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SidDithers

(44,228 posts)
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 09:20 AM Jun 2014

You catch (and kill) more flies with this sweetener

http://scienceblog.com/72724/catch-kill-flies-sweetener/#CkrooZEsp3YxB6I1.99

In a study that began as a sixth-grade science fair project, researchers at Drexel University have found that a popular non-nutritive sweetener, erythritol, may be an effective and human-safe insecticide.

Erythritol, the main component of the sweetener Truvia®, was toxic to Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies in a dose-dependent manner in the Drexel team’s study, published in PLOS ONE. The flies consumed erythritol when sugar was available and even seemed to prefer it. No other sweeteners tested had these toxic effects.

Based on this discovery, Drexel and the researchers are pursuing a patent on erythritol as an insecticide and are continuing to study its effectiveness.

“I feel like this is the simplest, most straightforward work I’ve ever done, but it’s potentially the most important thing I’ve ever worked on,” said Sean O’Donnell, PhD, a professor of biology and biodiversity, earth and environmental science in Drexel’s College of Arts and Sciences, who was a senior author of the paper.


A much more balanced and reliable evaluation of the study, than the horseshit from naturalnews that was posted in another thread.

Sid
13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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LAGC

(5,330 posts)
2. C'mon, Sid. You know you like the woo from NaturalNews.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 09:24 AM
Jun 2014

GMOs are responsible for everything wrong in this country, including genocide... or something.

MineralMan

(146,288 posts)
3. It's interesting that the fruit flies preferred the artificial
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 09:32 AM
Jun 2014

sweetener. Perhaps they didn't read the ingredients label.

Personally, I do read labels. I don't need artificial sweeteners. I use very little sugar, but when I do I use actual sugar. If I see a label with an artificial sweetener listed, I choose another product. Sugar is a food. It contributes to the calorie total of the food I eat. Artificial sweeteners are not food. When I eat, I eat food, not non-foods.

It is not sugar that is the problem; it is over-consumption of sugar that causes problems for most people, other than diabetics, of course.

MineralMan

(146,288 posts)
5. Artificial sweeteners are a problem, I think.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 09:48 AM
Jun 2014

They're important for diabetics, but far too many obese people use them as a way to consume sweet foods on an unlimited basis. Unfortunately, there's no weight loss benefit from this, and it prevents people from changing their dietary habits in positive ways, since they can eat those sweet foods, they think, without penalty.

None of the artificial sweeteners are "good for you." They may not all be toxic, but they are not food, either.

 

KittyWampus

(55,894 posts)
9. Erythritol is not an artificial sweetner. It's processed, for sure. But then, so is most sugar sold.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 10:44 AM
Jun 2014

I prefer Xylitol and stevia combined with raw sugar.

That combination sweetens well with no aftertaste and does very little to ones blood sugar.

zappaman

(20,606 posts)
11. And this is why crap OPS with crap sources like natural news should be locked.
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 01:23 PM
Jun 2014

But some hosts aren't very good at their jobs.

SidDithers

(44,228 posts)
13. +1...
Thu Jun 12, 2014, 06:04 PM
Jun 2014

Some of them remind me of fundie pharmacists who refuse to dispense Plan B. If they refuse to completely do their job, and never think anything is off-topic for GD, why be a Host at all?

Sid

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