Aspartame is an artificial sweetener discovered in 1965 by James Schlatter, a chemist at GD Searle & Company. At the time, the sweetening power of this product was unknown. It was while moistening his finger to pick up a sheet of paper that James Schlatter discovered its sweet taste!
This discovery came as a great surprise because the two main compounds in aspartame are not sweet at all (aspartic acid and phenylalanine).
Aspartame revolutionized the food industry by allowing the launch of so-called "sugar-free" products in 1981.
This product is authorized in 90 countries and used in nearly 5,000 food products (chewing gum, sodas, etc.). However, there is controversy regarding aspartame, it is carcinogenic and could cause premature births. This is the conclusion of two recent studies carried out by the Réseau environnement santé (RES)
