Artificial sweeteners are mostly used as a substitute for sugar in the management of diabetes and obesity. This is because they do not add calories when added to food. Artificial sweeteners have been used by such patients to achieve blood glucose control and energy control while maintaining their desired sweet taste in their meals. Artificial sweeteners have a high sweetness potency compared to sugar on a weight-for-weight basis. Therefore only little amounts are needed to be added to foods and beverages. Thereby reducing the number of calories consumed drastically while still providing …show more content…
Searle in 1965 (Meyer, 2007). It was approved as a general-purpose sweetener in all foods and drinks in 1996 (Kirkland & Gatehouse, 2015). Aspartame has been used in more than 6,000 foods and cosmetic products by hundreds of millions of people in countries all around the world (Butchko et al., 2002). It is 200 times sweeter than sucrose. It is marketed with a brand name Equal and NutraSweet (Meyer, 2007). Aspartame can be found in a wide variety of food products such as carbonated drinks, soft drinks, chew¬ing gum, confections, gelatins, dessert mixes, puddings, fillings, frozen desserts, yoghurt, tabletop sweet¬eners and some medications including vitamins and sugar-free cough drops. The food additive code for aspartame is E951. Following lots of medical, safety and political controversies, the inoffensive effect of aspartame was finally confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Food Safety Authority as long as its level of consumption does not exceed the accepted daily intake (EFSA ANS Panel, 2013). The ADI of aspartame is 50 mg/kg/d in the United States and 40 mg/kg/d in the EU (Lino, Costa, Pena, Ferreira, & Cardoso,