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Mon 29 Mar, 2004 05:15 pm
I drink a lot of diet cola. Someone suggested to me today that the aspartame in diet soft drinks creates formaldehyde in the body.
Is this true? Isn't formaldehyde dangerous? Should I stop drinking diet cola? If it kills me, can I get a discount on embalming?
I don't know about that, but aspertame comes with (or should come with) a warning about phenol ketonurics . . .
The Dr. Pooper in Canadia has anti-freeze in it . . .
Setanta wrote:I don't know about that, but aspertame comes with (or should come with) a warning about phenol ketonurics . . .
The Dr. Pooper in Canadia has anti-freeze in it . . .
Lies! All lies!!! Dr. Pepper contains the usual combo of chemicals that aren't good for ya. No anti-freeze! Sheesh!
Oh...aspartame contains phenylalanine a compound that can have serious consequences for those born with phenylketonuria, which is rather rare. I don't know about other places, but I know it is law in Alberta that all newborns be screened for phenylketonuria. Those with it can be treated very simply - via diet - and those who are not treated can suffer from mental retardation and organ damage. So you can see how important it is to screen for it.
Here is a great page dispelling the myths about aspartame.
http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/education/library/aspartame.shtml
let's pull that bottle of Dr. P out of the fridge ...
Ingredients: carbonated water, sugar, caramel colour, artificial and natural flavours, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate, caffeine, monosodium phosphate, lactic acid, polyethylene glycol.
Quote:Antifreeze is usually made of ethylene glycol, corrosion inhibitors and foam controllers. Ethylene glycol is toxic if ingested. It can be particularly hazardous because animals and children may be attracted to its sweet flavor. If they drink the ethylene glycol, it could cause coma or death. Some antifreeze is made of propylene glycol. This material is less hazardous to humans and animals than ethylene glycol.
http://www.epa.gov/fedsite/vmf/antifreeze.html
closecloseclose but maybe not exactly a cigar?
See? This is how these nasty internet rumours start!
The following is polyethylene glycol. (Each corner represents a carbon with either one or two hydrogen atoms depending on if the bond situation. The "O" is oxygen, which requires two bonds. Carbon requires four bonds.)
This is ethylene glycol.
Different, wouldn't you say?
that polyethylene glycol sure looks like a bunch of ethylene glycols stuck together
Uh, I think it's supposed to look like that.
Whole thing sounds a little theoretical. I would drink the stuff if I cared for it.
I do drink the stuff, both here and in Canadia. Don't pee on my leg an' tell me it's raining--that Canajun Dr. Pooper has gots anti-freeze in it, for obvious reasons. That is not on the ingredient list for the Stuff from the New Nited States: Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar, caramel color, phosphoric acid, artificial and natural flavorings, sodium benzoate (a preservative), caffeine. (Obtained by squinting painfully at the bottle by my keyboard.)
Polyethylene glycol (PEG) may look like a lot of ethylene glycols strung together and that's likely the reason for the name. Poly meaning many. However, PEG is too big to be absorbed. And it is chemically different from ethylene glycol. The latter is small, the former is a much larger molecule. So they
are different.
For all your PEG reading needs, this page has a lot of info.
PEG
Polly Ethylene Glycol is the name of my second cousin from the Ozarks. She doesn't look like the diagram, except maybe if you map her stumbling around the house after an evening with the jug.
Sounds like my cousin Enigma Jean . . .
Re: Diet soda pop & Formaldehyde
Equus wrote:I drink a lot of diet cola. Someone suggested to me today that the aspartame in diet soft drinks creates formaldehyde in the body.
Is this true? Isn't formaldehyde dangerous? Should I stop drinking diet cola? If it kills me, can I get a discount on embalming?
I thought the formaldehyde was a by-product of the cola, only when the bottle of cola either sat in the bright sunshine or in a very hot room.
Someone reminded me of a line in PLATOON or some other Vietnam movie that there was formaldehyde in Saigon beer. Must not be poisonous, but it can't be good for you.
Formaldehyde IS poisonous. Perhaps the volume was too minute. Either way I wouldn't want to consume it.
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