mauney@ncsu.UUCP (07/07/83)
The discussion of the (possible) dangers of aspartame has made apparent my ignorance of nutrition and biochemistry. Therefore, I ask some questions of those who know: What is the nutritional status of phenylalanine in the average human? Is is one of the amino acids required in a balanced diet, or can it be synthesized by the body, or is it commonly found but unimportant, or what? If phenylalanine occurs in foods such as cheese, and if phenylalanine plus carbohydrates causes brain damage, does that mean that cheese fondue or fettucine Alfredo are dangerous? (and would that explain why people make fun of the Italians?) Aspartame is a fairly potent sweetener. How does the amount of phenylalanine in 8 ounces of sweetened beverage compare with the amount in, say, a quarter pound of cheese (if it matters what kind of cheese, choose either 60% brie, or lowfat mozzarella). It sounds as though swilling great quantities of Nutrasweetened beverage while gobbling lots of potato chips might be bad for your brain. How does this compare with swilling a similar quantity of beer? The results in question come from the standard pump-the-rats-full-of- vast-quanties type of experiment, often disparaged as unrealistic, and defended as the only way to get any results within the century. In this case, rate of consumption compared to rate of metabolism would seem to be an issue. Has this been considered? Dr. Wurtman is no doubt a competent scientist, and an expert in his area, but in cases like this, one wonders if the specialist is able to consider the larger picture. Has he included the many other sources of dietary phenylalanine in his warning on the danger of aspartame? Whew! The above are some of the questions that pop into the head of a curious but ignorant person. I would love to get responses from someone who understands the subject. Jon Mauney Computer Science Dept. North Carolina State University duke!mcnc!ncsu!mauney
rcj@burl.UUCP (07/10/83)
I think that a good light-hearted commentary on the pump-the-rats- full-of-mass-quantities testing procedures was issued by Saturday Night Live Weekend Update reporter Bill Murray on a show some years ago; it is on their album, but I will have to paraphrase 'cause I don't have it here: "Regarding our report last week of the influx of so-called Killer Dope into the U.S. -- Weekend Update has been analyzing the samples of marijuana being sent to us all week. The conclusion reached was: If you force a baby squirrel to smoke 700 Cannabis joints a day, he WILL become disoriented, and seems to take the law of self-preservation less seriously -- tending to play with his nuts rather than store them." A little humor to break up the rather serious (but very useful) mood of this newsgroup, -- The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3814 (Cornet 291) alias: Curtis Jackson ...![ floyd sb1 mhuxv ]!burl!rcj
laura@utcsstat.UUCP (07/10/83)
My father has a lab in which he runs neuro-chemistry experiments on white mice and other animals. He is worried the the current gene pool of white mice contain an unecessary predisposition to diseases such as cancer. He is also aware that sometimes mice die for unknown reasons. One year a whole floor of mice died for some reason which was never acertained. Not a single mouse on the whole floor had been used to test *any* chemicals; the whole floor was full of mice which were being bred to see if there were any traces of genetic mutation in the Xth generation of mice. Such was the nature of the experiment that it could be clearly shown that whatever the mice died of, it wasnt a genetic mutation. When new mice were procured and the experiment was duplicated no mice died. The obvious problem is, of course, that had he been doing a survey on the possible effects of X he would probably have jumped to the wrong conclusion that X was bad. In particular, he ran an experiment and presented his "conclusions" that X has some measured effect when added to mice drinking water. X was distilled water. I have know idea what to do about this - if you run losts of experiments at some point you must realise that you are causing unnecessary suffering and death to your experimental animals. Laura Creighton utzoo!utcsstat!laura
trb@floyd.UUCP (07/11/83)
Another cute memory about pumping rats full of nasties during testing. When the Canadian scientists pumped rats full of saccharin and said it caused cancer, there was a cartoon, I believe in Time magazine, which showed (approximately) a lab with two people talking and a bunch of bloated, bleary-eyed rats, the size of volleyballs, with their little feet sticking out of their spheroid masses. The caption had a researcher explaining "We fed them 300 cans of Tab a day and it caused cancer." Andy Tannenbaum Bell Labs Whippany, NJ (201) 386-6491
norm@ariel.UUCP (07/15/83)
Phenylalanine is available in 500mg tablets in many health food stores. Many people take a gram a day with no apparent ill effects. Pearson and Shaw's recent book LIFE EXTENSION, if I remember correctly, discuss its value as a precursor to one of the brain's neurotransmitters. Evidence that it is dangerous to use is news to me, and I would be interested in hearing more. References please? --Norm Andrews, ABI 201-834-3685
jgpo@iwu1c.UUCP (01/20/84)
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?