"Contains a source of Phenylalanine", but what does it mean?

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I have been asking myself this question for some time now after noticing that a lot of soft drinks and yoghurt's mentioned this unfamiliar name in their ingredients listings.

I found out quite early on that Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid and also 50% of a sweetener called aspartame which is widely used in a variety of foods including Cola, some yoghurt's and is also found naturally in foods such as eggs and bananas. What I have found out more recently is,to say the least, somewhat worrying reading!.

I won't simply copy the details onto my blog, but will instead supply you with a few links to the websites that I have found, and let you decide for yourself if we (the general public) are being exposed too a rather nasty additive in our daily food diet.

http://www.sweetpoison.com/phenylalanine.html Janet Starr Hull explains some facts.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070713074905AAXFB7Y Yahoo Discussion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylalanine Wikipedia entry

If you found some of these revelations rather worrying, maybe you had better hope that you are not effected by Phenylketonuria (PKU)!. What is that? Take a look HERE.

Perhaps we should all take more note of what our daily diets contain.....just to be on the safe side!.

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