Neotame
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Neotame is an artificial sweetener made by NutraSweet that is between 8,000 and 13,000 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). Neotame is moderately heat stable and extremely potent, and is considered to be of no danger to those suffering from phenylketonuria, as it does not metabolize into phenylalanine. The product is rapidly metabolized, completely eliminated, and does not accumulate in the body. The major metabolic pathway is hydrolysis of the methyl ester by esterases that are present throughout the body, which yields de-esterified neotame and toxic methanol. Because only very small amounts of neotame are needed to sweeten foods, the amount of methanol derived from neotame is very small relative to that derived from common foods, such as fruit and vegetable juices.
It is chemically similar to the popular artificial sweetener aspartame, however it has a 3,3-dimethylbutyl group attached to the amino group of the aspartic acid portion of the molecule. Peptidases, which would typically break the peptide bond between the aspartic acid and phenylalanine moieties, are essentially blocked by the presence of the 3,3-dimethylbutyl moiety, thus reducing the availability of phenylalanine.
Neotame was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for general use in July 2002, but is not yet widely used in food products.
