Aspartame
Aspartame can be used as either a sugar substitute or an alternative. When beginning to learn about Aspartame we must first learn about how its history then how it is made. ... James Schlatter discovered aspartame in 1965 while he was researching ulcer drugs (1). Schlatter licked his finger and noticed an extremely sweet taste, which later came to be know as Aspartame. ... The FDA approved aspartame for use in dry foods in 1981(2,3) then in soft drinks in 1982. The FDA set the ADI for aspartame has been set at 50 mg/kg of body weight, which is pretty high. ... Aspartame was approved in 1981 in Canada for use in soft drinks and tabletop sweeteners (2). Even though aspartame is not a GRAS it was FDA approves and is most commonly know to the consumer as Nutra SweetÔ and EqualÔ, which are the shelf names. The simple combining of two amino acids and Methyl Ester, by way of fermentation, makes aspartame. The manufacturing of Aspartame is very complicated which results in numerous patents on the manufacturing processes (5). The molecular structure of aspartame consists of aspartic acid, phenylalanine, and Methyl Ester linked together.