Riess L Elizabeth, Huynh Benjamin Q, Nachman Keeve E
Department of Environmental Health & Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21202, USA.
J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2025 May;35(3):351-361. doi: 10.1038/s41370-024-00678-7. Epub 2024 May 9.
Exposure to food additives is widespread but up-to-date and accurate intake estimates are rarely available. The safety of the food additive aspartame is the subject of recent controversy and intake estimates for this nonnutritive sweetener are typically derived from surrogates such as diet soda consumption.
We describe an approach for developing nationally representative dietary exposure estimates for food additives that combines intake from dietary recalls and grocery purchasing information.
We combined NielsenIQ Homescan Consumer Panel purchasing data with the USDA Global Branded Food Products database and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate aspartame intake and prevalence of consumption for the US population. We examined points of departure for aspartame from CompTox Chemicals Dashboard to provide context for exposures and potential effects.
Mean, 90th percentile, and 95th percentile aspartame intake estimates are below the acceptable daily intake (50 mg/kg/day) and are lower than estimates from previous decades. Groups with the highest aspartame intakes are non-Hispanic whites, 60- to 69-year-olds, and individuals on diabetic diets. Aspartame exposure is highly prevalent (62.6%) in the US including sensitive populations such as pregnant women and children.
Exposure to the widely consumed food additive aspartame is not well characterized, and concerns about potential health effects remain despite assurances of safety when consumed under conditions of intended use. This work provides current intake estimates for the US population with important comparisons across demographic groups and individuals on special diets. The approach includes ingredient statement and grocery purchasing data to capture all aspartame-containing products, beyond diet soda, in intake estimates. This framework also has the potential for application to other food ingredients.
食品添加剂的接触十分普遍，但目前尚无最新且准确的摄入量估计数据。食品添加剂阿斯巴甜的安全性是近期争议的焦点，这种非营养性甜味剂的摄入量估计通常来自诸如无糖汽水消费等替代指标。
我们描述了一种为食品添加剂制定具有全国代表性的膳食暴露估计值的方法，该方法结合了膳食回忆摄入量和杂货店购买信息。
我们将尼尔森IQ家庭扫描消费者面板购买数据与美国农业部全球品牌食品数据库以及国家健康与营养检查调查相结合，以估计美国人群的阿斯巴甜摄入量和消费流行率。我们研究了来自综合毒理学化学仪表板的阿斯巴甜接触起点，以为暴露情况和潜在影响提供背景信息。
阿斯巴甜摄入量的均值、第90百分位数和第95百分位数估计值均低于可接受的每日摄入量（50毫克/千克/天），且低于前几十年的估计值。阿斯巴甜摄入量最高的群体是非西班牙裔白人、60至69岁的人群以及糖尿病饮食者。在美国，包括孕妇和儿童等敏感人群在内，阿斯巴甜暴露极为普遍（62.6%）。
广泛消费的食品添加剂阿斯巴甜的暴露情况尚未得到充分描述，尽管在预期使用条件下食用时保证了安全性，但对其潜在健康影响的担忧依然存在。这项工作提供了美国人群当前的摄入量估计值，并对不同人口群体和特殊饮食个体进行了重要比较。该方法包括成分声明和杂货店购买数据，以在摄入量估计中涵盖除无糖汽水之外的所有含阿斯巴甜产品。这个框架也有应用于其他食品成分的潜力。
