Block diagram assembly of simulation experiments is particularly attractive to students of signals and systems. SIMULINK 3, when augmented by specialist DSP/comms blocks that enhance operator interaction at run time, offers a uniquely valuable setting for flexible and powerful “instrument-based” experimentation. We describe a range of student laboratory exercises which we have rapidly commissio...

We have examined the relationship between artificially sweetened beverage (ASB) consumption and long-term weight gain in the San Antonio Heart Study. From 1979 to 1988, height, weight, and ASB consumption were measured among 5,158 adult residents of San Antonio, Texas. Seven to eight years later, 3,682 participants (74% of survivors) were re-examined. Outcome measures were incidence of overweig...

Advantame is a new ultrahigh-intensity noncaloric sweetener derived from aspartame and approved for human use. Rats and mice are not attracted to the taste of aspartame and this study determined their preference for advantame. In 24-h choice tests with water, C57BL/6J mice and Sprague-Dawley rats were indifferent to advantame at concentrations of 0.01, 0.03, and 0.1mM but significantly preferre...

Increased energy consumption, especially increased consumption of sweet energy-dense food, is thought to be one of the main contributors to the escalating rates in overweight individuals and obesity globally. The individual's ability to detect or sense sweetness in the oral cavity is thought to be one of many factors influencing food acceptance, and therefore, taste may play an essential role i...

This study reviews clinical studies testing the effects of various doses of aspartame on blood levels of phenylalanine, aspartate, and methanol in normal subjects and known phenylketonuric heterozygotes. The effect of aspartame on the phenylalanine-to-large neutral amino acid ratio under various feeding situations is shown. The clinical studies of aspartame in diabetic subjects are limited to o...

BACKGROUND Artificially sweetened (AS) and sugar-sweetened (SS) beverages are commonly consumed during pregnancy. A recent Danish study reported that the daily intake of an AS beverage was associated with an increased risk of preterm delivery. OBJECTIVE We examined the intake of AS and SS beverages in pregnant women to replicate the Danish study and observe whether AS intake is indeed associa...

In September of 2000, McNeil Nutritionals began marketing Splenda, its new no-calorie sweetener, using the tagline “made from sugar so it tastes like sugar.”1 The company spent approximately $235 million in advertising and promotional materials to establish its unique brand identity that capitalizes on Splenda’s sugar origin and sugar-like taste.2 The campaign was effective—in 2007, Splenda was...

A very simple flow-through sensor is presented for the determination of the intense sweetener aspartame in low-calorie and dietary products. The sensor is implemented in a monochannel flow-injection system with UV spectrophotometric detection using a Sephadex CM-C25 cationic exchanger packed 20 mm high in a flow cell. This method is based on the transient retention of a cationic species of the ...

CHRISTOPHER GARDNER, PHD, CHAIR JUDITH WYLIE-ROSETT, EDD, RD, CO-CHAIR SAMUEL S. GIDDING, MD, FAHA LYN M. STEFFEN, PHD, MPH, RD, FAHA RACHEL K. JOHNSON, PHD, MPH, RD DIANE READER, RD, CDE ALICE H. LICHTENSTEIN, DSC, FAHA ON BEHALF OF THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION NUTRITION COMMITTEE OF THE COUNCIL ON NUTRITION, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND METABOLISM, COUNCIL ON ARTERIOSCLEROSIS, THROMBOSIS AND VASCU...

Seven sugars, two sugar alcohols, and a nonnutritive sweetener were orally administered to naive rats with and without gastric drainage fistulas. Although all taste solutions were ingested, only glucose evoked a statistically significant elevation of insulin levels. This rise was independent of a rise in glycemia. The preeminence of oral glucose as an elicitor of preabsorptive insulin secretion...