Thursday, November 16, 2006

What is phenylalanine and phenylketonurics?

I received a request from a reader (wow I have readers!) to post about phenylalanine and phenylketonurics. Big words that I knew very little about. Well I'm all about learning new things, so let's get started.

Phenylalanine is a naturally occuring amino acid found in complete proteins and aspartame. When you consume meat or drink a diet soda containing aspartame, your body breaks it down into its individual components. The proteins are broken down into separate amino acids and aspartame is broken down into phenylalanine, aspartic acid, and methanol.

For a regular person, phenylalanine is just another building block for the body to use. People with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) are unable to process phenylalanine because they lack a particular enzyme. Too much phenylalanine built up in the body can lead to mental retardation, muscle aches and even seizures. You can read more about this condition here - it's written in easy to understand, non-medical terms.

The reason a lot of diet or sugar-free products contain warnings about phenylalanine is because they are artificially sweetened with aspartame. Phenylalanine isn't harmful by itself. It is only those with PKU who need to watch out for it.

I'd like to go into more detail about how those with PKU have to deal with diets differently from the rest of the population. This will be a separate post later because super-long posts scare people away.

6 comments:

Alaskan Dave Down Under said...

Need I remind anyone that methanol is a poison? I haven't drank anything with nutradeath in it for years.

Geeky Dragon Girl said...

Excellent point! I neglected to make that point.

Alaskan Dave Down Under said...

Oh, and aspartic acid is a neurotoxin: it kills brain cells.

I drank diet coke for a couple of years back in the late 80's... damn!

Maggie said...

I am one of those PKU people. The grand mal seizures and everything. A drink of Diet Coke actually gives me a headache.
Luckily, Splenda doesn't. I go with real sugar and compensate with the rest of my diet.

Geeky Dragon Girl said...

Yikes Dave, I had no idea!

Maggie, I think people are much better off with using regular sugar and just using it responsibly instead of substituting it with all sorts of chemicals.

Alaskan Dave Down Under said...

Maggie: Yup, anyone with any neurological disorder (MS, seizures, parkinsons, alzheimers, etc) should definitely not have anything containing Nutrasweet (nor should ANYONE for that matter).

You've got the right idea with real sugar and a proper diet.

Just my two cents...