Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlota69
Aspartame is the biggest evil that hasn't been around since the dawn of time. It's loaded with all kinds of horrible shit, Including formaldehyde. The story of how it finally got past the FDA in the 70s is pretty interesting as well.
|
Aspartame does not contain formaldehyde or other "horrible shit". It is composed of two amino acids (proteins) - L-aspartic acid and L-phenylalanine - that occur naturally in food. These two proteins are held together with a methyl ester backbone.
When it is metabolized in the body, the methyl ester breaks down into methanol. The methanol makes up 1/10 of the residual components of the aspartame so it's only a small part.
To metabolize methanol, a small amount of formaldehyde is produced. This sounds scary but formaldehyde is actually an important substance in the body and is used in a lot of different processes (every cell in the body can process formaldehyde) . Our own bodies produce 50 mg of formaldehyde a day. The stuff is only harmful if you were to drink it straight or are exposed to industrial levels of the stuff for years at a time.
Methanol is found in higher concentrations in natural foods like fruits and vegetables. A glass of fruit juice will produce more formaldehyde than a glass of Diet Pepsi.
Here's a nice breakdown of what our bodies do with it:
http://www.harpocratesspeaks.com/201...gredients.html