Artificial Sweeteners Compared

All sugar substitutes are not created equal. Here are a few facts about the most widely known sweeteners.

Equal (Aspartame) was discovered in 1965 and first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1981. It is the only FDA approved nutritive sweetener, meaning it adds caloric value to a meal. It loses its sweetness when heated and therefore is not used in baked goods. It is a mixture of aspartic acid and phenylalanine) that is 200 times sweeter than sugar.

Newtame - (Neotame) It was approved by the FDA during 2002 and is 7,000 to 13,000 times as sweet as table sugar.

Splenda (Sucralose) was discovered in 1976 and first approved by the FDA IN 1998. It is molecularly bonded sucrose molecules with chlorine and is 600 times as sweet as sugar by gram. It is chemically modified to have zero calories. It keeps its sweetness when heated and therefore is used in baked goods.

Sweet’N Low (saccharin) was discovered in 1879. It was removed from the FDA’s caution list in 2000. It is made from benzoic sulfimide, a coal tar derivative that is approximately 300 times sweeter than sugar and also contains dextrose and cream of tartar. It contains 4 calories per packet, but the body cannot metabolize it, so it adds no caloric or nutritional value to a meal. Cyclamate was the original ingredient in Sweet’N Low. It is a chemical 30 to 50 times sweeter than sugar. By 1963, cyclamate was America’s favorite artificial sweetener, then the sweetener was proven to cause bladder cancer in rats, resulting in an immediate ban by the FDA that is still in effect. In response, Sweet’N Low swiftly became a saccharin-based product.

Stevia is a sweetener and sugar substitute marketed most familiarly as PureVia and Truvia, extracted from the leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana. The active compounds of Stevia are steviol glycosides, which have up to 150 times the sweetness of sugar. It is  heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentable. The legal status of Stevia as a food additive or dietary supplement varies from country to country. In the United States, high-purity stevia glycoside extracts are generally recognized as safe and allowed as ingredients in food products, but stevia leaf and crude extracts do not have FDA approval for use in food. The European Union approved Stevia additives in 2011, and in Japan, Stevia has been widely used as a sweetener for decades.

Sweet One - (Sunett) was discovered during 1967 and approved in 1988. It contains Dextrose, Acesulfame-K, Cream of Tartar, Calcium Silicate (an anti-caking agent), and natural flavors and is 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is soluble in hot and cold beverages and remains stable when heated, so it can also be used in cooking and baking. It adds no caloric or nutritional value to a meal.

According to the FDA, high-intensity sweeteners add few or no calories to the foods they flavor and they generally do not raise blood sugar levels.

The FDA during 2014 approved a new high-intensity sweetener called advantame, which does not yet have a brand name. It has been approved as a new food additive for use as a sweetener and flavor enhancer in foods, except meat and poultry.

Incidentally, notice how many months/years it takes for FDA to approve.

Improbable Research

YouTube shows a fun look at the world around us, including the Ig Nobel awards. It is even more entertaining if you watch it on your TV.  LINK

Size Envy

For those who like things bigger, this week Samsung announced  (with a demo screen) an enormous 4K TV it is calling The Wall. The Wall measures 146 inches and uses MicroLED technology to produce its picture. The set compares to regular size TVs in quality and color. Luckily it is not available in stores yet, or I might need to consider re-mortgaging my house.

Alexa, Flush My Toilet

The annual CES show is in full swing with new technology that will surprise many. Filed under the "I never knew I needed that" is new Kohler and Moeller lines of bathroom appliances that include smart shower heads, toilets, faucets, and a smart mirror powered by Alexa.

You can monitor your water usage, set a certain lighting profile on the mirror, fill the bathtub to a specific level, warm the toilet seat, and ask the toilet to flush itself. All this 'must have' stuff will be available this year. Cost is estimated in the thousands of dollars.

Red Hair Trivia

Lucille Ball was born a brunette, but dyed her hair blond for her early days in Hollywood. When she was about to make her first film for MGM in 1942 (“Du Barry Was a Lady”), Sydney Guilaroff, the studio’s chief hair stylist, made a discovery that would change her for the rest of her life. “The hair is brown,” he said after looking at the 31-year-old rising star, “but the soul is on fire.” So he dyed Ball’s hair Tango Red (a shade between carrot and strawberry), which it remained until she died.

Incidentally, Betty Boop's original hair color was red.

New Best Friends

Here are the countries that visited my blog last month. Welcome to all my new BFFs around the world.

United States, France, United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, Seychelles, Russia, Norway, Israel, India, Hong Kong, Australia, Brazil, Ukraine, Spain, Philippines, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Romania, Netherlands, Indonesia, Turkey, Tanzania, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, Lebanon, Japan, Iceland, Finland, Belarus, Bahrain, Austria

Happy Friday

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

It is always good to share your joy and smile, especially on a Happy Friday!

Happy New Year

So we begin a new year, full of anticipation and hope. It is my desire to have everything good come to you this year. 

A Month by any other Name

Historical names for January include its original Roman designation, Ianuarius, the Saxon term Wulf-monath (meaning wolf month), and Charlemagne's designation Wintarmanoth (winter / cold month). In Finnish, the month is called tammikuu, meaning month of the oak, but the original meaning was the month of the heart of winter, as tammi has initially meant axis or core. In Czech this month is called leden, meaning ice month. In Ukrainian it is січень meaning cutting or slicing, perhaps referring to the wind.

Purse Light Hack

For those of you who have large purses and cannot find things at the bottom, add one of those small battery button lights that you just tap to turn on.

Now you can reach in, turn on the light and find whatever you are looking for without dumping the contents.

Free Football Viewing

This year, you will not need Verizon Wireless service to watch free NFL games on your phone. Instead, you can watch in-market coverage, playoff games, and the Super Bowl for free, regardless of carrier.
The live games this season will stream on the NFL Mobile app, Verizon's Go90 video app, and Yahoo. Starting next season, Verizon will no longer provide a free stream of the NFL Network or an optional $2-per-month stream of NFL Redzone on mobile devices. If you want to keep watching Redzone without cable, even on your phone, you will have to subscribe to an entire streaming bundle such as Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, or FuboTV, as NFL and Verizon greed kick more fans to the sidelines.

Naturally, there is a catch. As with Verizon's existing NFL streams, you will be forbidden from watching live games on your antenna-less television. The carrier will not offer full games on streaming TV devices, and will continue to block screen mirroring from your phone through Chromecast and Apple TV's AirPlay.

If you have DirecTV Now with bundled AT&T wireless service, you no longer have to miss any NFL Network games. If you have strong TV antenna coverage, you will also be able to watch many games free.

Wooden Spoon Myth Debunked

Wooden spoons do not stop pots of water from boiling over. Placing a wooden spoon across a pot of water to prevent the water from spilling over may help some with a simmering pot, but not boiling.

How Wireless Charging Works

Wireless charging, inductive charging, or cordless charging, are all the same thing. It uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy between two objects through electromagnetic induction, so it will work with any wireless charger carrying the same standards of technology. The Qi wireless charging standard from the Wireless Power Consortium has been around for over five years. The basic technology has been used for consumer products like razors and toothbrushes, plus a variety of non-consumer tools for a while.

Many smart phone companies use wireless charging for high end devices. In addition, a growing number of restaurants, airports, hotels, etc. now provide wired and wireless charging.

Electromagnetic fields are created and allow the current to pass between the charging and the surface of the charging pad. The charging base station needs to be connected to a power outlet. There is a transmitting coil in the charger circuit and power from the source is supplied to the coil. Phones and other devices have a receiver coil attached to the battery, which picks up the magnetic field.
Productive coupling between the coils requires accurate positional alignment. This can be accomplished in different ways. The charging pad or base station can have visual or tactile signifiers of the optimal position for the phone; this is cheap and easy, but it presents challenges when dealing with phones of different sizes and configurations. Alternatively, a charging station might have a coil that moves to align with the coil in the device, allowing you to place it wherever you want. Another way is using an array of coils, where specific coils are activated in proximity to the device’s placement.

The base station does not activate unless a compatible device has been placed on it. The station determines this by sending an intermittent test signal to check if a compliant device is present. The mobile device responds to this ping by communicating the received signal strength. When the device’s charge is complete, it tells the transmitter to go inactive.

One ongoing problem to widespread adoption is competing standards that fracture the market and make adoption less attractive for both consumers and manufacturers.

Wireless charging may be fun and whiz-bang, but it is slower than the traditional form of charging due to less energy transfer.

New technology may let you charge your devices from a distance of three feet or more without any pad involved. The Federal Communications Commission, during December 2017 approved technology from Energous using radio frequency energy to recharge multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets, smart watches, headphones, speakers, keyboards and fitness trackers from up to three feet away.

Mattress Myth Debunked

Many have heard that a normal mattress doubles in weight each eight to ten years, due to accumulation of mites, dead skin, etc. It is totally false and the story was made up long ago by a Wall Street Journal reporter.