Quote:
Originally Posted by Frosty
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 |
Youre right. I went and found what I had read, a a few years back, and I mistook 'all the shit in it" with all the shit it could do to you.
All in all, still a big NO THANK YOU to artificial sweetners.