- Aspartame
- A man-made sweetener with almost no calories used in place of sugar. A diet program with aspartame and exercise gives better results than without this sweetener. People lose more weight and regain less weight. Aspartame is a compound of two amino acids — aspartic acid and phenylalanine. Because it is essentially half phenylalanine, people who have the genetic disease phenylketonuria (PKU) and cannot metabolize phenylalanine normally need to avoid diet drinks and other products containing aspartame (trade name: NutraSweet).
* * *A low-calorie sweetening agent about 200 times as sweet as sucrose used by persons who must restrict sugar and caloric intake.
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as·par·tame 'as-pər-.tām, ə-'spär- n a crystalline dipeptide ester C14H18N2O5 that is synthesized from the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid and is used as a low-calorie sweetener see NUTRASWEET* * *
as·par·tame (ə-spahrґtām) (asґpahr-tām″) [NF] an artificial sweetener about 200 times as sweet as sucrose and used as a low-calorie sweetener.
Medical dictionary. 2011.