Aspartame

5. Conclusion

Several national and international scientific committees have reviewed the health risks of aspartame consumption. They conclude:

• Compared to normal consumption of natural foods, aspartame consumption is only a minor source of aspartic acid, phenylalanine and methanol. Furthermore, aspartame intakes in adults, children and diabetics of all ages are unlikely to exceed the current Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) (see question 2).
• Aspartame and its main impurity, diketopiperazine (DKP), do not cause cancer. Neither the tests on rodents nor the human epidemiological studies demonstrate that the consumption of aspartame causes brain tumours (see question 4.1).
• Overall, current studies do not bring evidence that aspartame induces changes in behaviour, cognition, mood or learning, even in individuals claiming to be sensitive and individuals heterozygous for phenylketonuria disease (PKU) (see question 4.3 & 4.4).
• Studies do not show that aspartame causes headaches (see question 4.5).
• There is no conclusive evidence that aspartame causes epileptic seizures (see question 4.6).
• Studies on individuals claiming to be allergic to aspartame do not confirm the claims (see question 4.7).

In its most recent evaluation (EEA 2002) the European Commission Scientific Committee on Food concluded that there is no need to revise the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of 40 mg/kg body weight per day previously established for aspartame. More...