Aspartame is the common name for aspartyl-phenylalanine. It is combination of the two amino acids from which its name is derived.
First produced in 1969, it is required to be about 180 times sweeter than sucrose.
Like cyclamate, it was approved and later banned by FDA. Exhaustive evidence of its safety have been presented by animal testing and by definition of its metabolic fate in animals and humans, It was subsequently reinstated, as safe for use by the FDA.
Unlike saccharin and cyclamate, aspartame leaves no bitter aftertaste. It is quite expensive, about 200 times more so than sucrose, but as it is about 180 times sweeter than sucrose, its cost for obtaining a given unit of sweetness is not much more.
Aspartame
