/oss/taxonomy/term/5349/all en /oss/article/did-you-know/why-diet-coke-so-fizzy <p>Whether you’re buying ingredients for an at home “Coke and Mentos” demonstration, asking a flight attendant for a beverage, or just trying to pour a can of soda into a glass before hockey comes back on, you may have noticed something: Diet sugar-free sodas fizz more than regular sugar-rich sodas when opened.</p> <p>The degree of carbonation or “fizziness” of a soda is partly a function of how easily carbon dioxide bubbles can form in the sugary flavour water we call pop. When it’s easier for bubbles to form, you get more of them and therefore an increased “fizziness”.</p> Fri, 16 Sep 2022 10:00:00 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 9223 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition/taste-science-aspartame <p>I first became interested in aspartame when I learned about the curious way in which its sweetness was discovered. Back in 1965, G.D. Searle Company chemist Jim Schlatter was carrying out research on gastric ulcers and certainly did not have artificial sweeteners in mind. He knew that entry of food into the stomach stimulated the secretion of gastrin, a hormone that triggers the production of gastric acid. At the time, the common belief was that ulcers were caused by excess stomach acid, and Schlatter was interested in finding a drug that could inactivate gastrin.  </p> Fri, 16 Apr 2021 21:36:52 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8704 at /oss