Calculation of the intake of three intense sweeteners in young insulin-dependent diabetics

In 1994, European Directive 94/35/CE authorised the use as food additives o f five intense sweeteners for which Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI) were est ablished. The same directive stipulated that member states should organise a monitoring system to determine the consumption of these substances. Diabe tic children are normally considered to constitute a group with a high cons umption of sweeteners (European Commission, 1998. Report on Methodology for the Monitoring of Food Additives Intake across the European Union. Report of the Scientific Cooperation, Task 4.2 SCOOP/INT/REPORT/2. European Commis sion Directorate General III, Brussels.). A stepwise approach to the food a dditive intake in the general population had shown that three of the five a uthorised intense sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin and acesulfame K) are us ed at particularly high levels in sugar-free foods and are also very common ly utilised as table-top sweeteners. This paper presents the results of a f ood intake survey conducted in a group of French, insulin-dependent childre n in 1997, aimed at estimating the Theoretical Maximum Daily Intake (TMDI) for these three sweeteners and comparing this with the relevant ADI values. A 5-day diary questionnaire was used to estimate the intake of sugar-free, artificially sweetened foods and table-top sweeteners. When assessing the intake of each additive, all sugar-free products were assumed to be sweeten ed using a single sweetener at its maximum authorised level. This study was performed in five age groups, and based on the mean and 97.5th percentile of the distribution of consumption, demonstrated that it was unlikely that total exposure could rise above the ADI. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.