Editing Aspartame (section)

=== Metabolites ===

Aspartame is rapidly [[hydrolyzed]] in the [[small intestine]] by [[digestive enzyme]]s which break aspartame down into [[methanol]], [[phenylalanine]], [[aspartic acid]], and further metabolites, such as [[formaldehyde]] and [[formic acid]].<ref name=Magnuson/><ref name="ahmad">{{cite journal | vauthors = Ahmad SY, Friel JK, Mackay DS | title=Effect of sucralose and aspartame on glucose metabolism and gut hormones | journal=Nutrition Reviews| volume=78 | issue=9 | date=September 2020 | pmid=32065635 | doi=10.1093/nutrit/nuz099 | pages=725–746 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Lin-2000">{{cite journal | vauthors = Lin SY, Cheng YD | title = Simultaneous formation and detection of the reaction product of solid-state aspartame sweetener by FT-IR/DSC microscopic system | journal = Food Additives and Contaminants | volume = 17 | issue = 10 | pages = 821–827 | date = October 2000 | pmid = 11103265 | doi = 10.1080/026520300420385 | s2cid = 10065876 }}</ref> Due to its rapid and complete metabolism, aspartame is not found in circulating blood, even following ingestion of high doses over 200&nbsp;mg/kg.<ref name=Magnuson/><ref name=ahmad/>

====Aspartic acid====

Aspartic acid (aspartate) is one of the most common [[amino acid]]s in the typical diet. As with methanol and phenylalanine, intake of aspartic acid from aspartame is less than would be expected from other dietary sources.<ref name=Magnuson/><ref name=ahmad/> At the 90th percentile of intake, aspartame provides only between 1% and 2% of the daily intake of aspartic acid.<ref name=Magnuson/>

====Methanol====

The methanol produced by aspartame metabolism is unlikely to be a safety concern for several reasons. The amount of methanol produced from aspartame-sweetened foods and beverages is likely to be less than that from food sources already in diets.<ref name=Magnuson/> With regard to formaldehyde, it is rapidly converted in the body, and the amounts of formaldehyde from the metabolism of aspartame are trivial when compared to the amounts produced routinely by the human body and from other foods and drugs.<ref name=Magnuson/> At the highest expected human doses of consumption of aspartame, there are no increased blood levels of methanol or formic acid,<ref name=Magnuson/> and ingesting aspartame at the 90th percentile of intake would produce 25 times less methanol than what would be considered toxic.<ref name=Butchko/>