Methanol itself is not harmful, but enzymes in your liver break it down into two very toxic compounds. The big debate is whether there's enough of these toxins produced from the methanol in aspartame to damage your body. Methanol is one of a host of alcohols normally produced during the fermentation of carbon-based compounds. Methanol can be distilled from fermented wood, so you may know it as wood alcohol . It's an ingredient in commercial products like antifreeze, glass cleaner, and paint thinners, but many people regularly drink other, more innocuous products that contain methanol.
Methanol is found naturally in fruit juice and distilled spirits such as whiskey, wine, and beer .
A typical glass of wine contains a small amount of methanol, from 0.0041 to 0.02 percent by volume. In comparison, the same glass will have about 10-15 percent ethanol. Methanol is much sweeter than ethanol, and even a small amount adds flavor to these beverages. This sweetness is what makes methanol attractive to use in an artificial sweetener. All alcohols are toxic to some degree, but the dark side of methanol lies in the metabolites produced during its breakdown in the body.