ABSTRACT
Aspartame is a dipeptide sweetener that has recently been approved for use in the United States, Canada, and Europe. When ingested orally it is hydrolyzed in both the intestinal lumen and mucosa to its component amino acids and methanol, which in turn are handled in a manner similar to aspartate, phenylalanine, and methanol arising from the digestion of dietary protein and methylated polysaccharides. The controversy over nonhuman primate sensitivity to dicarboxylic amino acids led people to explore additional ways of evaluating the potential of these compounds to produce neurotoxicity. It has been suggested that certain amino acids, including glutamate and aspartate, are transported via the erythrocyte to a greater extent than plasma. The ingestion of large quantities of protein-bound glutamate alone had only a small effect on plasma glutamate concentration. The quantity of aspartame added to the beverage was considerably greater than the expected use level per meal.
