Is it true that this guy won’t eat or drink anything with nutrasweet in it? Or is this an urban legend?
Well, a quick search on Google reveals that there are lots of people who won’t touch the stuff, citing almost every health reason you can think of. I couldn’t find anything related to whether the inventor uses it or not. In fact, I had trouble finding any hard facts on Nutrasweet during my brief search.
I did locate this trivia game from Discover magazine (see #9 & answer f towards the bottom of the page) that gives some background as to how Nutrasweet was discovered–a Dr. James Schlatter was working on an ulcer drug, and happened to lick some of the chemical that had gotten on his hands.
Aspartame was discovered in a similar manner–a scientist was working with some type of asphalt (I think), and happened to go to the dinner table without washing his hands. Once again, he noticed the sweet taste upon licking his hands.
The problem with this question is that I don’t think aspartame was invented by one man. There may be one person who led the research team, but creating a substance like aspartame can’t be a one-person operation.
Is there a scientist who takes credit for “inventing” aspartame?
Ummmm… isn’t Nutrasweet simply the branded name of Aspertame?
Cecil on aspertame: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a961129.html
It’s spelled aspartame. And, yes, NutraSweet is a brand name for aspartame.