> IAN: The short story is that aspartame is composed of phenylalanine,
> aspartic acid, and methyl alcohol.
No, it is a plain dipeptide. I did a little research, and it turns out
that it is broken down during digestion into 10% methanol.
I found one reference to this:
Tephly, T. R. and McMartin, K. E. (1984). Methanol metabolism and
toxicity. In: Aspartame: Physiology and Biochemistry (L. D. Stegink and J.
R. Filer, Jr., eds.). Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 111-140.
Now, this is worrying, but at the same time the amounts are quite small
since the sweetner is stronger than sugar (unless you eat and drink
unhealthy amounts of food containing it - but then you should change your
eating habits anyway). It should also be noted that it is legal in Sweden
- and our Department of Health is *paranoid* when it comes to carcinogens
and additives.
No, I don't think aspartame is a major health hazard, there are many much
worse problems. Besides, it doesn't taste well. Give me simple
carbohydrates instead!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html
GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y