Discovering Sweetness

• The sweetening properties in aspartame were discovered in 1965 when a chemist creating a batch of aspartame as part of another process accidentally spilled a small amount on his hand. Licking his finger, he realized the compound he had been working with must have created the sweetness he tasted. After sweetening some coffee with the chemical, he persuaded his employers that aspartame might have commercial flavoring applications. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved aspartame as a table sweetener in 1981 and as a sweetener for drinks in 1983.

The Science of Sweetness

• The key to aspartame's use as a low-calorie sweetener lies in its intense sweetness. Aspartame is approximately 200 times as sweet as table sugar. Although aspartame has roughly the same number of calories as sugar, a tiny amount of aspartame can produce the same level of sweetness as a much larger amount of sugar at a much lower calorie count.

Aspartame in Everyday Life

• Aspartame's most common uses are as a table sweetener -- to be added to coffee or sprinkled on cereal -- and in diet sodas. Prolonged exposure to high temperatures removes some or all aspartame's sweetness, making it unsuitable for some types of cooking. The sweetener is still safe to eat, but the food won't have the same taste. Some aspartame recipes recommend adding the sweetener toward the end of the cooking or baking process to minimize this effect.

Sweet But Deadly?

• For decades, consumers concerned about the health risks of aspartame have pointed to studies that may show come connection between the sweetener and an increased risk of cancer. Both the FDA and the European Food Safety Authority state that aspartame is safe for human consumption, citing other studies that show no long-term ill effects. Britain's Food Standards Agency estimates an adult would have to drink 14 cans of aspartame-sweetened drinks every day to exceed the safe amount.