Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by PUTHRASINGAM, S.
Right arrow Articles by JACKSON, S. H. D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by PUTHRASINGAM, S.
Right arrow Articles by JACKSON, S. H. D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1996 Oxford University Press

research-article

Aspartame Pharmacokinetics—The Effect of Ageing

S. PUTHRASINGAM, W. M. HEYBROEK, A. JOHNSTON, V. MASKREY, C. G. SWIFT, P. TURNER, S. M. L. ABRAMS and S. H. D. JACKSON*

Department of Health Care of the Elderly, King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, Dulwich Hospital, E. Dulwich Grove London SE22 8PT
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College W. Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE

*Address correspondence to Dr S. H. D. Jackson

Aspartame is an intense sweetener which is increasingly used in the UK. It is registered at an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 40mg/kg, although there are no previous data relating to the metabolism of aspartame in older people. Twelve young and 12 elderly volunteers each received a single dose of approximately 40mg/kg of aspartame. Baseline concentrations of phenylalanine (the main metabolite of aspartame) rose after ingestion with a significantly higher maximum concentration (Cmax) (81.3 vs. 63.3µmol/l, p < 0.01) and area under the plasma concentration-time curve extrapolated to infinity AUC(O-{infty}) (518.7 vs. 353.5µmol · h/1, p < 0.01) in the elderly group. The higher concentrations reflected a significant fall in volume of distribution (V) from 2.03 to 1.59 I/kg (p < 0.05) and clearance (CL) from 7.3 to 4.9ml/min/kg (p < 0.005) in the elderly group. The greater effect on CL than on V resulted in a small but non-significant rise in elimination half life (3.5 to 3.9 hours). The sizes of the differences were modest implying that there is no need on pharmacokinetic grounds for a change in the ADI for older people.

Revision received October 4, 1995.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.