Aspartame is Not Made from Poop

CREDIT: NutraSweet

Once during my time as a science education consultant, the fourth grade class was experimenting with yeast. One of the experiments involved putting a burning wooden splint in a test tube containing yeast to demonstrate that the yeast produces carbon dioxide. I told the students that the carbon dioxide was yeast farts.

Now I made sure the children knew I was kidding, and we went on to discuss how the yeast converted sugar into CO2.

When I saw the headline Aspartame is made from bacteria feces, patent confirms, I first thought that some PR person or editor was trying to grab the readers attention and having a little fun at the same time. But after reading this article and others, I realize that the authors and their editors must really think that aspertame comes from bacterial poop.

I can think of only one reasonable response. BULLSHIT.

The above article links to another article that helpfully links to the original patent. In the patent it describes very clearly - it helps to know some biology - how aspertame is produced.

Microbiologists insert a short strand of DNA into a bacterium. This bit of DNA instructs the cell to produce the protein (Asp-Phe)n. This protein consists of the amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine. The scientists later cut this protein into smaller parts consisting of 2 aspartic acid molecules and 2 phenylalanine molecules and then market this as the artificial sweetener, NustraSweet.

So the scientists are taking advantage of the same cellular processes that your body uses to produce insulin, antibodies, cellular receptors, collagen, and enzymes. So if aspertame is made from bacterial poop then so are you.

When you eat proteins, your body breaks it down into the amino acids that compose the protein. So when you ingest Nutrasweet it breaks down into the the two amino acids. The only people who should not use NutraSweet are those who suffer from the genetic disorder phenylketonuria.  These people lack an enzyme that converts the amino acid phenylalanine into the amino acid tyrosine.

CREDIT: Fiskeren

But does this basic biology stop some from shouting "Danger ! Danger!"? Google "aspartame dangers" and you will come across the name Joseph Mercola. Check out QuackWatch's article on Mercola. 

A scientific statement on the safety of aspartame written by David G. Hattan, Ph.D., of the Division of Health Effects Evaluation at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is available from the FDA.

Eating Dynamite

David Taylor, a former student of mine and current materials science student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, did this wonderful calculation and posted it on FaceBook.

I have only a couple of notes to add. 

1. Units 2 and 3 of the San Onofre Generating Station north of San Diego each generated 1 Gigawatts when they were running.

CREDIT: Jelson25

2. This is what 1/2 and 1 pound blocks of TNT look like.  Now imagine 120,000 one-pound blocks of TNT.

CREDIT: Soldier of Fortune 

3. E=mc^2. Three milligrams of matter is about a drop of water.

CREDIT: José Manuel Suárez

4. NPR reported that Americans are now eating nearly 2700 calories a day totaling one ton of food a year.

 5. By the way, I know that TNT is not a component of dynamite.  Nitroglycerine is, but Eating Dynamite is a better title.

Is your poop red?

Blood in your stool can be a sign of a serious disorder.  WebMD is a good resource for information.  However, your ordure being red could be a symptom of something I find disgusting, but otherwise completely harmless.

CREDIT: Frito Lay

Flamin' Hot Cheetos.  Yes, this seemingly innocuous treat is turning caca red.  

I guess looking down into the toilet and seeing bright red night soil might be frightening, frightening enough to wonder about seeking medical treatment.  There are reports that scared parents are taking children to the ER because of red turds.

Evidently, red dye #40 is not metabolized, so it is passed along with the rest of the excreta.  

Red Dye #40

Here is what I find shitty, and it doesn't have to do with crap.  Frito Lay's website provide the nutritional information for its snacks.  If you chow down on an entire 8.5 oz bag, you've consumed 1360 Calories.  If you have usually eat 2000-2500 Calorie a day, this one bag is your breakfast and lunch.  You also consumed more than two grams of salt - an entire day's worth of sodium.

DISCLAIMER:  I do love Lay's Classic potato chips.  These have a nice flavor with a good balance of fat and salt.

NOTE: I tried as hard as I could to use as many synonyms for feces.  Some I didn't use are bodily waste, droppings, pooh, poo, manure, dung, bowel movement, number two, and doo-doo. I also didn't to use any words like sheisse, merde, dreck, and govno from other languages. The reader is invited to submit their own in the comments.

The Science of Steak and Wine

Who would ever eat a good steak without a glass bottle of a good red wine?  Not I.  I prefer an earthy Pinot Noir, but a Cab or a Zin will do just fine.

Gastronomes and chefs know that certain foods pair well together.  But why?

Science now knows.

Drinks such as wine and tea and foods like pickles and sorbets are astringent, and they "elicit ‘dry, rough’ sensations, in part, by breaking down mucinous lubricating proteins in saliva."  Steak and other fatty foods lubricate the mouth that lessens the astringent feelings. The recent work* shows that "oral fatty sensations and astringency represent opposite ends of an oral spectrum extending from ‘slippery’ at one end to ‘dry’ and ‘rough’ at the other. This provides an explanation of how these sensations interplay over the course of a meal and maintain the balance of a moderate position along a tribological scale of oral sensations."  In other words, the alternating bites of a rib eye with sips of red wine leaves the mouth with a nice feeling.

Bon Appetit!

*Opponency of astringent and fat sensations, Catherine Peyrot des Gachons, Emi Mura, Camille Speziale, Charlotte J. Favreau, Guillaume F. Dubreuil, and Paul A.S. Breslin, Current Biology, Vol. 22, No. 19, R830 (2012).

Applying Physics To Cooking

Need to separate the yolk from the egg white?  All you need is a slight difference in air pressure.  Watch.