Aspartame sensitivity? A double blind randomised crossover study

PloS One
Thozhukat SathyapalanStephen L Atkin

Abstract

Aspartame is a commonly used intense artificial sweetener, being approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose. There have been concerns over aspartame since approval in the 1980s including a large anecdotal database reporting severe symptoms. The objective of this study was to compare the acute symptom effects of aspartame to a control preparation. This was a double-blind randomized cross over study conducted in a clinical research unit in United Kingdom. Forty-eight individual who has self reported sensitivity to aspartame were compared to 48 age and gender matched aspartame non-sensitive individuals. They were given aspartame (100mg)-containing or control snack bars randomly at least 7 days apart. The main outcome measures were acute effects of aspartame measured using repeated ratings of 14 symptoms, biochemistry and metabonomics. Aspartame sensitive and non-sensitive participants differed psychologically at baseline in handling feelings and perceived stress. Sensitive participants had higher triglycerides (2.05 ± 1.44 vs. 1.26 ± 0.84mmol/L; p value 0.008) and lower HDL-C (1.16 ± 0.34 vs. 1.35 ± 0.54 mmol/L; p value 0.04), reflected in 1H NMR serum analysis that showed differences in the baseline lipid content between the tw...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 8, 2016·Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports·Zoya ZaeemEsma Dilli
Apr 11, 2017·Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition·Natalia Cardoso SantosMaria de Fatima Borin
Oct 7, 2018·Current Pain and Headache Reports·Michael J Marmura
Aug 28, 2021·Nutrients·Laura PapettiMassimiliano Valeriani

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
ELISA
nuclear magnetic resonance

Software Mentioned

DA
Matlab
XCMS
OPLS
SIMCA

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