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From: rbg@cbosgd.UUCP (Richard Goldschmidt)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: NutraSweet and Neurotransmitters
Message-ID: <153@cbosgd.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Jul-84 09:17:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.153
Posted: Tue Jul 24 09:17:02 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jul-84 02:26:54 EDT
References: <228@siemens.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Lines: 34

NutraSweet contains the amino acid phenylalanine, which is bad only for
people with a genetic disorder called phenylketonuria (PKU).  They can't
metabolize it, and when it accumulates it can cause mental retardation.
If they simply avoid foods containing this amino acid they are fine.

Phenylalanine is not especially closely related to serotonin.  Closer is
tryptophan, which is found in relatively large amounts in cheese.  One
only slightly serious comment I heard in this regard is that eating lots
of cheese before going to sleep might give you more vivid dreams.

As far as the relationship between serotonin and LSD, this is still an open
issue.  The best hypothesis I've seen suggests that LSD acts only on the
serotonin receptors that are on the serotonin containing nerve cells them-
selves.  Since serotonin is an inhibitory transmitter, this fools the cells
which produce it into making less, causing disinhibition.  Your disinhibited
sensory systems create hallucinations.  

There are no reports of hallucinations resulting from NutraSweet.  However,
there are some studies which suggest that it may cause either increased risk
of brain tumors and/or have neurotoxic effects similar to those of MSG
(monosodium glutamate).  Since most commercial uses of NutraSweet blend it
with saccharine, you get these new risks on top of the cancer risk.  And
if all that wasn't enough, the latest studies of life expectancy by the
life insurance companies show that the optimal weight range is actually
higher than they had previously thought (it is not best to be skinny),
so losing weight may not be healthy in a lot of ways.

Big is Beautiful !?

Rich Goldschmidt    Nothing in life (that's worth much) is guaranteed

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