[Sca-cooks] Aspartame

[El Hermoso Dormido]

On Tuesday 26 November 2002 04:37 pm, Kirsten Houseknecht wrote:
> actually the BIg problem with Aspartame is that if it is *heated* (not
> ingested) too much... it breaks down into some nasty toxics........ and it
> is very easy to heat the stuff too much by accident, including leaving a
> diet soda in your car.  this is backed by solid research.. although i dont
> undertsnd all the big words in it.  this is one of the reasons you dont
> want to cook with it.

Can you point me at some references to this and what is produced?

(Not impossible, but I'm skeptical that it would happen to Nutrasweet(tm)
but not, for example, stir-fried tofu...at least, again, in "clinically
significant" amounts [as opposed to relatively harmless traces])

[...]

> my husband LOVED nutra sweet when he first tried it. He drank Barks root
> beer as a diet drink when he went on his diet.. after about two weeks he
> got migraines. bad. every day.. right after lunch.

Now THAT's interesting, the two-week delay might imply a build-up of
something...or...

[...]
> now, even if he accidentally eats anything with nutra sweet in it, he gets
> a migraine, because now he is sensitised to it

And, despite my usual cynicism over the overuse of the term "food allergy"...

It's an interesting thought - most (all?) real allergens ARE proteins, as
I understand it.  Wonder if it's possible that the dipeptide's getting into
the bloodstream before being pulled apart into its constituent amino acids
and some people's immune systems are overreacting to it?  Or it's getting
attached to something else?

Any REAL biochemists on this list?  Anybody know how long a peptide has
to be before it can conceivably be an allergen?

Great, now I've got THREE studies I want to see...

> as to the brain problems. . Aspartame breaks down into various neuro
> toxins.
[...]
Well, again, I'd want to see some information on the substances in
question.  NORMALLY Aspartame breaks down into "Phenyalanine and Aspartic
acid", neither of which really qualify as Neurotoxins...

> i know a lot of folks with
> nervous system problems... and their symptoms improved dramatically when
> they cut all Nutra sweet from their diet.  purley anecdotal.. yes.

Doesn't make it not true, just not scientific. :-)

Though you must admit, if you're talking about people who HAVE neurological
problems, that's a lot like saying "I know a lot of folks with diabetes, and
their symptoms improved dramatically when they cut all Sucrose from their
diet"...

> but you
> still couldnt pay me to eat it, especially when so many people react so
> badly to it.

Aw, come on, SURELY in the Name of Science you'd be willing to guzzle a
2-liter bottle of Aspartame-sweetened soda a few times to see what'd happen,
wouldn't you?  After all...(HEY!  What are you doing out of your cage!  Get
back in there, you!)

Ahem, sorry.  :-)

It DOES make me suspect that the non-Phenylalanine-containing variation
won't have the same problems, though, which is good.

It doesn't help that I've never had an allergic reaction to ANYTHING other
than a handful of types of pollen, along with the terminally curious streak
I've got AND the "Food Science" interests...

Signed,
El Hermoso Dormido, "Armchair Biochemist"