loud's Techdirt Profile

loud

About loud

loud's Comments comment rss

  • Sep 06, 2009 @ 05:35pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Much illness is mental...

    I gotta say, DH, I usually like reading your comments, but your conspiracy side...not so much.

    aspartame 'is converted by hydrolysis into 3 products in the gastro-intestinal tract

    This is true, however:

    Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid (which means it is not produced by the human body and required to be consumed in your diet)...other sources of this terrible chemical: asparagus, chicken, beef, walnuts, cottage cheese, eggs, fish, hummus, meats, milk, soybeans.

    Aspartic acid is a non-essential amino acid (which means that the body is able to make its own supply). It is also found in dairy, beef and poultry.

    Now, methanol...I'll give you that one, as it is a poison. However, the big debate is how much are you getting from aspartame vs. how much you are getting from other sources. It is the real debate...I will say this: read this article with an open mind: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question536.htm I am not going to debate the methanol aspect of aspartame here. If you are going to scare monger against aspartame, you should do it concerning the methanol aspect, because it is the most debatable

    And where did you get the retardation thing...seriously? Phenylketonuria is a genetic disorder that's been around way longer than aspartame. And the mental retardation comes from people with phenylketonuria being unable to break down phenylalanine, whether they get it from aspartame or any of the other sources. Aspartame did not cause phenylketonuria. The "Phenylketonurics - contains phenylalanine" warning you see on diet soda cans is a warning specifically to phenylketonurics that the products contains phenylalanine. It is not a warning of the ill effect of aspartame for normal people like you and me.

    end rant

  • Mar 04, 2009 @ 08:18pm

    Re: Who actually pays?

    agreed. No matter what the costs are, even when those costs get passed to consumers...breaches will still happen. I think the focus should be in giving consumers more tools once their info is out there.