Quantification of Aspartame in Diet Sodas

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Title: Quantification of Aspartame in Diet Sodas
Author: Alyssa Adams
Faculty Sponsor: Rahim Kazerouni; Gavin Keulks
Date: 6/1/2016
Abstract: Aspartame is an artificial sweetener much like high fructose corn syrup but is synthetically made compared to being derived from a naturally occurring compound. Many diet beverages and foods contain this chemical since it is about 200 times sweeter than regular table sugar and contains very few calories. Some people with a hereditary disease cannot metabolize the phenylalanine resulting from the breakdown of the aspartame. This, and potential health risks, have caused widespread controversy regarding the FDA approval of aspartame. I have used High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to quantify the amount of aspartame present in Diet Coke and Diet Pepper. I investigated how elevated temperatures can cause aspartame to become unstable and breakdown into potentially toxic chemicals. These findings will promote the labeling of actual amounts present in each drink, similar to how caffeine is labeled.
Type: Text; Honors Thesis
Department: Honors Program
Keywords: aspartame
Language: eng
Rights: Western Oregon University Library has determined, as of 06/01/2023, this item is in copyright, which is held by the author. Users may use the item in accordance with copyright limitations and exceptions, including fair use. For other uses, please ask permission from the author.; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Identifier: honors_theses/89