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Aspartame News |
| 11/11/2008 | Nutrition News Highlights Efforts to Unravel Aspartame Myths | | November 11, 2008
The latest edition of Nutrition News, a newsletter published by the New Zealand Nutrition Foundation, discusses two recent seminars designed to educate food and health professionals about common misperceptions related to aspartame. Among the keynote speakers was Dr. Bernadene Magnuson, Adjunct Professor in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Toronto. She spoke about the findings of an extensive scientific review on the safety of aspartame published last year in the journal Critical Reviews in Toxicology, and highlighted four key points to counter some of the misinformation currently circulating in New Zealand.
Click here and scroll to page six to read, “Aspartame – Facts and Fiction.” | | | | | | 08/07/2008 | WebMD Feature Addresses Misperceptions About Aspartame | | August 7, 2008
If, like many Americans, you stock your pantry with processed foods, you may worry about how safe food additives really are.
Over the years, the safety of many food additives, from food dyes
to trans fats, has come into question. A scare over a food additive may
linger in our minds long after researchers find that there's actually
no cause for alarm. It can take years, or even decades, to find out the
truth, and sometimes the case is never really closed.
To help you figure out what s safe, WebMD took a look at the latest
research on seven of the most controversial food additives. Here's what
we found:
Click here to view the full article.
| | | | | | 07/29/2008 | Registered Dietitian Ann Sherry Responds to Questions About Aspartame Safety in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | | July 29, 2008 Registered Dietitian Ann Sherry Responds to Questions About Aspartame Safety in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
What Should I Eat?
Q. “I have heard that phenylalanine is very bad for you and that is why it has become part of the ingredients listed (on food products). I have never read anything about it. Could you please explain what it is?
And are artificial sweeteners bad for you? Is Splenda the only good sugar with no calories? Is the Wal-Mart generic brand of Splenda that I have been eating OK?"
A. "Straight Answers about Aspartame," an American Dietetic Association fact sheet from 2006, defines aspartame as "a low-calorie sweetening ingredient that provides the sweet taste without the calories."
When aspartame breaks down in our body, it forms the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine and also a small amount of methanol. The same substances may also be found in milk, meat, fruit and vegetables - only in larger amounts. Your body digests these substances similarly whether from foods or aspartame.
Click here to view the full article.
| | | | | | 07/29/2008 | Grocery Manufacturers Association Releases New Science Policy Paper on Aspartame | | Washington, DC - The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) today released Aspartame: A Guide for Consumers, Policymakers and the Media, a science policy paper designed to provide current and scientifically accurate information and resources for journalists, health professionals and policymakers.
“Non-nutritive sweeteners, including aspartame, are used in a variety of food and beverage products. Aspartame is approved for use in more than 400 countries, including the United States, Canada, countries in the European Union, Japan, Australia and New Zealand,” said Robert Brackett, chief science officer for GMA. “Few ingredients have been subject to the extent of research that has been conducted on aspartame and the overwhelming majority of the scientific evidence confirms its safety.”
Please visit http://www.gmabrands.com/publications/SciPol_Aspartame_0722.pdf to access GMA’s science policy paper on aspartame.
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The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) represents the world’s leading food, beverage and consumer products companies. The association promotes sound public policy, champions initiatives that increase productivity and growth and helps to protect the safety and security of the food supply through scientific excellence. The GMA board of directors is comprised of chief executive officers from the association’s member companies. The $2.1 trillion food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry employs 14 million workers, and contributes over $1 trillion in added value to the nation’s economy. For more information, visit the GMA Web site at www.gmaonline.org.
| | | | | | 05/22/2008 | Not All Sweeteners are "Equal" | |
Amid the recent barrage of media reports striking fear in the hearts of
dieters around the country, there is good news. The low calorie
sweetener aspartame is vindicated in the rodent obesity hypothesis.
This
fact, confirmed by a team led by Mt. Sinai neuroscience researchers
(Margolskee et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
104(38):15075), is significant given the enthusiastic media coverage of
a rat study earlier this year suggesting that rats fed diets with added
saccharine gained more weight than those that did not. This coverage
was quickly and almost gleefully extrapolated for its “implications” to
virtually any human who may enjoy the taste of a diet soda.
Unlike people, mice are not particularly impressed with the taste of the low calorie sweetener aspartame. Aspartame does not trigger the same chemical sensory cascade as sugar, sucralose, saccharine or other low calorie sweeteners in rats. As a result, there is no way it will be creating an obesity epidemic among rodents in the near future.
“Given that we have so many common sense human studies that point to a benefit of including good tasting foods sweetened with aspartame as part of weight management plans, we never put much stock in the animal study to begin with,” said Robert Bursey, PhD, vice president of scientific affairs at Ajinomoto USA. “But if you are inclined to apply rodent studies to people, no worries. Aspartame is different.”
Aspartame is a simple sweetener that is broken down into compounds found in common foods like milk, chicken and fruit juices. It is the only low calorie sweetener that is naturally digested by the body.
“It may be time to interject a little common sense into our discussion of low calorie sweeteners,” said Bursey. “Aspartame adds a sweet good taste to food without the calories. It’s not terribly complicated.”
This year marks the 25th anniversary of aspartame’s approval for use in beverages. It is by far the most widely used low calorie sweetener in the United States, based on information collected by SRI Consulting.
| | | | | | 03/07/2008 | American Dietetic Association Affirms Aspartame Safe During Pregnancy | | The American Dietetic Association position paper, “Nutrition and Lifestyle for a Healthy Pregnancy Outcome,” was published in this month’s Journal of the American Dietetic Association. In the section on “Sweeteners and Other Ingredients,” it states: “Use of sweeteners and other ingredients that are classified as Generally Recognized as Safe are acceptable in moderation during pregnancy. Risk assessment considers any potential toxicity during pregnancy. Consumption of acesulfame potassium, aspartame, sucralose, and neotame within acceptable daily intakes is considered safe during pregnancy.” (Journal of the American Dietetic Association, March 2008, 108(3): 553-560.)
| | | | | | 03/06/2008 | Most Recent, Comprehensive Study of Aspartame Featured in ADA Times | |
In a recent article in the ADA Times, a publication of the American Dietetic Association (ADA), registered dietician and consultant to the Aspartame Resource Center Victoria Shanta Retelny, RD, LD, discussed the safety of aspartame in the context of the newest, most comprehensive study on the sweetener, which was published in the September 2007 issue of Critical Reviews in Toxicology. To read the full article, click here. | | | | | | 07/05/2007 | New Zealand Food Safety Authority Confirms Safety of Aspartame | |
Statement Adds to Large Body of Research Supporting Sweetener’s Use
July 5, 2007 -- According to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), recent news media reports focused on a study published by the Italian Ramazzini Foundation (ERF), which made false claims about the safety of aspartame, raised unnecessary concerns for consumers. Numerous international regulatory medical authorities -- the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization's Joint Expert Committee of Food Additives and the European Union's Scientific Committee for Food, and a host of others -- have all confirmed the safety of aspartame. NZFSA Deputy Chief Executive Sandra Daly said, "Misleading or unsubstantiated claims about a particular food can create fear and quite unnecessary concerns for consumers. Aspartame is probably one of the most studied products on sale today, and there is an extensive body of evidence that tells us it is a safe product that offers consumers a sweet low-calorie option in their diet."
Click here for the full NZFSA statement.
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