Reanalysis of the effects of phenylalanine, alanine, and aspartame on food intake in human subjects

In 1987 Ryan-Harshman et al. reported finding no effects on food intake after administering high doses (up to 10.08 g) of phenylalanine and aspartame in capsules to human volunteers. However, this is contrary to the results of other studies, and trends in their tabulated data suggest that certain effects may have been overlooked. This is confirmed by a reanalysis of the raw data (available from a Ph.D. thesis: Ryan-Harshman, 1987) that can be interpreted as showing a dose-related suppression of food intake by phenylalanine. Furthermore, the data are consistent with an anorexic action of aspartame and perhaps also of alanine (which was designated as the placebo treatment by Ryan-Harshman et al.). These, together with other findings, suggest that the appetite effects of amino acids and small peptides should be investigated further. In addition to its theoretical importance, such work may have potential for therapeutic applications.