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Comment by colordrops | Hacker News Reader

The article just states that the researchers suspected a mechanism of action that involves phenylalanine, but the experiment doesn't actually say anything about what the actual mechanism is. Anyway, aspartame isn't even phenylalanine or anything else that can be found in nature.

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Aspartame is composed of aspartate, phenylalanine (two amino acids) and a methyl group.

After you ingest it, it's easily broken down. What your body actually absorbs are the component parts, all of which are ubiquitous in nature.

Forgive my ignorance, but it's not like that methyl group just becomes a free radical, right? Does it stick to either the aspartate or the phenylalanine, and if so, wouldn't that potentially change the body's reaction?

From a quick google search, it appears the methyl group gets converted to methanol.

Which we all know has no ill effects whatsoever.

In very high quantities, yeah, it's bad. Just like everything, including water and oxygen.

In small amounts, your body can handle methanol just fine. Which is fortunate, because it's present in many foods at much higher levels than what you'd get from drinking a can of Diet Coke.

The methyl ester is converted to the free acid and methanol, which you further metabolize into formic acid.

Methyl esters can be readily hydrolyzed (split by water) in an acidic environment. The stomach would be ideal.

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