31–40 of 131 posts
"Since the stuff is synthetic, it’s guaranteed that Joe Mercola and the rest of the anti-chemical Internet dopes are going to try to scare you, and they’ll probably succeed. I didn’t even bother to look."
Nice article and I like the matter-of-fact writing style. Makes me want to study more chemistry. Any suggestions from this audience of how to get into it? Pick up a Chemistry 101 text book?
It's good to see that Splenda isn't the potential toxic substance we began to wonder it was, but I agree that it tastes icky. That said, I wonder why Stevia isn't considered to sweeten drinks? It's very sweet, it's natural like sugar (meaning it's not synthetic or lab-grown), it also has zero calories, and it doesn't taste icky!
> it's natural like sugar, Why is that relevant? That's orthogonal to whether it is healthy or unhealthy. There's no reason, based on that information, that I should expect it to be any more or less toxic than Splenda. I mean, the wrong 100% natural mushroom will kill you pretty dead.
Even then it was taught that sucralose is a relatively inert compound that doesn't get taken up through the intestine, and doesn't pose a threat - though the prof did cite some study that sucralose accumulated in rat's liver if they ate huge quantities of it. I don't think chemists have been thinking sucralose is toxic for a while now.
I also remember that if anyone could figure out how to cheaply synthesize L-glucose, they will be billionaires.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you tried aspartame? I've found that Coke Zero tastes much closer to real sugar than Diet Coke.
Yes, I prefer it. Coke Zero does taste closer to Coke but in an "uncanny valley" sort of way. I drink Diet Coke often, I like it. It isn't really supposed to taste like Coke.
It's good to see that Splenda isn't the potential toxic substance we began to wonder it was, but I agree that it tastes icky. That said, I wonder why Stevia isn't considered to sweeten drinks? It's very sweet, it's natural like sugar (meaning it's not synthetic or lab-grown), it also has zero calories, and it doesn't taste icky!
>it's natural like sugar cyanide is also natural
It's good to see that Splenda isn't the potential toxic substance we began to wonder it was, but I agree that it tastes icky. That said, I wonder why Stevia isn't considered to sweeten drinks? It's very sweet, it's natural like sugar (meaning it's not synthetic or lab-grown), it also has zero calories, and it doesn't taste icky!
Nice article and I like the matter-of-fact writing style. Makes me want to study more chemistry. Any suggestions from this audience of how to get into it? Pick up a Chemistry 101 text book?
Zumdahl's Chemistry and the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics were the mainstays of my high school and college chemistry education.
It's good to see that Splenda isn't the potential toxic substance we began to wonder it was, but I agree that it tastes icky. That said, I wonder why Stevia isn't considered to sweeten drinks? It's very sweet, it's natural like sugar (meaning it's not synthetic or lab-grown), it also has zero calories, and it doesn't taste icky!
It's good to see that Splenda isn't the potential toxic substance we began to wonder it was, but I agree that it tastes icky. That said, I wonder why Stevia isn't considered to sweeten drinks? It's very sweet, it's natural like sugar (meaning it's not synthetic or lab-grown), it also has zero calories, and it doesn't taste icky!
> it's natural like sugar, Why is that relevant? That's orthogonal to whether it is healthy or unhealthy. There's no reason, based on that information, that I should expect it to be any more or less toxic than Splenda. I mean, the wrong 100% natural mushroom will kill you pretty dead.
The fact that it's present in large quantities in at least one living organism shows that it's not fundamentally incompatible with life. And that's especially true in this case, where (according to Wikipedia) there is a 1,500 year history of human use. So all else being equal, I would expect it to be more likely to be safe than some random chemical with no basis in nature.
Out of the 2,000 species of mushrooms in North America, there are maybe 10 that are deadly poisonous. You think your chances of dying after randomly mixing up some unknown chemicals in a lab are really less than 1 in 200?