User:Richard T Murray/Aspartame/Draft

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Aspartame is the common name for aspartyl-phenylalanine-1-methyl ester, the methyl ester of the dipeptide of the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine. It is a non-saccharide artificial sweetener, very commonly used in diet drinks and other low-calorie foods, though it is not always suitable in baked goods, as it breaks down under high heat and loses much of its sweetness. Aspartame has about the same nutritional energy content as sugar, but as it is about 180 times as sweet, the energy content of foods and drinks sweetened with aspartame is much less than of those sweetened with sugar.

Aspartame was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for dry foods in July, 1981, for carbonated beverages in July, 1983, and for all food uses since 1996.

As a dipeptide, aspartame is made of two normal, essential amino acids: phenylalanine (50 % by weight) and aspartic acid, (39 %), loosely bound together by a smaller methyl unit (11 %). At temperatures above body heat and high levels of acidity(low pH) after ingestion, it readily splits and releases its three components, which follow largely independent paths in humans.