine and aspartic acid).

Application:
Aspartame is the second most common sweetener in the world. It is produced both in the form of an independent sweetener and on an industrial scale for use in the food industry. Food additive E951 is a part of non-alcoholic and low-alcohol drinks, chewing gums, instant hot chocolate, all kinds of sweets and pills, yoghurts, sweet dairy products, confectionery. The list of products containing aspartame exceeds five thousand names. The E951 additive is used in the manufacture of medicines, such as lozenges and cough syrups, sugar substitutes for people with diabetes or obesity. But the substance use may not live up to expectations, and the weight will grow even more rapidly.

Effect on the human body:
Despite the fact that aspartame is recognized as a non-harmful food additive, there is information that it has a very negative effect on the health of people who regularly eat it. Long-term intake of the food supplement E 951 leads to headaches, migraines, allergic reactions, depressive conditions, insomnia. Some scientists also defend the theory that aspartame, in some cases, provokes the development of brain cancer. In particular, this statement was partially confirmed by experiments carried out on rats that were fed daily aspartame. Most of them died from malignant neoplasms. Obese people who regularly take aspartame-based sweetener often do not lose weight, but gain more weight, and rather rapidly. In addition, drinks containing the E951 food additive not only do not quench thirst, but, on the contrary, increase it. Products containing aspartame are contraindicated in people with phenylketonuria. Also, the substance stimulates the appetite, which negatively affects the general well-being of a person.

Aspartame is a sugar substitute and is used in diabetes mellitus as a sweetener. Before using this tool, you must carefully study the annotation for the use of this substance, and in addition, you must first consult your doctor.

What is the effect of Aspartame?

Sugar substitute Aspartame is a methylated dipeptide that consists of two amino acids, namely aspartic and phenylalanine, which are also found in common foods.

The degree of sweetening is almost 200 times that of sucrose. One gram of Aspartame contains four kilocalories. After ingestion, this substance quickly enters the bloodstream. It is metabolized in the liver, being involved in the processes of transamination, further its utilization occurs as in amino acids. Basically, elimination is via the kidneys.

Despite the fact that this is just a sugar substitute, it would seem a harmless substance, patients with diabetes should not take any drug without prior agreement with an endocrinologist.

What are the indications for use of Aspartame?

Aspartame is indicated for use in patients with endocrinological pathology, in particular, those who suffer from diabetes mellitus, obesity. This substance has a sweetening effect and can be used in place of regular sugar.

What are the contraindications for use of Aspartame?

Among the contraindications for Aspartame, the instructions for use call several conditions: hypersensitivity to the drug, as well as a history of homozygous phenylketonuria. In addition, it is not recommended to use it for pregnant women, nursing mothers, as well as small children.

What are Aspartame's use and dosage?

The maximum dosage of Aspartame per day should not exceed 40 mg / kg. Before using drugs that include this substance, it is recommended to consult with an endocrinologist, and only after the doctor's approval to use this remedy.

Aspartame is taken after meals by dissolving the tablet in a glass of any drink. When you skip the next dose of the drug, it is recommended to increase its amount only if the daily dosage is not exceeded. It is worth knowing that the sweet taste may disappear if prolonged heat treatment is carried out.

What are the side effects of Aspartame?

When taking this sugar substitute, the patient may experience allergic reactions, which will be expressed in the form of rashes on the skin, and urticaria may develop.

In addition to allergic reactions, the patient may experience a significant increase in appetite, which, in turn, can cause an increase in body weight, which can lead to obesity. With pronounced side effects, it is recommended to abandon the use of the drug Aspartame.

Side effects can also affect the nervous system, in particular, the patient may notice irritability, migraine-like pains in the head often appear, and nervous breakdowns are also possible.

special instructions

Aspartame is intended for use only by those persons who have a history of endocrine pathology, in particular diabetes mellitus, as for healthy people, they are not recommended to use this agent as a sweetener.

Aspartame breaks down in the body into aspartic acid and phenylalanine, as well as methanol, which is a poisonous substance that has a negative effect on the nervous system, as well as on the cardiovascular system. In the process of metabolism, it turns into formaldehyde, which is a carcinogen, therefore, it harms a healthy body.

It is worth noting that the sweet taste of Aspartame can completely disappear with a sufficiently long heat treatment of products, this point must be taken into account.

Currently, the relevant organizations are considering the potential danger of Aspartame, but so far there is no unequivocal opinion on this matter, therefore, it is recommended to refrain from excessive use of such sugar substitutes for especially healthy people.

Aspartame is found in many foods that are widely used by the population. This sweetener has become an integral part of many carbonated drinks, and is included in ice cream and yogurt, as an add-on, and in chewing gum.

It should be noted that even children's vitamins cannot do without this component, despite the fact that there is no unequivocal opinion on this substance. It should be said that the presence of Aspartame in ready-made packaged products and in sugary drinks must be indicated on the attached label, you need to pay attention to this.

Preparations containing Aspartame (analogs)

Nutrasvit includes Aspartame, it is used for obesity and diabetes mellitus as a substitute for conventional sugar. The next remedy is Sanekta, another remedy is Sanpa. In addition, Shugafri also includes this sweetener.

Conclusion

When taking medications that include Aspartame, you should first consult with a specialist endocrinologist or a therapist. For healthy people, they should not use this sweetener instead of regular sugar.

Greetings to all! I continue the topic of the variety of refined sugar substitutes. The time has come for aspartame (e951): what harm does the sweetener do, what products contain and what methods of determining whether it is possible for a pregnant body and children.

Today, the chemical industry offers us many opportunities to avoid sugar consumption without denying ourselves our favorite sweets. One of the most popular sweeteners among manufacturers is aspartame, used both on its own and in combination with other ingredients. Since its synthesis, this sweetener has come under frequent attacks - let's try to figure out how harmful it is and how it affects the body.

Aspartame: instructions for use

The sweetener aspartame is a synthetic sugar substitute 150 to 200 times sweeter than it. It is a white powder, odorless and readily soluble in water. It is marked on E 951 product labels.

After entering the body, it is very quickly absorbed, metabolized in the liver, including in the transamination reaction, and then excreted by the kidneys.

Calorie content

The calorie content of aspartame is quite high - as much as 400 kcal per 100g, however, to impart a sweet taste of this sweetener, such a small amount is required that when calculating the energy value, these figures are not taken into account as essential.

The indisputable advantage of aspartame is its rich sweet taste, devoid of impurities and additional shades, which allows it to be used on its own, unlike other artificial sweeteners.

However, it is thermally unstable and degrades when heated. It is pointless to use it for baking and other desserts - they will lose their sweetness.

Today, aspartame is approved in the USA, a number of European countries, and Russia. The maximum daily dose is 40 mg / kg per day

The history of the sweetener aspartame

The sweetener was discovered by accident, in 1965, in the course of work on a pharmacological drug designed to fight stomach ulcers - chemist James Schlatter simply licked his finger.

The intermediate synthesized aspartame was a methyl ester of a dipeptide of two amino acids: aspartic and phenylalanine. Below is a photo of the formula.

This is how the promotion of a new sugar substitute on the market began, the volume of which, after 20 years, amounted to more than $ 1 billion per year. Since 1981, aspartame has been licensed in the United Kingdom and the United States.

At the same time, a number of investigations and additional studies of the safety of this sweetener began. We will also figure out how much and what exactly is actually harmful aspartame.

Why is aspartame harmful?

There have always been discussions about the harmlessness of aspartame in the scientific world, which continue to this day. All official sources unanimously declare its non-toxicity, but independent studies say the opposite, citing many references to scientific works of various institutions in the world.

To be fair, consumers are also not happy with the quality and action of this sweetener. In the United States alone, the FDA has received hundreds of thousands of complaints about aspartame. And this is almost 80% of all consumer claims to food additives.

What exactly raises many questions?

Contraindications

The only officially recognized contraindication to use is phenylketonuria disease - for people suffering from it, aspartame is prohibited. It is really dangerous for them, up to and including death.

Side effects

Meanwhile, many independent studies have confirmed that long-term use of tablets of this sweetener causes headaches, blurred vision, ringing in the ears, insomnia and allergies.

Cases of brain cancer have been observed in animals tested on the sweetener. So you can see that there is more harm than good from aspartame, as is the case with saccharin and cyclamate.

Sweetener E 951 and weight loss

Like other artificial sweeteners, aspartame does not cause a feeling of fullness, that is, products containing it provoke a person to absorb more and more portions.

• Sugary drinks do not quench your thirst, but, on the contrary, whip it up, as a thick sugary taste remains in your mouth.
• Yoghurts with aspartame or diet sweets also do not contribute to weight loss, because serotonin, which is responsible for the feeling of satiety and pleasure from eating sugary foods, does not appear.

Thus, the appetite is only spurred on, and the amount of food, therefore, increases. Which leads to overeating and not shedding extra pounds, as planned, but to weight gain.

Methanol is the result of the breakdown of aspartame

But this is not the worst thing when using aspartame. The fact is that in our body the sweetener breaks down into amino acids (aspartic and phenylalanine) and methanol.

And if the existence of the first two components is somehow justified, especially since they can also be found in fruits and juices, then the presence of methanol causes heated discussions to this day. This monohydric alcohol is considered a poison, and there is no way to justify its existence in food.

The decomposition of aspartame into harmful substances occurs even with slight heating. So it is enough for the thermometer to rise to 30 ° C for the sweetener to turn into formaldehyde, methanol and phenylalanine. All of these are toxic substances that are extremely hazardous to human health.

Is aspartame possible for pregnant and lactating women

Despite the unpleasant facts described above, today aspartame is approved for use in more than 100 countries around the world for children, and for pregnant and lactating women.

Officials say it is the most studied and safest synthetic sweetener ever used by humans. However, I would not recommend the use to either expectant mothers, or nursing women, or children.

It is believed that the main benefit of aspartame is that people suffering from diabetes without fear for their lives due to a sharp jump in insulin can afford a dessert or a sweet drink, because the GI (glycemic index) of this sweetener is zero.

Where is the sweetener aspartame contained

What foods is this sugar substitute found in? Today, in the trading network, you can find more than 6000 names of products that contain aspartame in their composition.

Here is a list of these top-level foods:

• sweet soda (including coca cola light and zero),
• fruit yoghurts,
• chewing gum,
• sweets for diabetics,
• sports nutrition,
• a number of drugs,
• vitamins for children and adults.

The maximum allowable level of aspartame E 951, approved by the FDA (American Food and Drug Administration), consumed per day is 50 mg / kg of body weight.

Products, including directly household sweetener, contain several times less of it. Accordingly, the allowable daily intake of aspartame can be calculated based on the maximum value determined by the FDA and WHO of 50 mg / kg body weight or 40 mg / kg.

Methods for the determination of aspartame in food

In the industry, there are a number of arbitration methods of analysis to determine the concentration of a particular substance in a product (for control in case of disagreement), and on the basis of this, issuance of a certificate of conformity to it.

Spectrophotometric method

This determines the presence of aspartame in carbonated soft drinks after they have been made.

The analysis uses a spectrophotometer, colorimeter, and balance.

Chromatographic method

It is needed to clarify the value of the concentration of the sweetener.

A liquid chromatograph is used as the main analysis equipment.

What else you need to know about aspartame

Combinations of sugar substitutes

This sugar substitute can be used in combination with others, for example, the combination of aspartame acesulfame potassium (salt) is often found.

Manufacturers often put them together, since the "duet" has a large sweetness coefficient equal to 300 units, while separately for both substances it does not exceed 200.

Release form

An aspartame sweetener can be:

• in the form of tablets, for example, milford (300 tab),
• in liquid - Milford Suss, as it is highly soluble.

Aspartame in sports nutrition (protein)

If you still have doubts about this sweetener, you can purchase products that do not contain it.

Chewing gum without aspartame or protein for athletes is on sale not only on the Internet at specialized sites, but also in supermarkets. Aspartame in sports nutrition does not affect muscle growth, since it is not absorbed by the body and is added solely to improve the taste of tasteless protein.

Whether or not to use aspartame as a sweetener is up to you. In any case, it is worth reading scientific articles on this topic for a more complete picture and consulting a qualified nutritionist.

With warmth and care, endocrinologist Dilyara Lebedeva

Formula: C14H18N2O5, chemical name: N-L-alpha-Aspartyl-L-phenylalanine 1-methyl ester.
Pharmacological group: metabolites / agents for parenteral and enteral nutrition / sugar substitute.
Pharmachologic effect: sweetener.

Pharmacological properties

Aspartame is a methylated dipeptide that consists of phenylalanic and aspartic acid residues (the same acids are found in common food). It is found in almost all proteins in common food. The sweetening degree of aspartame is almost 200 times that of sucrose. 1 g of aspartame contains 4 kcal, but due to the high degree of sweetening, its caloric content is equal to 0.5% of the caloric value of sugar with the same degree of sweetening.
After ingestion, aspartame quickly enters the bloodstream from the small intestine. It is metabolized in the liver, by being involved in the processes of transamination, and further utilized as amino acids. Basically, aspartame is excreted by the kidneys.

Indications

Aspartame is used as a sweetener in diabetes mellitus; to control and reduce body weight.

Dosing and Administration of Aspartame

Aspartame is taken orally after meals, 18–36 mg per 1 glass of drink. The maximum daily dose is 40 mg / kg.
If you skip the next intake of aspartame, you need to take it as you remember, if the daily dose is not exceeded, then the next intake should be performed as usual.
With prolonged heat treatment, the sweet taste of aspartame disappears.

Contraindications and restrictions for use

Homozygous phenylketonuria; hypersensitivity; childhood; pregnancy.
Do not use aspartame unnecessarily for healthy people... Aspartame in the human body breaks down into two amino acids (aspartic and phenylalanine), as well as methanol. Amino acids are an integral part of protein and are involved in a number of biochemical processes in the body. Methanol, on the other hand, is a poison that acts on the nervous and vascular systems of the body, in the process of metabolism it turns into a carcinogen formaldehyde, which definitely harms the body. Scientists have mixed opinions regarding aspartic acid and phenylalanine.
Now the European Food Safety Agency and the US FDA are beginning to review the results of recent work on the potential dangers of aspartame to humans. But until an unambiguous conclusion has yet been made on this issue, it is worth refraining from excessive consumption of sweeteners with aspartame. The presence of aspartame in finished products and sugary drinks must be indicated on the label.

Application during pregnancy and lactation

Side effects of aspartame

Allergic reactions (including urticaria), migraine, paradoxical increase in appetite.