Life Sci. 1999;65(13):PL157-60.

Comments on the purported generation of formaldehyde and adduct formation from the sweetener aspartame.

Tephly TR.

Department of Pharmacology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA.

A recent paper by Trocho et al. (1) describes experiments meant to show that formaldehyde adducts are formed when rats are administered the sweetener aspartame. These authors assume that the methanol carbon of aspartame generates formaldehyde which then forms adducts with protein, DNA, and RNA. Doses employed range widely. In this letter, studies which have been published previously and which were not cited by these authors are reviewed in order to put into perspective the disposition of methanol and formaldehyde in monkeys and humans, species relevant to the toxicity of methanol and its toxic metabolite, formic acid.