Aspartame (aspartame)

The chemical name is L- aspartame -L- phenylalanine methyl ester (APM), the molecular formula is C1418no5, and the foreign trade names are Nutrasweet and Equal tablets, also known as sweeteners, aspartame, aspartame and so on.

Aspartame was discovered by James M. Schlaadt in 1965. This chemist works in G.D. Searle. Company work. When he was synthesizing drugs to suppress ulcers, he accidentally licked his fingers and found that aspartame was sweet. Because aspartame is about 200 times sweeter than ordinary sugar and contains less calories than ordinary sucrose; One gram of aspartame has about 4 kilocalories. However, the amount of aspartame needed to make people feel sweet is so small that the calories contained in it can be ignored, so it is widely used as a substitute for sucrose. Aspartame tastes different from ordinary sucrose. Compared with sugar, the sweetness of aspartame can be delayed and lasts for a long time, but some consumers can't accept it, so some consumers don't like to use sugar substitutes. If acetaminophen is mixed with aspartame, it may taste more like sugar.

Aspartame will hydrolyze at high temperature or high pH value, so it is not suitable for foods that need high temperature baking. However, heat resistance can be improved by combining with fat or maltodextrin. The stability of aspartame in water is mainly determined by pH value. At room temperature, it is the most stable at pH 4.3, and its half-life is about 300 days. When the pH is 7, its half-life is only a few days. However, the pH value of most drinks is between 3 and 5, so the aspartame added in the drinks is very stable. But when a long shelf life is needed, such as syrup of automatic beverage machine. Aspartame will be mixed with other stable sweeteners, such as saccharin. When aspartame is used in powder brewing beverage, the amino group of aspartame will react with the aldehyde group on some perfume compounds, resulting in the loss of sweetness and flavor at the same time. In this case, acetals can be used to protect aldehyde groups.

198 1 was approved by FDA for dry food, and 1983 was approved for use in more than 100 countries and regions around the world after being allowed to make soft drinks, and its sweetness was 200 times that of sucrose. The advantages of aspartame are:

(1) has high safety, and it is classified as GRAS level (recognized as safe) by the United Nations Food Additives Committee. It is the product with the most thorough research on human safety among all sugar substitutes, and has been successfully applied to more than 6,000 products in more than 0/00 countries around the world in the past 9 years.

(2) Pure sweetness, refreshing sweetness very similar to sucrose, no bitter aftertaste and metallic taste. So far, a sweetener with the sweetness closest to sucrose has been successfully developed. The sweetness of aspartame is 200 times that of sucrose, and only a small amount is needed to achieve the ideal sweetness when applied. Therefore, using aspartame instead of sugar in food and beverage can significantly reduce calories and will not cause dental caries.

(3) It has synergistic effect when mixed with sucrose or other sweeteners. If 2% ~ 3% is added to saccharin, the bad taste of saccharin can be obviously covered up.

(4) When mixed with essence, it has excellent synergy, especially for acidic citrus, lemon, grapefruit and so on. , can make the fragrance lasting and reduce the amount of fragrance.

(5) protein can be naturally absorbed and decomposed by human body.

Aspartame has the following disadvantages:

(1) has poor stability to acid and heat, and it is easy to hydrolyze in strong acid and alkali or when heated at high temperature to produce bitter phenylalanine or diketone, so it is not suitable for producing baked food and high-acid food such as bread, biscuits and cakes with temperature >: 150℃.

(2) Because aspartame can be decomposed into phenylalanine, aspartic acid and methanol under the action of human gastrointestinal enzymes, it is not suitable for patients with phenylketonuria, so it is required to indicate the warning that "patients with phenylketonuria are not suitable for use" on the label. China approved the application in food in 1986, which is commonly used in dairy products, candy, chocolate, chewing gum, table sweetener, health food, pickled products and cold drinks.

Usage of aspartame

Aspartame is a sugar substitute approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, and it is also allowed to be sold in China. The safe dose of aspartame is no more than 50 mg per kilogram of body weight. But because aspartame contains amphetamine acid, phenylketonuria (phenylketonuria; PKU) patients are not suitable for use, because it will lead to the inability to metabolize phenylalanine, which may lead to mental retardation. And pregnant women had better not use it. In addition, it has been reported that some people may suffer from aspartame intolerance, so after eating aspartame products, there will be symptoms of headache, convulsion, nausea or allergic reaction, so it is suggested that people who are intolerant of aspartame should also avoid eating.

Government regulations on the use of aspartame

The Food Hygiene Management Law stipulates that the label of aspartame must meet the following requirements:

1. The words "This product uses artificial sweetener: aspartame" shall be clearly marked in Chinese.

2. As long as aspartame is added to food, the words "phenylketonuria is not suitable for patients" should be clearly marked in Chinese, whether it is in the form of buccal tablets or powder.

According to the announcement of the Department of Health, the food added with aspartame can be marked as "containing amphetamines".

International Online June 5438+1October 20, 2006: A British parliamentarian recently suggested banning an artificial sweetener aspartame, which is contained in more than 6,000 kinds of foods, drinks and medicines, because there is very "reliable and convincing" evidence that it will cause cancer.

According to the Daily Mail 65438+February 15, people can find this controversial sweetener in many popular foods (such as cola, cereal and chocolate). In July this year, a study published by Italian scientists said that animal experiments have proved that aspartame can cause cancer in mice. However, some people think that there is no scientific basis for the statement that it can make people suffer from cancer.

The use of aspartame caused widespread controversy in early society. Studies have found that aspartame cannot rule out the possibility of brain tumor, brain injury and lymphoma. Therefore, the US Food and Drug Administration has not added aspartame to food for several years. These findings have obvious conflicts of interest with the enterprises producing aspartame, which caused great controversy in the process of approval and certification. After referring to more experimental results of 1983, the US Food and Drug Administration gradually relaxed the restrictions on the use of aspartame until 1996. However, aspartame has been used as a food additive since 1983 in Japan. Because the amino acid in the chemical structure contains amphetamine acid, patients with phenylketonuria cannot metabolize this amino acid, so patients with this disease must avoid contact with aspartame.

A few days ago, roger williams, a member of the British Parliament's Select Committee on Food and Environment and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party's House of Commons, called for all foods and drinks containing aspartame to be removed from the shelves. He said: "There is enough scientific evidence to prove that the components and metabolites of aspartame will have a very serious toxic effect on the human body." 12 14 in the evening, some scientists in related fields also expressed their support for Williams' proposal that products containing aspartame should be removed from the shelves.

Recently, it is widely rumored on the Internet that aspartame contained in Coca-Cola Zero is harmful to health and may even cause cancer. In this regard, Netease Finance connected Professor Luo Yunbo, Dean of College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University for the first time. Professor Luo Yunbo said that aspartame is a regular food additive approved by the China government, and there will be no serious safety problems. So far, no cases of injury or cancer caused by aspartame have been found.

In March this year, Coca-Cola announced that it would launch a brand-new sugar-free carbonated beverage-"Zero Coca-Cola" in China market to expand its share of carbonated beverages in China market. Subsequently, the statement that aspartame contained in Coca-Cola Zero may cause migraine and even cancer spread on major websites and forums.

"Aspartame is a sugar substitute approved by many countries, including the United States. It was approved for use in food in China on 1986. It is a formal food additive. " Professor Luo Yunbo said that aspartame is widely used in dairy products, candy, chocolate, chewing gum and other products.

Regarding the hot topic that aspartame can excessively stimulate nerves and cause migraine, Professor Luo Yunbo said that aspartame can't be said to be harmful, but it can't be said to be completely harmless. The side effects of aspartame have been controversial in academic circles, and now there are experiments under study. As far as the current academic research is concerned, no cases of injury or cancer caused by the use of aspartame have been found.

Professor Luo Yunbo said that it is good for everyone to pay attention to food safety now, but there is no need to be nervous and suspicious.