Biological properties of aspartame. I. Evaluation of central nervous system effects.

Aspartame was administered intragastrically to rodents at doses between 10 and 550 times the expected daily human intake to evaluate the effects on central nervous system function. No biologically meaningful effects were observed in either rats or mice following acute administration by the intragastric route. Aspartame administered as 9% of the diet (about 11 g/kg/day) for thirteen weeks to weanling rats altered the learning behavior of male rats. This effect of impaired learning behavior was nearly identical to that observed for an approximately equimolar amount of L-phenylalanine. The learning behavior of the female rats was not altered by either L-phenylalanine or aspartame at these extremely large doses. It was concluded that prolonged dietary ingestion of aspartame at levels approximately 550 times that expected for normal human daily ingestion was necessary to elicit a behavioral deficit.