Fig. 1.

Dietary aspartame delays spontaneous OA in STR/ORT mice. (A) Total disease scores for both rear limbs per animal for Asp-Phe-OMe-fed animals (squares) and controls (crosses). Non-linear regression curves for each group (solid line for Asp-Phe-OMe and dashed line for controls) denote a delay in disease for the Asp-Phe-OMe-fed group before the age of 8 months (P-value of 0.0047). (B) Averaged group values of early disease scores deducted from latest disease scores for each animal demonstrate a larger difference for the aspartame-fed group because of delayed disease incidence presenting lower scores within the first 5 months of life (P-value of 0.001). (C) Example of radiographic image of healthy (side enhancement) and OA joint (encircled in white) from one animal.