NS 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Sugar Association, Aspartame, Nutrasweet

• School: Cornell University
• Department: Nutritional Science
• Course: NS 1150
• Professor: David Levitsky

Document Summary

Taste: we are born with most of the tastes we have. Resting, water, sugar (mother"s milk), sour, bitter. Newborn cannot detect salt (takes about a year: sweetness is a surrogate for calories. Artificial sweeteners: used by diabetics, hit the market 30 years ago. The sugar association: powerful influence in government and agriculture, don"t eat it it"s going to kill you . Saccharin: first commercial artificial sweeteners on market, cancer promoter. Aspartame (nutrasweet, aminosweet: phenylalanine (amino acid) + aspartic acid, some people reacts negatively to phenylalanine. Lack enzymes that convert phenylalanine to other substances. However, levels are not high enough to be a problem (in fact, bodies have low concentrations of methanol) Xylitol (sugar alcohol) [sugarless gum: prevents tooth decay because bacteria are drawn to xylitol, 2. 2 kcal/g. Short term effect: less snack intake and appetite (36 kcal) Energy expenditure: mean= 36 kcal reduced intake, 11 kcal increase exp. Peristalsis: contraction of intestinal tract that will carry food down.