Multiple choice

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener sold in the market. It consists of amino acids and provides calories like other amino acids. Yet, it is used as a low-calorie sweetening agent in food items. What is the basis of this use?

  1. Aspartame is a s sweet as table sugar, but unlike table sugar, it is not readily oxidized in human body due to lack of requisite enzymes.

  2. When aspartame is used in food processing, the sweet taste remains, but it becomes resistant to oxidation.

  3. Aspartame is as sweet as sugar, but after investigation into the body , it is converted into metabolites that yield no calories.

  4. Aspartame is several times sweeter than table sugar, hence food items made with small quantities of aspartame yield fewer calories on oxidation.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Aspartame, an artificial sweetener, is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose, or table sugar. Due to this property, even though aspartame produces four kilocalories of energy per gram when metabolized, the quantity of aspartame needed to produce a sweet taste is so small that its caloric contribution is negligible.

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