WIL: artificial sweeteners
As I don’t drink alcohol for the moment, and I already drink a lot of water (excuses, excuses…), I indulge myself and have a diet coke now and then. Well, it’s more than that: at noon, frequently, and in the evening I often have on too, decaffeinated that is.
Aurélie and I had a conversation recently about the impact of artificial sweeteners on our health. People always say: “diet coke is bad”, so I took a few minutes to read what the internet thinks about it.
Phenylalanine
Some — every? — artificial sweetened can states:
“Contains sources of phenylalanine”.
Did you ever wonder what it is? In short: it is actually simply an essential amino-acid. Our bodies need it to create dopamine and adrenaline, among others.
It appears to be very difficult to overdose on phenylalanine and what I read is that it in fact can only do harm for people with phenylketonuria, a metabolic anomaly affecting 0,04% to 0,01% of people.
Phenylalanine is found in the sweetener itself, which, in the case of a Pepsi Max, is Aspartame and Acesulphame K.