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Food and Chemical Toxicology 42 (2004) 677–685
www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchemtox

Dietary estimated intake of intense sweeteners by Italian teenagers.
Present levels and projections derived from the INRAN-RM-2001
food survey
D. Arcella, C. Le Donne, R. Piccinelli, C. Leclercq*
INRAN – National Research Institute for Food and Nutrition, Via Ardeatina 546, 00178 Rome, Italy
Received 10October 2003; accepted 8 December 2003

Abstract
In a previous study, Italian female teenagers regular consumers of sugar free soft drinks and table-top sweeteners were suggested
to have a higher intake of intense sweeteners than other teenagers. A food frequency questionnaire designed to identify adolescents
who were high consumers of these food products was filled in by a randomly extractedsample of teenagers (n=3982) living in the
District of Rome (Italy) in year 2000. A consumer survey was then carried out in a randomly extracted sub-sample of males and
females and in all females who reported high consumption of sugar-free soft drinks and/or table-top sweeteners. A total of 362
subjects participated in a detailed food survey by recording, at brand level, all foods and beveragesingested over 12 days. For each
sugar-free product, producers provided the concentration of intense sweeteners (saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame K and cyclamate). No intake in excess of the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) was observed. Also medicines and supplements were taken into
account and these did not result in a large impact on chronic exposure to intense sweeteners. The intake levels didnot exceed the
ADI even under a worst case scenario which was performed to take into consideration a hypothetical future substitution of all
regular food products with their sugar-free version. It can be concluded that, with the observed current consumption patterns and
occurrence levels, the risk of an excessive intake of intense sweeteners by Italian teenagers is extremely low.
# 2004 ElsevierLtd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Dietary intake; Food additives; Intense sweeteners; Sugar-free products

1. Introduction
In 1995, three EU directives (European Commission,
1995) fixed common Maximum Permitted Levels (MPL)
for sweeteners, colours and miscellaneous additives
for all Member States. These directives, transcribed in
Italian regulation in 1996 (Ministry of Health, 1996),also include the general obligation to establish national
systems for monitoring the intake of these substances,
in order to evaluate their use safety, i.e. the risk of
exceeding the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI). In 1999 a
consumer survey was carried out in a not randomised

Abbreviations: ADI, Acceptable Daily Intake; MPL, Maximum Permitted Levels; BMI, Body Mass Index; IOTF, InternationalObesity
Task Force; EI, Energy Intake; BMR, Basal Metabolic Rate.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-06-51494402; fax: +39-0651494550.
E-mail address: leclercq@inran.it (C. Leclercq).
0278-6915/$ - see front matter # 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fct.2003.12.004

sample of Italian teenagers (Leclercq et al., 1999). Its
purpose was to assess the intake of intensesweeteners
and their food sources and to estimate the probability of
exceeding the ADI in teenagers, a population group
likely to have an above average consumption of foods
that are currently available in sugar-free version (soft
drinks, candies and chewing gums). Intakes of saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame K and cyclamate were
found to be low, soft drinks and table-top sweeteners
were found tobe the largest sources of intense sweeteners. Females, and in particular those on a slimming
diet, appeared to have a more regular consumption of
sugar-free products than males.
Studies of dietary exposure to additives must take
into special consideration non-average individuals, and
in particular those who consume relatively large quantities of foods containing higher concentrations of a...