Making sense of our variation
Advertising campaigns notwithstanding, few people are under the illusion that diet soda is actually good for them. But for a rare group of individuals suffering from phenylketonuria (PKU), a genetic disorder affecting the body’s ability to process the amino acid phenylalanine, the drink can be downright devastating.
Phenylalanine is one of the building blocks of proteins, and if allowed to accumulate to high concentrations, as in the case of PKU, it can cause mental retardation in children, which is why newborns are routinely screened for the disease—and why cans of diet soda labeled, “Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine.” … Read more at BioTechniques. (PDF)
Biotechnically Speaking 