Intake of artificial sweeteners

In response to the letter On artificial sweeteners from K.B. Kale in The Jakarta Post on Oct. 31, commenting on my previous letter Substitute for sugar (Oct. 20), I would like to inform him that he can read the book published by the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency in 2004 titled Peraturan Teknis Penggunaan Bahan Tambahan Pangan Pemanis Buatan (or Technical Rules governing the Use of Artificial Sweeteners).

This book sets out the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of sweeteners and maximum doses for different kinds of foodstuffs, including ice cream.

ADI is the amount of the substance in milligrams per kilogram that can be consumed daily over the course of a lifetime and which is safe according to the World Health Organization.

SUNARTO PRAWIROSUJANTO
Jakarta