Aspartame: An Investigation of the Use of Artificial Sweeteners

Authors

Carlson John
Alvin Page, BSc, Coop High School

Keywords

Aspartame; Artificial Sweeteners; Diabetes; Health

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Community College Leadership | Higher Education | Immune System Diseases | Medicine and Health Sciences | Public Health | Translational Medical Research | Virus Diseases

Abstract

Aspartame is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in many foods and beverages. Aspartame is two hundred times sweeter than regular sugar. Many people prefer to use artificial sweeteners like aspartame as it does not affect blood sugar in the same way as natural sweeteners, does not promote tooth decay, and has been shown to be beneficial in weight control. However, it has also been linked with the development or aggravation of diabetes mellitus, convulsions, headaches, depression, hypertension, arthritis, and other medical conditions. We hypothesize that natural sweeteners are healthier than artificial sweeteners, like Splenda.

Artificial sweeteners are something that most people prefer to use. We conducted a survey and discovered that most people preferred to use artificial sweeteners. In one part of our experiment, we interviewed twenty people and asked if they preferred to drink diet soda or regular soda. Our results showed that most of the people we did the survey with preferred diet soda to regular soda. In the second part of our experiment, we interviewed eighteen people and asked them to rate naturally flavored and artificially-flavored jelly-o. Our results indicate that most of the people like the artificially flavored jelly-o.

Recommended Citation

John, Carlson and Page, BSc, Alvin (2016) "Aspartame: An Investigation of the Use of Artificial Sweeteners," Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice: Vol. 9: Iss. 5, Article 39.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/jhdrp/vol9/iss5/39