Rats Show Only a Weak Preference for the Artificial Sweetener Aspartame

The preference of adult female rats for aspartame (L-asparty L-phenylalamine methyl ester) was measured using 24 hr/day and 30 min/day two bottle preference tests. At aspartame concentrations that humans find sweet (0.0125% to 0.05%) the rats failed to prefer aspartame to water. At higher concentrations (0.1% to 1.0%) half (n = 11) of the rats tested displayed mild (64%) to moderate (83%) aspartame preferences. The other half of the rats were indifferent or avoided the aspartame. Even at the most preferred concentration (1.0%) the rats' aspartame preference was much less than their preference for saccharin or sucrose, and they showed little increase in total fluid intake when given the aspartame solution. The results indicate that aspartame is not very palatable to rats, and suggest that it has little or no sweet, i.e., sucrose-like, taste to rats as it does to humans.