Nutrasweet is, as far as I know, only a problem for Phenylketoneurics,
people who have a biochemical problem with the amino acid
_Phenylalanine_. The rare condition _phenylketoneuria_ results in
neurological problems such as those you describe when phenylalanine is
ingested by the affected person in sufficient quantities.
Nutrasweet is basically a simple protein composed of several amino
acids, one of which is phenylalanine, all of which are found naturally
in the human body. The digestive system breaks apart the aspartame
protein into its constituent amino acids, which are benign to the vast
majority of the popluation. If you suffer some sort of mild neurological
problem as a result of phenylalanine ingestion, you very well may suffer
from some degree of phenylketoneuria, and should have this checked out
by a physician.
As far as I know, aspartame is very safe for those who do not have
phenylketoneuria; certainly safer than saccharine.
Dave Waller \ The opinions expressed are solely my own, and in no way
Hewlett-Packard Co. \ represent those of my employer (but we all know
d…@hpdstma.ptp.hp.com | hplabs!hpdstma!dave \ they should!)
I dismissed the "NutraSweet gives me headaches" crowd as a bunch of ninnies
for quite a while, until a few people I knew who were for sure NOT ninnies
told me it bothered them too. I have a plausible explanation.
There is such a thing as "encephalic" insulin release. That is, insulin
is not released solely when sugar is present, but also because our brains
get in on the act and find out about the Impending presence of sugar
from Tasting it. Insulin can be released from TASTING ANYTHING SWEET.
So, for people with a substantial encephalic insulin response, eating
NutraSweet, OR ANY GOOD TASTING NON-CALORIC SWEETNER, will cause
the release of insulin.
This is bad news if you haven’t just added sugar to your bloodstream because
insulin will chase out the sugar that is there already. What happens?
Low blood sugar. Its symptoms? Light-headedness, headaches, hunger.
Sound familiar to anyone?
Other "cues", like walking past a bakery or sitting down to a nice
meal might cause the same symptoms if you DON’T actually consume
any calories. (Right, like I’m about to sit down to a nice dinner
and then NOT really eat something? Someone else might want to try it
in the name of Science…)
Now in the New England Journal Study, I greatly doubt that they let
the participants TASTE the aspartame or real sugar that they gave.
That would destroy the double-blind aspect of the study. But if my
explanation is correct, it is ESSENTIAL for the person to TASTE and
probably swallow(?) the sweetener, not just ingest it.
This insulin response could well be just like the Pavlov’s dog response.
(It is also conceivable that there is some mechanism connecting the taste
buds with the insulin-producing cells that does NOT involve the brain.
I can’t say I know, but I don’t predict it. Others may know much more
about encephalic insulin release; the name quite clearly implies that this
is the brain’s doing, not the tongue’s.)
If it IS Pavlovian you can get over it by eating aspartame a lot without
eating sugar or much other food along with it. This is like ringing
the bell a lot without giving the dog any food anymore. The dog figures
out that the bell doesn’t mean food anymore and stops releasing saliva
in response.
===
I also feel that for CERTAIN people, ANY artificial ANYTHING will cause
them to HAVE A COW; these are the ninnies I was referring to earlier, not
the several aware and wonderful people that posted here on this topic.
But scientists should be aware of the "ninny" factor when they do their
work if its intended consumers are the general public. For example, I
had heard for several years of the development of a fat substitute (now
called Olestra [not Simplesse, that's a Different one]). Do you know
what the scientists called it? "Sucrose-Polyester!". Thank God the
marketing department got ahold of that one! Any ninny will confirm that
anything named "sucrose-polyester" causes cancer. Just like leisure
suits, you know!
===
As for left-handed sugar, I have an opinion there too. (Try to contain your
surprise! (:-)
Much as I’d like it to succeed, I see that effort as doomed from the start.
Even if humans can’t burn left-handed sugar, the natural gut-bacteria will
figure it out in short order. Their overgrowth would make a person sick.
I’d really like to be proven wrong on this one, though.
—
Bob Yazz — y…@lccsd.sd.Locus.com
In article <20189@.la.locus.com> y…@locus.com (Bob Yasi) writes:
>There is such a thing as "encephalic" insulin release. That is, insulin
>is not released solely when sugar is present, but also because our brains
>get in on the act and find out about the Impending presence of sugar
>from Tasting it. Insulin can be released from TASTING ANYTHING SWEET.
>So, for people with a substantial encephalic insulin response, eating
>NutraSweet, OR ANY GOOD TASTING NON-CALORIC SWEETNER, will cause
>the release of insulin.
>This is bad news if you haven’t just added sugar to your bloodstream because
>insulin will chase out the sugar that is there already. What happens?
>Low blood sugar. Its symptoms? Light-headedness, headaches, hunger.
>Sound familiar to anyone?
Yup. Along with loss of concentration, difficulty focussing the eyes,
and a tendency to get easily irritated or weepy upon little provocation
(also experienced by some of us after eating Nutrasweet products).
>Other "cues", like walking past a bakery or sitting down to a nice
>meal might cause the same symptoms if you DON’T actually consume
>any calories.
At last! A decent explanation for why compulsive overeaters who find
their binges triggered by eating sugar also have problems when drinking
diet sodas or eating other artificially sweetened foods. Some of it is
simply perpetuating the habit of eating sweets (as opposed to retraining
yourself to enjoy other foods), but some of it does seem to be
physiological.
Also explains that famous saying, "I only have to *look* at a piece of
cheesecake and I gain five pounds!" ;@)
But what I really want to know is, why do some artificial sweeteners do
this to me and not others? Cyclamates don’t produce any of the
above-mentioned symptoms, but saccharine and nutrasweet do.
BTW, has anyone tried "sweet one", acesulfame-K? It’s not getting the
advertising campaign that aspartame got, but is also a fairly new
sweetener.
Andrea Frankel, Hewlett Packard, San Diego Technical Graphics Div., R&D Lab
"wake now! Discover that you are the song that the morning brings…"
______________________________________________________________________________
Internet : and…@sdd.hp.com (or andrea%hp-…@nosc.mil or @ucsd.edu)
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Voice : (619) 592-4664
and…@sdd.hp.com (Andrea K. Frankel) writes:
> At last! A decent explanation for why compulsive overeaters who find
> their binges triggered by eating sugar also have problems when drinking
> diet sodas or eating other artificially sweetened foods. Some of it is
> simply perpetuating the habit of eating sweets (as opposed to retraining
> yourself to enjoy other foods), but some of it does seem to be
> physiological.
Someone else wrote me to say that Only aspartame caused his symptoms.
He had tried acesulfame-K, too.
It is an interesting mystery. Allow me to repeat that the idea that the
symptoms people have described are due to the release of insulin caused
NOT by the consumption of sugar but rather from the brain THINKING that
sugar was being consumed is my own plausible explanation, not from some
scientific source. The existance of "encephalic insulin release" is NOT
my own idea. I would like to hear from someone who knows or looks up
more info about encephalic insulin release.
The symptoms people describe being so close to low blood sugar symptoms
plus the NEJM study where the (I presume) double blind study showing
NO aspartame effects would have prevented the volunteers from Tasting
the aspartame make me still suspect that encephalic insulin release
is involved.
Could it possibly be that aspartame is a more convincing substitute?
Could there be multiple sweetness receptors on the tongue, only one or a few
of which trigger insulin release?
Anyone care to sit down to a nice, piping hot, big meal (triggering encephalic
insulin release) and then NOT eating — to see if their symptoms were similar?
(I know I’d get Real crabby and I don’t get a reaction from aspartame at all!)
—
Bob Yazz — y…@lccsd.sd.Locus.com
In article <20…@oolong.la.locus.com> y…@locus.com (Bob Yasi) writes:
>The existance of "encephalic insulin release" is NOT
>my own idea. I would like to hear from someone who knows or looks up
>more info about encephalic insulin release.
Maybe Dr. Sean McLinden at Pitt can comment. I distinctly remember
his mentioning this topic a year or so ago. I remain dubious about the
magnitude or importance of this effect in ordinary people, but I’m
sure the literature can speak for itself.
–
Steve Dyer
d…@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
d…@arktouros.mit.edu, d…@hstbme.mit.edu