Excessive sugar consumption is related to negative health effects. That is why it should be reduced, or even eliminated, in people who live with diabetes, overweight or obesity, or in patients with digestive problems or cardiovascular pathologies. In this situation, sweeteners are presented as an alternative to sugar. One of those sweeteners is aspartame.
In order to know if aspartame is harmful to health, and even carcinogenic, we have spoken with Rafael Urrialde, biologist, professor at the Complutense University of Madrid and Honorary Academician of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
What is aspartame?
Aspartame is a chemical sweetener (that is, artificial), hypocaloric (due to the very low amount that has to be used), which is used as a sugar substitute. It was discovered in 1965, although it was not approved worldwide until the 1980s. One of its main characteristics is that sweetens up to 200 times more than sugar.
Its composition is quite peculiar. “It is a sweetener composed mainly of two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. Aspartame, when it reaches the upper part of the duodenum, dissociates into aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol, components naturally present in many foods. This means that it is neither eliminated nor absorbed, but rather dissociates into these amino acids,” explains Urrialde.
When is its use justified?
It is common to look for diets supervised by a dietitian-nutritionist that involve the reduction or elimination of sugar. Also in those specific diets for patients with diabetes or heart failure.
For weight loss diets, the biologist remembers that it is important to take into account not only sugar intake, but also the overall diet: “There is no point in replacing sugar with sweeteners if it does not correspond to a general low-calorie diet,” he points out. That is, it is not about sweetening the coffee with sweetener and taking advantage of it to accompany it with a muffin.
But is aspartame bad?
Urrialde’s response is clear: “Aspartame, like all additives, It is neither good nor bad. It is an additive that must be used to give sweet flavor and reduce or eliminate the amount of sugar present in food products. It must also be noted that it is normally not used solely in food products, but in combination with other sweeteners”, he assures.
On the other hand, aspartame has a Admissible daily intake of 40 milligrams per kilo of weight. per person per day (a 70 kilo person can consume up to 2,800 milligrams daily). Being so sweet due to its “very high affinity for the taste buds of the sweet flavor, with a very small amount the same effect is achieved as with sucrose.” In other words: it is possible to sweeten with very small quantities.
Urrialde points out a curiosity in the use of this sweetener: “Aspartame changes its flavor in two specific circumstances. When consumed in large quantities, it can provide a bitter taste instead of sweetening. In addition, it can cause flavor deviations at high temperatures. For this reason, in Spain it is used in lower concentrations than in other northern European countries.”
From the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the General Council of the Official Colleges of Dietitians-Nutritionistsit is insisted that the sweeteners are safe, but they are in no way recommended as a vehicle to combat obesity. Much less, if the 0% sugar claim is used to mask the poor nutritional value of unhealthy food products, such as pastries, sauces, snacks…
Does it cause non-communicable diseases?
Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it did not recommend sweeteners because of their possible association with an increased risk of non-communicable diseases. “This organization justifies it with a possible reverse causality: People with certain chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, etc., are those who consume the most sweeteners. Therefore, a risk could be attributed to it that would depend on other variables, such as, for example, the diseases and risk factors of the people who take them.»
Urrialde understands that, “in effect, patients with non-communicable diseases are frequently recommended a diet dictated by a nutrition and dietetics professional, in which sugar is reduced or eliminated. Sweeteners appear in these cases as an alternative to sweet flavors. However, the WHO has already recognized that the evidence was not compelling. It is just a conditional recommendation.”
Does aspartame cause cancer?
Also last year, the WHO made reference to the fact that Aspartame could be carcinogenic to humans. (IARC Group 2B). Next, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an intergovernmental body that is part of the WHO, clarified that this claim was based on limited evidence that it could cause cancer (specifically liver cancer) in humans. The IARC also notes that there is limited evidence that they cause cancer in laboratory animals and limited evidence related to the possible mechanisms by which they cause cancer.
Urrialde distances himself from the WHO. “He did so with mention of four international observational studies. It is surprising that almost nine months later, no other food safety authority worldwide has modified the acceptable daily intake recommendations for aspartame. The reason is that there is not enough scientific evidence to do it».
The expert recalls that the European Union, since 2002, due to the food crises that occurred previously, has applied the precautionary principle whenever there is reasonable scientific doubt. And in this the European health organizations are very rigorous. Take the same case of aspartame as an example. “After being approved by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), it was also approved in the scientific committees of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)”.
In 2013 it was re-evaluated without changes being introduced, “neither the acceptable daily intake, nor the conditions and restrictions of use that are legislatively regulated in the EU. However, Urrialde understands that we must continue working scientifically and analyzing case by case, «not only for aspartame, but also expanding to all the possible effects of all additives, aromas and other ingredients, not just sweeteners.»
Side effects or dangers of aspartame
The member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition is confident in his response: “At the moment No side effects of aspartame have been shown.”. Justify this lack of danger of the sweetener by remembering that it dissociates into two amino acids in the upper part of the duodenum.
Therefore, it is important, in addition to toxicology, to study “the effects on the intestinal microbiota, which to date, in this case, have also been negative. That’s why These ingredients must be studied in their food matrix and with models live in humans”.
At the moment, the only opposite effect demonstrated has been in people with phenylalanine sensitivity. That is, patients with phenylketonuria, a rare disease (one in every 12,000 newborns in Spain suffer from it) that causes that person to accumulate phenylalanine due to totally or partially lacking the ability to break down this amino acid.
What foods do they contain?
Aspartame is in most food groups that use sweeteners in their composition, because it is combined with others, such as cyclamate or acesulfame k. We can locate any of these products:
- Appetizers
- alcoholic drinks
- Sauces and condiments
- Energy drinks
- Vegetable drinks
- cereals
- Prepared meals
- ice cream and milkshakes
- Yogurts and fermented drinks
- Sweets and candies
Comparison with other sweeteners
Beyond investigating whether aspartame is better or worse than saccharin, or whether you have to choose between stevia or aspartame, Urrialde insists that the key is to identify which products use sugars and which do not, and all those combinations with sweeteners. He also emphasizes the need to review foods and drinks “that previously did not use sugars or sweeteners, and now do, only to incorporate a sweet flavor. “That has no justification.”
How aspartame should be used in food
The consumer can do little in this regard, because aspartame is not usually used as a table sweetener, unless it is combined with sucralose, cyclamate… This sweetener reaches our table incorporated into processed foods and «combined with at least three or four more sweeteners. In the case of sweets, there can be up to seven or eight different types of sweeteners,” he explains.
The ALDI Council
Do you feel like sweets between meals? A healthy way to kill the bug instead of reaching for snacks with sweeteners is to have seasonal fruit on hand. Sweet, full of vitamins and delicious!
rafael urrialde. Professor of the Plant Physiology Unit of the Department of Genetics, Physiology and Microbiology of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid. Professor of Food Safety at the Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences of the San Pablo CEU University. Honorary Professor of Nutrition at the Faculty of Nursing of the University of Valladolid. Urrialde has a doctorate in Biological Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid, University Specialist in Environmental Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid. Diploma in Nutrition, Postgraduate Course from the School of Nutrition of the University of Granada. 2006. Specialist in Food, Food Safety, Nutrition and Sustainability. Professor in different degrees at different national and international universities, as well as in master’s degrees related to food, food safety, nutrition, sustainability and health. Numerary Academician of the RAED, Honorary Academician of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and member of the Scientific Committee of FINUT. President of the SEMED Scientific Commission. Member of the Board of Directors of the SEÑ. He belongs to different societies or entities: SENC, SEÑ, SESAL, SEMED, member of the FEN Board of Trustees. Honorary Food Member of the CGCOF. Honorary Member of the AdENyD. Coordinator of the Food Safety, Nutrition, Research, Development and Innovation Group of the AEND. Author of more than 50 scientific publications, 10 chapters in scientific-technical reference books, Co-director of 2 doctoral theses and director of 7 Master’s Thesis and 4 Bachelor’s Thesis at the Complutense University of Madrid, Universidad San Pablo CEU of Madrid and University of Granada. Twitter: @RUrrialde_PhD
