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Sweetener intakes
Fd Chem. Toxic. Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 71-72, 1991 Pergamon Press plc. Printed in Great Britain
Information Section SWEETENER INTAKES literature), median daily intakes (in mg/kg body weight) of aspartame were in the range 0.25 to 1.00 for the general population and 1.2 to 5.3 for diabetics, with maxima in the ranges 1.00 to 6.20 and 1.9 to 16.6, respectively. For saccharin the respective ranges were 0.20 to 0.90 and 0.6 to 2.3 for median intakes and 1.85 to 8.33 and 1.6 to 11.7 for maxima, while for acesulfame-K respective medians of 0.15 or 0.70 (in the age groups 10-14 and 35-64 years only) and -2.3, and maxima of 0.15 or 2.00 and -9.8, were calculated. A comparison of these intakes with established ADIs (omitted in the report) is illuminating. For aspartame, intakes were well within the ADI of up to 40 mg/kg body weight allocated by JECFA and the SCF (Evaluation of Certain Food Additives. Twenty-fifth Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Tech. Rep. Ser. Wld Hlth Org. 1981, No. 669, pp. 48; Reports of the Scientific Committee for Food (Twenty-first series). EUR 11617, Luxembourg, 1989, pp. iv + 58), whereas maximum saccharin intakes exceeded even the new ADI recently set by the CoT (FAC Further Advice on Saccharin. FdAC/REP/9, 1990, MAFF). Individuals exceeding the CoT ADI were found among the general population in the age groups 2-5 and 35-64 years, and among diabetics in the age groups 2-9, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65 + years. Some diabetics in most age groups exceeded the temporary JECFA and SCF ADI for saccharin of 2.5 mg/kg body weight, as too did some normal subjects in the age groups 10-14 and 25-34 years. In the case of acesulfame-K a maximum intake above the JECFA and SCF ADI of 9 mg/kg body weight (Evaluation of Certain Food Additives. Twenty-seventh Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Tech. Rep. Ser. Wld Hlth Org. 1983, No. 696, pp. 47; Report of the Scientific Committee For Food on Sweeteners; 14 December 1984) was recorded only among 2-9year-old diabetics. (No indication of the precise numbers exceeding these levels of intake is given in the report.) For bulk sweeteners the SCF has concluded that a maximum total intake of about 20 g/day is desirable to prevent possible laxative effects (Report of the Scientific Committee For Food on Sweeteners; 14 December 1984), while the UK Food Labelling Regulations 1984 (SI 1984 No. 1305) require a label statement "best eat less than 25 g a day" on products containing these substances. Diabetics were found to have maximum daily intakes of mannitol (4.9 g) and xylitol (0.2 g) well below these levels, but maximum sorbitol intakes of 22.7, 22.8 and 20.2 g/day were recorded in the age groups 15-19, 55-64 and 65+
The FACC recommended in 1982 that data should be collected on the intake of bulk and intense sweeteners by the general population and by special groups (Food Additives and Contaminants Committee Report on the Review of Sweeteners in Food. FAC/REP/34. HMSO, London). Brief details of the findings on saccharin have already been released (MAFF News Release 352/89, 6 September 1989; FAC Further Advice on Saccharin. FdAC/REP/9, 1990. MAFF, Food Standards Division) and the full survey has now been published. In September 1987, 681 people (chosen by random sampling) kept a 7-day record of their consumption of non-alcoholic and powdered drinks, instant desserts, yoghurt, table-top sweeteners and (where applicable) diabetic products. Adults and children aged 10 years or more completed their own diaries, while data on younger children were supplied by a parent. Because only 3% of households selected in this manner contained a diabetic, volunteers were sought through the British Diabetic Association's house magazine, and a smaller (4-day) survey of 100 diabetics was conducted in September 1988. In addition to the foods listed above, this recorded consumption of items such as baked beans, coleslaw and rice pudding. Information on the concentrations of each sweetener used in the products was then where possible obtained from the manufacturers, or a mean was calculated from the available data. About 150 brands of soft drink were imbibed, and in the absence of information from the manufacturers these were assumed to contain saccharin at the maximum permissible level of 80 mg/litre. The survey revealed that diet soft drinks were the major vehicle for aspartame in almost every age group, and yoghurt was an important source for the general population, whereas table-top sweeteners were important for most diabetics. In the case of saccharin, conventional soft drinks were the main source for children aged 2-9 years, whereas diet soft drinks reached a peak of importance in 15-19-yearolds. For both normal adults and diabetics, table-top sweeteners were the major source after the age of 25 years. Among the general population 62% consumed saccharin and 31% consumed aspartame, whereas less than 1%0 consumed either acesulfame-K or thaumatin. Of diabetics, 92% consumed aspartame, 89% saccharin, 29% acesulfame-K, 1% thaumatin, 60% sorbitol, 35% manitol and 3% xylitol. For each individual, average daily intakes of each sweetener were calculated from the total consumed over the 7- or 4-day period of the study. When intakes of the intense sweeteners were related to standard body weights for different age groups (taken from the 71
72
Information section--Fd Chem. Tox&. Vol. 29, No. 1
years, respectively. Whether total intake of bulk sweeteners exceeded the 25-g threshold was not stated. Diabetic foods and sugar-free chewing gum were the major sources of sorbitol and mannitol, with only minor quantities contributed by table-top sweeteners. Intakes from natural sources (fruits and vegetables), and pharmaceuticals such as cough syrup, were not assessed, and no attempt was made to measure intakes of bulk sweeteners among the general population. Since the two surveys were conducted, aspartame has tended to replace saccharin in diet soft drinks, in which it is now sometimes used in combination with acesuifame-K. Intake of saccharin from this source is therefore likely to have declined, while aspartame
intake has risen. However, saccharin intakes may be increased by its presence in products not assessed in the survey, such as alcoholic and low-alcoholic beverages, or in products such as baked beans that were assessed only for diabetics (in whom intakes from this source ranged up to 31 mg/day). The measures planned to discourage excessive saccharin intake (FAC Further Advice on Saccharin. Fd AC/ REP/9, 1990. MAFF, Food Standards Division) would therefore seem a wise precaution. [Intakes of Intense and Bulk Sweeteners in the UK 1987-1988. The Twenty-ninth report of the Steering Group on Food Surveillance. M A F F Food Surveillance Paper No. 29. HMSO, London, 1990, pp. viii + 48. £5.25.]
PESTICIDES COMMITTEE The Advisory Committee on Pesticides has published its annual report for 1988. During the year the Committee gave provisional approval to use of a product containing oxine-copper (a complex of copper and 8-hydroxyquinoline) as an industrial wood preservative, provided that further data on water degradation and a 96-hour fish test were submitted within one year. Provisional approval was also granted for use of PP 321 (a cyhalothrin enantiomer) on winter oilseed rape for one year, subject to the provision of data on repellancy to bees, and on other agricultural and horticultural crops for three years. Provisional approval for use of ~t-chloralose/seconal baits for control of birds was extended to include use on four species of gulls, and an experimental permit was granted for a small-scale trial of Bacillus thuringiensis var Israelensis to control the Blandford fly in the River Stour. Nine pesticides already approved were reviewed during the year. Fentin acetate and fentin hydroxide have been under suspicion of reproductive toxicity (MAFF Press Release 346/87) but are now regarded as merely foetotoxic, rather than teratogenic. It was agreed that approvals should remain at the provisional level for 2 years, subject to the submission of data on metabolism, including distribution in pregnant females and skin retention, subacute dermal toxicity, irritancy, residues, and (depending on the findings in animals) urinary excretion in operators. In the case of tecnazene, there was concern over excessive residues on potatoes (ibid 1989, 28, 176), which could easily have produced intakes several times the FAO/WHO ADI.
ANNUAL
REPORT
It was decided that the approval holder should conduct in vitro and in vivo mutagenicity tests and develop improved application methods, and water authorities should be requested to monitor levels in water. Approvals of chlorsulfuron and metsulfuronmethyl should remain at the provisional level for one year, subject to the submission of further data (Pesticides Register 1989, no. 2, p. 1), while all or most approvals for aldrin, dieldrin, chlordane, DNOC and captafol should be revoked (MAFF News Release 312/88; ibid 450/88; ibid 204/89; Pesticides Register 1989, No. 10, p. 1). Concern over aplastic anaemia, carcinogenicity and reproductive effects from lindane led the Committee to recommend a full review of its toxicity (HSE Pesticides Registration Section, 31 January 1989). For several years a guideline level of 5 mg/kg for nitrosamine contamination of pesticides had been in force, but from 1 January 1989 this was lowered to 1 mg/kg. Fluazifop residues in Dutch potatoes were found in 1983-84 to be unacceptably high, but a further survey in 1986-87 revealed no levels above the reporting limit of 0.01 mg/kg. In view of high dieldrin and DDT levels in eels, particularly from Scotland, further monitoring was advised. A technical policy paper on the establishment of a maximum residue level for pesticides, which for the first time would involve setting UK ADI levels, was drawn up and is published as an appendix to the report. [Advisory Committee on Pesticides Annual Report 1988. MAFF. HMSO, London, 1990, pp. 34. £4.20.]
Information Section SWEETENER INTAKES literature), median daily intakes (in mg/kg body weight) of aspartame were in the range 0.25 to 1.00 for the general population and 1.2 to 5.3 for diabetics, with maxima in the ranges 1.00 to 6.20 and 1.9 to 16.6, respectively. For saccharin the respective ranges were 0.20 to 0.90 and 0.6 to 2.3 for median intakes and 1.85 to 8.33 and 1.6 to 11.7 for maxima, while for acesulfame-K respective medians of 0.15 or 0.70 (in the age groups 10-14 and 35-64 years only) and -2.3, and maxima of 0.15 or 2.00 and -9.8, were calculated. A comparison of these intakes with established ADIs (omitted in the report) is illuminating. For aspartame, intakes were well within the ADI of up to 40 mg/kg body weight allocated by JECFA and the SCF (Evaluation of Certain Food Additives. Twenty-fifth Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Tech. Rep. Ser. Wld Hlth Org. 1981, No. 669, pp. 48; Reports of the Scientific Committee for Food (Twenty-first series). EUR 11617, Luxembourg, 1989, pp. iv + 58), whereas maximum saccharin intakes exceeded even the new ADI recently set by the CoT (FAC Further Advice on Saccharin. FdAC/REP/9, 1990, MAFF). Individuals exceeding the CoT ADI were found among the general population in the age groups 2-5 and 35-64 years, and among diabetics in the age groups 2-9, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 and 65 + years. Some diabetics in most age groups exceeded the temporary JECFA and SCF ADI for saccharin of 2.5 mg/kg body weight, as too did some normal subjects in the age groups 10-14 and 25-34 years. In the case of acesulfame-K a maximum intake above the JECFA and SCF ADI of 9 mg/kg body weight (Evaluation of Certain Food Additives. Twenty-seventh Report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Tech. Rep. Ser. Wld Hlth Org. 1983, No. 696, pp. 47; Report of the Scientific Committee For Food on Sweeteners; 14 December 1984) was recorded only among 2-9year-old diabetics. (No indication of the precise numbers exceeding these levels of intake is given in the report.) For bulk sweeteners the SCF has concluded that a maximum total intake of about 20 g/day is desirable to prevent possible laxative effects (Report of the Scientific Committee For Food on Sweeteners; 14 December 1984), while the UK Food Labelling Regulations 1984 (SI 1984 No. 1305) require a label statement "best eat less than 25 g a day" on products containing these substances. Diabetics were found to have maximum daily intakes of mannitol (4.9 g) and xylitol (0.2 g) well below these levels, but maximum sorbitol intakes of 22.7, 22.8 and 20.2 g/day were recorded in the age groups 15-19, 55-64 and 65+
The FACC recommended in 1982 that data should be collected on the intake of bulk and intense sweeteners by the general population and by special groups (Food Additives and Contaminants Committee Report on the Review of Sweeteners in Food. FAC/REP/34. HMSO, London). Brief details of the findings on saccharin have already been released (MAFF News Release 352/89, 6 September 1989; FAC Further Advice on Saccharin. FdAC/REP/9, 1990. MAFF, Food Standards Division) and the full survey has now been published. In September 1987, 681 people (chosen by random sampling) kept a 7-day record of their consumption of non-alcoholic and powdered drinks, instant desserts, yoghurt, table-top sweeteners and (where applicable) diabetic products. Adults and children aged 10 years or more completed their own diaries, while data on younger children were supplied by a parent. Because only 3% of households selected in this manner contained a diabetic, volunteers were sought through the British Diabetic Association's house magazine, and a smaller (4-day) survey of 100 diabetics was conducted in September 1988. In addition to the foods listed above, this recorded consumption of items such as baked beans, coleslaw and rice pudding. Information on the concentrations of each sweetener used in the products was then where possible obtained from the manufacturers, or a mean was calculated from the available data. About 150 brands of soft drink were imbibed, and in the absence of information from the manufacturers these were assumed to contain saccharin at the maximum permissible level of 80 mg/litre. The survey revealed that diet soft drinks were the major vehicle for aspartame in almost every age group, and yoghurt was an important source for the general population, whereas table-top sweeteners were important for most diabetics. In the case of saccharin, conventional soft drinks were the main source for children aged 2-9 years, whereas diet soft drinks reached a peak of importance in 15-19-yearolds. For both normal adults and diabetics, table-top sweeteners were the major source after the age of 25 years. Among the general population 62% consumed saccharin and 31% consumed aspartame, whereas less than 1%0 consumed either acesulfame-K or thaumatin. Of diabetics, 92% consumed aspartame, 89% saccharin, 29% acesulfame-K, 1% thaumatin, 60% sorbitol, 35% manitol and 3% xylitol. For each individual, average daily intakes of each sweetener were calculated from the total consumed over the 7- or 4-day period of the study. When intakes of the intense sweeteners were related to standard body weights for different age groups (taken from the 71
72
Information section--Fd Chem. Tox&. Vol. 29, No. 1
years, respectively. Whether total intake of bulk sweeteners exceeded the 25-g threshold was not stated. Diabetic foods and sugar-free chewing gum were the major sources of sorbitol and mannitol, with only minor quantities contributed by table-top sweeteners. Intakes from natural sources (fruits and vegetables), and pharmaceuticals such as cough syrup, were not assessed, and no attempt was made to measure intakes of bulk sweeteners among the general population. Since the two surveys were conducted, aspartame has tended to replace saccharin in diet soft drinks, in which it is now sometimes used in combination with acesuifame-K. Intake of saccharin from this source is therefore likely to have declined, while aspartame
intake has risen. However, saccharin intakes may be increased by its presence in products not assessed in the survey, such as alcoholic and low-alcoholic beverages, or in products such as baked beans that were assessed only for diabetics (in whom intakes from this source ranged up to 31 mg/day). The measures planned to discourage excessive saccharin intake (FAC Further Advice on Saccharin. Fd AC/ REP/9, 1990. MAFF, Food Standards Division) would therefore seem a wise precaution. [Intakes of Intense and Bulk Sweeteners in the UK 1987-1988. The Twenty-ninth report of the Steering Group on Food Surveillance. M A F F Food Surveillance Paper No. 29. HMSO, London, 1990, pp. viii + 48. £5.25.]
PESTICIDES COMMITTEE The Advisory Committee on Pesticides has published its annual report for 1988. During the year the Committee gave provisional approval to use of a product containing oxine-copper (a complex of copper and 8-hydroxyquinoline) as an industrial wood preservative, provided that further data on water degradation and a 96-hour fish test were submitted within one year. Provisional approval was also granted for use of PP 321 (a cyhalothrin enantiomer) on winter oilseed rape for one year, subject to the provision of data on repellancy to bees, and on other agricultural and horticultural crops for three years. Provisional approval for use of ~t-chloralose/seconal baits for control of birds was extended to include use on four species of gulls, and an experimental permit was granted for a small-scale trial of Bacillus thuringiensis var Israelensis to control the Blandford fly in the River Stour. Nine pesticides already approved were reviewed during the year. Fentin acetate and fentin hydroxide have been under suspicion of reproductive toxicity (MAFF Press Release 346/87) but are now regarded as merely foetotoxic, rather than teratogenic. It was agreed that approvals should remain at the provisional level for 2 years, subject to the submission of data on metabolism, including distribution in pregnant females and skin retention, subacute dermal toxicity, irritancy, residues, and (depending on the findings in animals) urinary excretion in operators. In the case of tecnazene, there was concern over excessive residues on potatoes (ibid 1989, 28, 176), which could easily have produced intakes several times the FAO/WHO ADI.
ANNUAL
REPORT
It was decided that the approval holder should conduct in vitro and in vivo mutagenicity tests and develop improved application methods, and water authorities should be requested to monitor levels in water. Approvals of chlorsulfuron and metsulfuronmethyl should remain at the provisional level for one year, subject to the submission of further data (Pesticides Register 1989, no. 2, p. 1), while all or most approvals for aldrin, dieldrin, chlordane, DNOC and captafol should be revoked (MAFF News Release 312/88; ibid 450/88; ibid 204/89; Pesticides Register 1989, No. 10, p. 1). Concern over aplastic anaemia, carcinogenicity and reproductive effects from lindane led the Committee to recommend a full review of its toxicity (HSE Pesticides Registration Section, 31 January 1989). For several years a guideline level of 5 mg/kg for nitrosamine contamination of pesticides had been in force, but from 1 January 1989 this was lowered to 1 mg/kg. Fluazifop residues in Dutch potatoes were found in 1983-84 to be unacceptably high, but a further survey in 1986-87 revealed no levels above the reporting limit of 0.01 mg/kg. In view of high dieldrin and DDT levels in eels, particularly from Scotland, further monitoring was advised. A technical policy paper on the establishment of a maximum residue level for pesticides, which for the first time would involve setting UK ADI levels, was drawn up and is published as an appendix to the report. [Advisory Committee on Pesticides Annual Report 1988. MAFF. HMSO, London, 1990, pp. 34. £4.20.]