cej@ll1.UUCP (01/19/84)
[] I have just heard that there may be some dangers associated with the relatively new sweetener Nutrasweet. (I couldn't possibly spell the generic name.), and that it may have been railroaded through he FDA. I just saw the tail end of the news, and didn't get any of the details. Has anybody heard anything definite about this? If it is really dangerous, it wouldn't surprise me, what with the batting average as far as artificial sweeteners go. To bad, though, since from what I heard, Nutrasweet was the first product of a "new wave" of drugs, produced by computer "modeling" of chemical structure. If I'm not mistaken, Nutrasweet was "designed" to have a face that would fit into the sugar taste bud receptor. I wonder if people (and the FDA) will be unduly afraid of other products produced by this technology. I would think that the only reason that this one would have been railroaded through, was because of the profit in it, and that other less profitable drugs would be tested further before they are released. * Nutrasweet is the trademark of someone We'll burn that bridge when we come to it... Chuck Jones AT&T Communications ...we13!ll1!cej Chicago, Somebody's Ice Box
sysred@psuvax.UUCP (Ralph Droms) (01/19/84)
Re: We'll burn that bridge when we come to it...
Aren't those Teddy Kennedy's "famous last words"???
--
Ralph Droms
Computer Science Department (814) 865-9505
312 Whitmore Lab {allegra,ihnp4}!psuvax!sysred
The Pennsylvania State University sysred@penn-state (csnet)
University Park, PA 16802 sysred@psuvax1 (bitnet)richard@sequent.UUCP (01/25/84)
Personally, I liked cyclamates and saccharin better than aspartame(*). I suppose I've gotten cynical, but some of the cancer studies done make me believe that *everything* causes cancer in some degree. Of course, alpha-D-(glucopyranosyl)-beta-D-fructofuranose** is a chiral molecule (essentially meaning non-othogonal). I understand someone is working on its enantiomer - maybe they'll call it levose. This chemical should either taste *exactly* like sugar, or not like it at all. This will depend on whether the sweetness receptors are stereo-isometric dependent. Since the enzymes that break sugars hgave been shown to be so dependent, it might be the perfect sugar substitute. Well, I've had fun playing with my big words, I'll give someone else a shot now. from the confused and bleeding fingertips of ...!sequent!richard * Nutrasweet is a trademark of G.D.Searle&Co. ** Also known as table sugar, or sucrose.