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Bob, You are so correct! This has been surfacing on a regular basis .... perhaps this is a good time to say a word about one of the main constituents of aspartame: This sweetener is made up of two components: l-phenylalanine and l-aspartic Acid - these are both amino acids. Those of you who have had children may be familiar with a test that was run on your child quite soon after it was born ....... PKU ...... this was a test to see if there was any phenylananine being secreted in the urine. Persons born with a rare disease called phenylketonuria (PKU), where the excess phenyl alanine was and indicator of possible mental retardation. Numbering about 15,000 in the total U.S. population, know to restrict their intake of phenylalanine from all dietary sources. Because aspartame-containing products are a source of phenylalanine in the diet, they carry the labeling, "Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine." (Phenylalanine is found in much greater quantities in meats, milk and other protein foods.) In "normal" people, the body uses the "D" isomer of the phenylalanine to produce L- Tyrosine. The L-Tyrosine is then converted into our old friend dopamine. This process is driven by something called Coenzyme I ......... Which some of you will know as NADH. In any event, drinking large quantities of aspartame will have no affect on dopa production as the human body uses only the D isomer. It would stand to reason that a person who was incapable of converting the Phenylananine precursor to dopamine would be retarded. It is not the phenylalaninine which causes the problem, but we have a nice easy test for it as an indicator. Rob - Drink upstream from the herd! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn