Artificial Sweeteners:
Sugar substitutes that contain little or no calories are called artificial sweeteners, non-nutritive sweeteners or non-caloric sweeteners. Well-known artificial sweeteners include sucralose, aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K and neotame.
Sugar alcohols such as xylitol and sorbital are also used to replace sugar and have fewer calories than regular sugar.
What It Is:
Neotame is a white crystalline powder manufactured from two amino acids, phenylalanine and aspartic acid, the same two amino acids used to make aspartame. Neotame does not have a bitter metallic after-taste. It is about 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar, so very little of it is needed to sweeten foods, so using neotame adds no calories to your diet.
What It Is Not:
Neotame is not a poison and it does not cause cancer. Some people have concerns about the small amount of methanol released during the metabolism of neotame. Methanol is also found naturally in many foods such as fruit juices. In fact, fruit and vegetable juices contain much more methanol than the same amount of diet soda sweetened with aspartame. Your liver is able to remove the formaldehyde quickly and safely from your body.
How To Use It:
Neotame may become a popular artificial sweetener for beverages, chewing gum, and confections as part of the Nutrasweet brand.
Safety:
Neotame has been shown to be safe in more than 130 studies by the FDA. Although it is made with the same amino acids as aspartame, it is metabolized differently and is therefor not a source of phenylalanine. This means that people with phenylketonuria can use neotame safely.
Fears:
Neotame is relatively new, however since it is similar in structure to aspartame, it may be the subject of similar fears and urban legends.
Sources:
"Position of the American Dietetic Association: appropriate use of nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners." J Am Diet Assoc. 2004 Feb;104(2):255-275.
US Food and Drug Administration. "Artificial Sweeteners: No Calories ... Sweet!" July 2006.
