throop@cs.utexas.edu (David Throop) (11/29/90)
What ever happened to left-handed sugar? About 3 years ago, somebody reported that an optical isomer of sucrose was actually sweet. The articles I saw said that earlier literature had reported that this isomer was foul tasting, but this had been caused by a contaminant. Anyway, the discovery was that this form actually tasted great. But, (and here was the exciting part!) the body couldn't digest this form of sucrose. This promised a *great* sweetener - tastes just like sucrose, you can bake with it, cook with it, just like sucrose, but never get fat! And there was a bunch of hoopla.... And now what? No reports! No rumors! No ice cream! No left handed chocolate chip cookies! No sinister macadamia brandy fudge truffles! And I keep getting fatter.... Others may ask "Where's the beef?" But I ask "Where's the sugar?" David Throop
throop@cs.utexas.edu (David Throop) (12/06/90)
OK, I've seen a bunch of interesting, different responses to my original post about Left Handed Sugar. There still seems to be a great deal of confusion about the chemistry and stereochemistry of the compound in question. The reports I saw in the polular press did not carry enough info to identify it. They just called it "Left Handed Sugar," indicated it was an isomer of sucrose, and said it was indigestible. Anybody really know (for sure) which compound was being referenced? This all hit the press about two years ago now. David Throop