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From: jgpo@iwu1c.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Aspartame
Message-ID: <193@iwu1c.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Jan-84 17:10:39 EST
Article-I.D.: iwu1c.193
Posted: Thu Jan 19 17:10:39 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 21-Jan-84 02:22:28 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 51

a

>>>  I believe that there are at least two other ingredients in Equal
>>>  (sugar substitute base on aspartame), one of which is lactose (milk sugar).

The ingredient list from my ever-handy bottle of Equal:

	"Lactose, the sweetener aspartame, leucine, cellulose and
	cellulose derivatives, polyethylene glycol, povidone,
	silicon dioxide."


>>>  One of the two amino acids (phenyl something-or-other) is not
>>>  broken down by certain individuals (phenyl something-or-other 'ics),
>>>  who must be careful about their consumption of this chemical in their
>>>  day-to-day diet, which of course would make aspartame something for them
>>>  to avoid.

The compound in question in phenylalanine and the people in question are
phenylketonurics.



>>>  "Normal" people have no such dietary restriction
>>>  and can process the small quantities of this amino acid in aspartame
>>>  (and the rest of their food) without problems.

Agreed!



>>>  Considering the constituents of aspartame it seems hard to believe
>>>  that it could be harmful to most people. I personally would be
>>>  disappointed if it turned out to be harmful, because it seems to be an
>>>  ideal sugar substitute in things like pop and tea (not bad for teeth
>>>  or waist).

So would I!  We finally get a sweetener that I can stomach and now they
want to take it away from us.  Talk about meddling!!  If there is some
question about its safety, how about just requiring a warning label like
saccharine?  Personally, I think a lot of people are overreacting to
the methanol thing.  I mean, how many gallons of pop/whatever can you
drink in one day, anyway?  The amount of methanol ingested in one can
of Diet Coke is minuscule.  It's there, all right, Searle even admits
it, but they claim it's not a danger, the FDA agrees, and so do I.

My, G*d, if you want to eliminate harmful substances, let's start with
tobacco, shall we?