Giving up on sugar almost entirely is one of the most challenging aspects of the keto diet for a lot of beginners, and even seasoned low carb veterans will admit that those sugar cravings are still hard to curb after a lot of experience on keto.

But that doesn’t mean that we just have to live a life without sweet foods.

There are dozens of sugar alternatives and substitute sweeteners on the market today, and most of them are perfectly keto-friendly, which you can use to keto-ify any recipes that you may have been missing due to this sugar and carb restriction.

In this article, I’ll be reviewing Aspartame, explaining just how keto-friendly it is, and comparing it to other types of alternative sweeteners.

What Is Aspartame?

Aspartame is an enitrely artifical “non-saccharide” that in recent years has become one of the most popular and widely used artificial sweeteners on the market.

It is extremely popular for its potency, lack of carbohydrates and calories, and relatively low glycemic index effect on blood sugar.

As an artificial substance, it has been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but still has much research required to fully know the extent of its long term use effects on the body.

Aspartame is most commonly found in the following types of pre-packaged foods

• Diet sodas (Coke Zero)
• Sugar free ice cream
• Sugar free chewing gum
• Sugar free fruit juice
• Sugarless candy
• Yogurt

Is Aspartame Keto-Friendly?

When it comes to keto-friendly alternative sweeteners, you’ll need to consider calories, carbohydrates, and glycemic index value. Fortunately, aspartame meets all of the criteria as a low calorie, low carb, and low glycemic substitute.

However aspartame isn’t necessarily the best option, and because it’s only found in prepackaged foods, you may want to still check the ingredients lists because it can still be paired with other additives and sweeteners that aren’t so keto-friendly.

I’ll break down the full range of benefits and side effects you should be mindful of while on keto next.

Benefits of Aspartame

• Long lasting taste

One of the things that makes aspartame stand out from other types of sugar-free sweeteners is its lasting flavor. It comes with less of a noticeable aftertaste, while still keeping the sweet flavors of the foods its mixed into lasting much longer than other alternatives.

This is in part due to its chemical structure and initial flavor being very comparable to that of sugar, but without any of the same levels of glycemic index or carbohydrates.

Because of this benefit, you might see other sweeteners such as acesulfame potassium added into products that contain aspartame to help mimic the sugar taste when combined with other ingredients more closely.

• Concentrated sweet flavor

Aspartame is exceptionally sweet, which ties into its longer lasting flavor than most other times of sugar substitutes.

Aspartame is roughly 200 times sweeter than that of sugar, and is one of the leading sugar alternatives in terms of sweetness per serving.

A potential drawback of aspartame is that it comes at a higher calorie count than sugar and other types of sweeteners, but because of it’s concentrated flavor, much less of it is actually needed for most types of recipes.

• Low in carbohydrates

Aspartame is also very low carb, which obviously makes it a great option for those on the keto diet.

It’s also very good for those struggling with diabetes, because it has a relatively low glycemic index compared to sugar and other alternative sweeteners, which means that it’s less likely to spike your blood sugar levels.

This is important for keto dieters as well, because regulating blood glucose levels is one of the cornerstones of maintaining a state of ketosis. Even if you’re not going over your carb limits, if you spike your blood sugar too quickly and dramatically, you can easily lose your ketosis progress.

• Prevents tooth decay

Like a lot of other alternative sweeteners on the market, aspartame prevents the development of tooth decay, which makes it a great alternative to sugar.

Aspartame causes far fewer cavities and dental issues than sugar because it doesn’t contain the same type of enzymes as sugar that get absorbed by the bacteria in our mouths, which can reduce the bacteria volume over time if you’re replacing sugar entirely with substitutes like aspartame.

This can be great with products that are particularly corrosive for teeth, such as sodas and candies. Switching to aspartame-sweetened products can definitely increase your chances of reducing tooth decay risks, but you’ll always want to check for other potentially harmful additives like maltitol, dextrose, and maltodextrin as well.

• Promotes weight loss

Obviously the biggest reason people look into switching in aspartame for sugar is because of its weight loss properties. As a low calorie, low carbohydrate, and low glycemic sweetener, it’s great for those trying to lose weight via keto as well as for those who are trying to simply lose weight by cutting down on calories.

Side Effects of Aspartame

• May increase appetite

Definitely one of the worst and most prominent side effects of aspartame is its link to increased appetite.

Alternative sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose have been linked to increases in appetite, which can easily lead to weight gain, by stimulating hormones that regulate hunger.

While the research on this connection is still fairly minimal, it’s something to definitely keep track of if you’ve started to consume aspartame more frequently while following a ketogenic diet.

• Linked to multiple forms of cancer

Aspartame has had some pretty negative PR over the last few years, and while research is still being finalized and some results can be conflicting, there’s ample amount of evidence linking long term consumption of aspartame over time to the development of a variety of different types of cancers.

While aspartame has been deemed as safe for public consumption by the FDA, the Center for Science in the Public Interest has referenced multiple studies that all indicate that there are some serious problems to consider regarding the sweetener, including a study on its influence on cancer cell generation conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health.

• Adverse affects for those with Phenylketonuria

People that struggle with PKU, or Phenylketonuria are characterized as having too much phenylalanine in their blood.

Phenylalanine is known as an essential amino acid found that is often found in protein sources like meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products. It’s importantly also one of the two primary ingredients of aspartame.

People who suffer from PKU are unable to properly process phenylalanine, to the point where it becomes toxic in their bodies. This means that for people with this condition, aspartame should be treated as highly toxic and should be avoided. If you think you may have PKU, talk to your doctor before introducing any alternative sweeteners into your diet.

• Can lead to cardiovascular complications

Along with problems of weight gain and adverse effects for those with PKU, aspartame has been linked to a variety of other cardiovascular issues as well.

A recent major study has linked continuous aspartame consumption with heart disease, as well as hypertension (high blood pressure), and increased levels of bad cholesterol.

In more extreme cases, it’s also been linked to increased risks of heart attack and stroke.

• Conflicting research available

One of the biggest issues with incorporating aspartame into your diet is the lack of information available.

Because there’s still a lot of conflicting research available, it can be difficult to know exactly what kind of risks you may be taking on. Because of this, more natural sweeteners with fewer adverse effects might be better if you’re looking to fully replace sugar in the long term.

Aspartame vs Other Alternative Sweeteners

• Monk Fruit

Monk fruit is definitely one of my favorite easily available options out of all alternative sweeteners that are keto-friendly.

As a sugar alternative, it is about 100 to 250 times sweeter than table sugar, meaning just a little bit of it can really go a long way, comparably to that of aspartame, but with fewer calories and side effects.

• Eryhtritol

Erythritol, is a pretty commonly used keto-friendly sugar alcohol.

One big thing that makes erythritol stand out from other forms of sugar alcohols is the fact that it occurs in nature more frequently, and tends to have a much lower glycemic index value (similar to that of sugar alcohols like mannitol, isomalt, and sorbitol).

Erythritol also has far fewer calories that other sweetener alternatives, which makes it much more effective as a sugar replacement for those who want to use it in bulk for certain baking recipes.

• Xylitol

Xylitol, like erythritol is another form of sugar alcohol that is frequently utilized by a lot of people that follow the keto diet.

Generally, xylitol is perfectly safe to use while on a ketogenic diet in moderation, but when it comes to all forms of sugar alcohols, I’m much more inclined to recommend erythritol over xylitol if you’re going to frequently use it because it comes with more benefits at a lower glycemic index.

• Allulose

Allulose, while often considered just a standard sugar alcohol, is technically as a monosaccharaide, which is a rare type of natural sugar.

As a naturally occurring sweetener, it is completely natural, and is usually found in dried fruits like raisins, jackfruit, and figs, but it is only really usable in trace amounts.

When allulose is produced for human consumption, it is most often processed into an extract, so that it can be used as an effective substitute for sugar.

Allulose is a bit less effective, because it has roughly 60-70% of the sweetness of sugar, and does have some slight amounts of carbohydrates per serving.

• Agave Nectar

While a lot of nutritionists will claim that agave nectar is a pretty great sugar substitute, it’s actually quite bad for you.

The biggest benefit of agave nectar is simply that it is low glycemic because it doesn’t contain any glucose, but it makes up for that lack of glucose with extraordinarily high levels of fructans, which can converted into fructose in the body.

These added fructans basically behave like the carbohydrates that you would from sugar in the digestive system, and can lead to a great amount of weight gain pretty quickly if eaten in large quantities.