Studies suggesting the artificial sweetener aspartame may be dangerous have been misinterpreted and are largely “irrelevant,” the largest ever study of existing research found.

“Even at the highest doses, when you eat it, it?s broken down into two amino acids and some traces of methanol,” said Bernadene Magnuson, professor at the University of Maryland, College Park?s school of Nutrition and Food Sciences and lead researcher on the study. “Your body sees the same thing it would see if you ate an egg.”