As discussed in my earlier blogs, a product labeled “sugar-free” or “low-calorie” contains sugar substitutes in place of table sugar. Due to the popularity of sugar-free products among consumers and regulatory consents from regulatory bodies, a wide range of food and drink products with artificial sweeteners are available in the market. Among artificial sweeteners, Aspartame is the most widely used sweetener and flavor enhancer. Even though the use of Aspartame in food products remains controversial regarding its health risks, Aspartame is used in more than 6000 food products, which are widely accepted worldwide. These sugar-free products include food product categories such as chewing gum, tabletop sweetener, beverages, cordial, yogurt, snacks, cooking sauce, drink powders, crisps, etc. [1]. In this blog, I would like to discuss the commonly used sugar-free products available in the market that use Aspartame as an artificial sweetener.

Properties of Aspartame

As mentioned in my earlier blog, only a minimal amount of Aspartame (E 951) is needed to sweeten our food products because Aspartame is 200 times sweeter than table sugar. Even though artificial sweetener foods are marketed as calorie-free, it contains 4 calories per gram. However, due to its flavor and long-lasting taste like sugar, Aspartame is often used together with other artificial sweeteners. However, Aspartame is not recommended for use in cooked or baked foods. This is because at higher temperatures it will break down into its constituent amino acids and loses its sweetness and flavor [2]. I recommend you to read my earlier blog, which provides more details regarding the health issues associated with Aspartame.

Food products containing Aspartame

After the regulatory approval as a food additive, Aspartame is widely used in soft drinks and as an additive to dry foods and processed foods. However, the regulatory bodies mandated a warning statement “Contains Phenylalanine” on all product labels to give caution for people with the genetical disease such as phenylketonuria. Although there are many mixed reports on the cause and effect regarding the consumption of Aspartame products, many sugar-free products with Aspartame are available in the market because of high consumer demands. A brief list of food products that contain Aspartame are given below:

Chewing gum

In order to reduce dental health risks such as cavities and plaque, to avoid the demineralizing effect, and to get mouth freshness, people prefer to use sugar-free chewing gums [3]. According to reports almost all big brands of sugar-free chewing gum contains Aspartame. Here is the list of some chewing gums that containAspartamein the market: “5”, “Big league”, “Big Red”, “Doublemint”, “Extra”, “Bubblicious Strawberry”, “Clorets”, “Dentyne Mint with Herbal Accents”, “Eclipse”, “Excel”, “Freedent”, “Hubba Bubba”, “Ice Breakers”, “Juicy Fruit”, “Mentos”, “Orbit”, “Stride”, “Trident Vibe Energy Gum”, “Winterfresh”, “Wrigley’s Spearmint” etc. [4].

Beverages

Coca-cola company published on its website that they use Aspartame in their products to give great taste choices with fewer or no calories. The Coca-cola products that contain Aspartame are “Coke Zero Sugar”, “Diet Barq’s”, “Diet Coke”, “Diet Coke Fiesty Cherry”, “Fanta Zero”, “Fresca”, “Gold Peak Diet Tea”, “Mello Yello Zero”, “Minute Maid Light”, “Pibb Zero”, “Seagram’s Diet Ginger Ale”, “Sprite Zero”, and“TaB”. These products are artificially sweetened with Aspartame or with a blend of Aspartame and Acesulfame Potassium [5]. However,due to the health concerns of consumers and the controversies behind Aspartame, this artificial sweetener is being removed from Zero Calorie Diet Pepsi drinks in the United States. The Pepsi company agreed consumers awareness about the potential side effects associated with Aspartame was the reason behind the fall of sales of Diet Pepsi by more than 5% in the United States. But the UK Pepsi consumers still love Diet Pepsi as their favorite diet drink and hence Diet Pepsi with Aspartame is still in use in the UK market [6]. Other soft drinks such as“Pepsi Max”, “Diet Pepsi”, “Diet Irn Bru”, “Lilt Zero”, “Tango”, “7up Free”, “Schweppes Slimline Drinks”, “Dr. Pepper Zero”, “Lucozade Sport”, “Oasis Citrus Punch”, “Oasis Summer Fruits Extra Light”,etc. also contain Aspartame artificial sweetener [7]. In addition, Aspartame is also widely used in many varieties of energy drinks, coffee flavorings, flavored milk, protein shakes, etc.

Tabletop sweetener

Since Aspartame is not recommended for use in recipes that require heating and baking, it is best used as a tabletop sweetener and is also added to some recipes at the end of heating to maintain the sweetness. The tabletop sweeteners such as “Canderel”, and “Silver Spoon Sweetness and Light”contain Aspartame, which is available in the granular and tablet forms.

Yogurt

Low-fat and sugar-free yogurts are also as popular as sugar-free drinks and sugar-free chewing gums in our diet food varieties. “Muller Light (Blueberry, Cherry, Raspberry, Banana, and Custard)”, “Danone Activia Cherry”, “Weight Watchers Fromage Frais”, “Weight Watchers Toffee and Vanilla”etc. list Aspartame in their ingredient list.

In addition, drink powders such as “Options Hot Chocolate Drink”, cordial such as“Ribena Really Light” and“Robinsons Orange Squash”,crisps such as“Walkers Sensations Sweet Thai Chilli”, “Walkers Sensations Lime and Thai Spices”,and“Walkers Prawn Cocktail”use the artificial sweetener Aspartame. Additionally, Aspartame is used in cereals, instant coffee and tea, candies, puddings, gelatins, and dairy products. In addition, the reduced-calorie varieties of ketchup, dressings, sauces, and medications such as sugar-free cough drops, and vitamins may contain Aspartame as an ingredient.

The above-mentioned product list that contains Aspartame is only a brief listing. Every day new sugar-free brands and products are coming to the market. I request my readers to submit more product categories and product names coming across you in the comment section.

Recommendations

• It is highly recommended to use natural and non-artificial food products.
• Read the ingredient labels before buying our favorite foods and drinks and learn the ingredient’s health effects.
• Try to limit the use of our artificial sweetener food products within the recommended daily intake limit.
• People with the genetical disorder such as phenylketonuria are not advised to use products containing the artificial sweetener Aspartame.

References

[1] Christina R Whitehouse et al., AAOHN Journal, 56, 2008, 251-261

[2] Muzafar Maqsood Wani et al., Journal of Medical Sciences, 22, 2019, e046-e048

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewing_gum

[4] https://www.fooducate.com/search/chewing%20gum

[5] https://www.coca-colaproductfacts.com/en/faq/reduced-no-sugar-substitutes/what-coca-cola-products-contain-aspartame/

[6] https://www.bbc.com/news/health-32478203

[7] https://supersweetblog.wordpress.com/list-of-products-containing-aspartame/