Aspartame

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Recommended: ESSAY ON ASPARTAME

should Aspartame be banned?

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that replaces sugar in foods and drinks. On the food additive table it is known as E951 (European Food Safety Authority 2013).
The use of Aspartame has been one of controversy spanning over five decades since its discovery in 1965.
Although Aspartame has been approved as a safe substitute for sugar, many people from the public all over the world believe aspartame should be banned.
Aspartame is a low calorie sweetener that was discovered by accident in 1965 by Drs. James M. Schlatter whilst working at G. D. Searle Research Laboratories (Fisher 1989). Aspartame was branded and sold as “NutraSweet” and contains methanol, aspartic acid and Phenylalanine (NutraSweet 2003).
Aspartame was introduced as an artificial sweetener in breakfast cereals in 1974 (Fisher 1989). Following further investigations, research and experiments, Aspartame was deemed safe and approved by the Food and Drug Administration board (Fisher 1989) for use in carbonated drinks and to replace sugar in foods (Food Standards Australia New Zealand 2013).
Even after studies have shown that Aspartame is safe when following the guidelines of the recommended daily intake, groups and organisations are still fighting for this food additive to be banned. Websites and social media groups have been set up across the globe to bring public awareness to the negative effects they believe Aspartame has on health.

What is Aspartame?

Aspartame (E 951) is a low calorie sweetener authorised as a food additive. It's 200 times sweeter than sugar and is used by food and drink manufacturers in a range of products including yoghurts, chewing gum, crisps, cooking sauces, soft drinks, breakfast cereals, powdered beverages, w...

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4. Ekong, M 2008, Aspartame: Sweet Or Bitter, The Internet Journal of Health, vol. 9, no. 1, viewed 11 April 2014, ISPUB, http://ispub.com/IJH/9/1/8045#.

5. Fisher, R. 1989. Aspartame, Neurotoxicity, and Seizures : A review, Epilepsy, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 55-64, viewed 20 April 2014, Available at: http://med.stanford.edu/nbc/articles/2%20-%20Aspartame,%20Neurotoxicity,%20and%20Seizures%20-%20A%20Review.pdf

6. Nutrasweet.com. 2003. NutraSweet - What is aspartame?, viewed 20 April 2014, http://www.nutrasweet.com/articles/search.asp?Id=35&srch=aspartame 7. Phenylketonuria 2014, viewed 11 April 2014, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001166.htm 8. Smith, R 1981. ‘Aspartame approved despite risks’, Science, vol. 213, no. 4511, pp. 986—987, viewed 11 April 2014, JSTOR Life Sciences Collection, http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/stable/1687044

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