Aspartame

2. How much aspartame do people consume?

The Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of 40 mg/kg body weight per day set by the committee of experts of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) is not likely to be exceeded, even by children and diabetics.

A European Commission (EC) report gives a theoretical maximum estimate for adults’ consumption of 21.3 mg/kg body weight per day of aspartame. However, the actual consumption is likely to be lower, even for high consumers of aspartame. The report also gives refined estimates for children which show that they consume 1 to 40% of the Acceptable Daily Intake.

Other reports in Europe use actual food consumption data and actual sweetener levels in foods to estimate that high level intakes for the general population vary between 2.8 and 7.5 mg/kg body weight per day. People with diabetes are high consumers of foods containing aspartame; their highest reported intake varies between 7.8 and 10.1 mg/kg body weight per day. More...