What is Alitame?

Alitame is artificial sweetener. Developed by Pfizer in the 1980′s, it is marketed under the brand name “Aclame”.

Description:

The sweetener industry is very big and there is a lot of potential for profit. After the discovery of aspartame in the 70′s, scientists began search for other similar sweeteners. Alitame is one of these second generation artificial sweeteners.

It is a dipeptide similar to aspartame, and contains the amino acids aspartic acid and alanine.

Alitame has the following properties that give it the advantage over other artificial sweeteners like aspartame.

• 2000 times sweeter than sucrose (about 10 times sweeter than aspartame)
• no aftertaste
• does not contain phenylalanin (can be used by people with phenylketonuria)
• more stable under hot or acidic conditions than aspartame (but less stable than saccharin or acesulfame potassium)

Alitame is not currently approved in the US and the company that now owns the rights have withdrawn their FDA petition for approval. The reason cited is that the costs to produce it were too high.

Alitame is approved in a number of other countries, including Australia and Mexico.

E Number:

The E number for alitame is 956.