Eating or drinking things with aspartame might raise the amount of methanol in your blood, but we don’t yet know if that’s actually harmful or just a harmless blip.

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Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Community contributions welcome

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Aspartame Metabolism in Normal Adults, Phenylketonuric Heterozygotes, and Diabetic Subjects

Narrative Review

Human

1989 Jan

This study found that when people eat or drink aspartame, their blood methanol levels go up — which is exactly what the claim says. It doesn’t say if that’s harmful or not, but it does prove the link exists.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Aspartame Metabolism in Normal Adults, Phenylketonuric Heterozygotes, and Diabetic Subjects

Score: 1

DOI: 10.2337/diacare.12.1.67

Similar Assertions

Eating or drinking things with aspartame doesn’t seem to raise or lower blood sugar, insulin, or fat levels in people with diabetes, according to some small studies.

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When people eat or drink things with aspartame (like diet soda), their blood phenylalanine goes up — and this happens more if they haven’t eaten recently, even if they don’t have the genetic condition PKU.

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73%