Chemistry in everyday life: Artificial sweeteners

Résumé du document

Who would ever think that some basic products of our daily consumption such as diet beverages, fruit juices and chocolate drinks contains dangerous substances for our health. Many consumers are not aware of the danger of these additives. In our individual essay, we will engage a discussion about the artificial sweeteners that we encounter in our everyday life but for most of us, our knowledge in this field related to Chemistry is very poor. We will base our essay on two major artificial sweeteners which are aspartame and the monosodium of glutamate, commonly called MSG.

In a first part, we will give the actual background that has occurred for these artificial sweeteners. Then, we will talk about the chemical characteristics of these sweeteners because it is very important to know the composition of what is added in the food and drinks that we consume every day. In a third part, we will discussion about how these additives are produced and also which are the major companies that are creating and selling the artificial substances to the consumers and other famous brands. Finally, we will develop a part related to the negative effects of these products on the individuals within the chemistry field and the society.

Our main goals in this assignment are to present the role of chemistry within a society, what impacts have the chemistry in our everyday life regarding the social and the environmental side. Our evaluation through a precise subject such as artificial sweeteners should be done with a critical point of view.

Extraits

[...] (2007). The Reality of The Diet Industry. From www.articlegarden.com: http://www.articlegarden.com/Article/The-Reality-of- the-Diet-Industry/75481 Blaylock, R. L. (1994). The Taste That Kills. Santa Fe: Health Press. Dorway to Discovery. (2010 йил 21-September). Aspartame: Toxicology. [...]

[...] Retrieved 2012 йил 7-October from Dorway.com: http://dorway.com/aspartame- the-bad-news-repost/aspartame-the-toxic-sludge/ Trocho, C., Pardo, R., & Rafecas, I. (1998). Formaldehyde derived from dietary aspartame binds to tissue components in vivo. Vickey, K. (2007 йил 22-November). Artificial sweeteners : A history. [...]

[...] Also, to explain the negative effects of the artificial sweetener, it is important to determine the composition. (Dorway to Discovery, 2010) The chemical composition of aspartame is divided of phenylalanine aspartic acid and finally the methyl ester which quickly turns into methyl alcohol (or methanol) after ingestion in several other neurotoxic and carcinogenic resulting in their degradation, or by the metabolic changes occurring in the body, or by exposing the product containing aspartame to a temperature above 30 degrees Centigrade (in storage or transport or during cooking) all by-products that cause severe dependence with withdrawal phenomena intense for large consumers of aspartame trying to stop taking it. [...]

[...] History of some artificial sweeteners One of the first sweeteners that have ever been developed was Saccharine in 1879. It has actually been created by mistake, it was a chemist named Constantin Fahlberg who actually spilled an unknown product on his hands. Few hours later, during his dinner, he happened to lick his hand and taste something really sweet. In fact, Saccharine is three hundred to five hundred times more sweet than sugar. One year later, he published with his friend and mentor Ira Remsen a paper presenting the sweet substance that made them very rich. [...]

[...] The action of phenylalanine hydroxyls converts it into another amino acid: tyrosine, which is therefore not an essential amino acid. Phenylalanine is a precursor of adrenaline, noradrenalin and melanin. Then we are going to describe the methanol which is one of the chemical products that we find actually in the aspartame. Methanol is a poison. Many people remember methanol as the poison that has been the cause of the blindness, or death and alcoholics. Methanol is gradually released into the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounters the enzyme chymotrypsin. [...]