Can a Simple Test Detect Sugar or Aspartame in Your Drink?

[DaveC426913]

Does anyone know of a simple, convenient test that will detect either sugar or aspartame?

I'm a diabetic who likes his cola. I think the local McD's often forgets to serve up Diet cola when I ask for it - and I'd like to be sure before downing 20oz. of sugar water.

 

[DaveC426913]

...that is... a test that's cheaper than my blood glucose monitor, which costs a dollar per test...

I just tried an experiment:
I used my blood gluose monitor on several solutions to see what the result was. Naturally, the readings are off the scale compared to blood levels, but there's still information to be gathered:


Diet Cola: result= 'Lo' (amount of sugar in sample is below meter's detection level)
Diet Cola with some granulated sugar added: result='Error' (this is what it says when it can't believe the result it got)
My cola from McD's that sparked this enquiry: result='Error'

Hmm...

 

[JGM_14]

Taste is the only thing i can think of. Aspertame sweetened colas often taste very different from fructose based ones. Blood sugar meters measure glucose, not fructose (common in american soft drinks), or sucrose (common in mexican soft drinks) which is why you are getting an error. The molecular structure is the only thing that differs between the three, but that can have a big impact on the results.

 

[DaveC426913]

Taste is the only thing i can think of. Aspertame sweetened colas often taste very different from fructose based ones.

Absolutely, which is what tipped me off. but it's not exactly conclusive.

 

[Gokul43201]

I think aspartame is unstable in bicarb.

 

[chemisttree]

You could use a brix refractometer like the Coca Cola company does.

Buy one here:
http://www.undergrounddigital.com/testandmeasure.htm
http://www.technika.com/Sper/s300001.htm
or make your own here:
http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2003/Projects/J1520.pdf

 

[DaveC426913]

All of those will only work if Aspartame has a different refractivity (let alone sufficiently different).

 

[DaveC426913]

I think aspartame is unstable in bicarb.

Cool! Does it explode? That would be a conclusive - not to mention impressive - test.

 

[LostInSpaceTime]

Do the buoyancy yest :O

Put 2 cans of pop in a sink of water. One aspartame and one sugar... the one that floats higher in the water has the aspartame in it. I don't know how to apply it to MacDonald's pop but that's' the only thing I could think of.

 

[chemisttree]

The sweetness of aspartame is between 180 and 200 times sweeter than sucrose. That means to get the same sweetness you add about .5% as much aspartame as you do sucrose. Aspartame will therefore have a negligible effect on the refractive index.

I guess you could always do the human Mentos test...

 

[JGM_14]

Aspertame makes methanol under extremey basic or extremely acidic conditions.

 

[DaveC426913]

Urine test strips. Perfect. And 50 for 10 bucks.

 

[Capuchin]

Watch them when they prepare your coke? Or is this far too obvious?

 

[DaveC426913]

Watch them when they prepare your coke? Or is this far too obvious?

Impossible to do at a drive-thu.

 

[Capuchin]

Ah yes :)

 

[symbolipoint]

any kind of physiological or metabolic test? Maybe drive out the carbon dioxide and perform some bacteriological growth test? Also, not sure if sucrose would behave the same as glucose or fructose, but would fehlings solution or tollins solution or benedict's solution tell you if "sugar" is present, or only respond according the "type" of sugar?

 

[symbolipoint]

I read somewhere that aspartame kills ants.

 

[sicjeff]

any kind of physiological or metabolic test? Maybe drive out the carbon dioxide and perform some bacteriological growth test? Also, not sure if sucrose would behave the same as glucose or fructose, but would fehlings solution or tollins solution or benedict's solution tell you if "sugar" is present, or only respond according the "type" of sugar?

^That wouldn't work. Table sugar or Sucrose is nonreducing and will not give a positive Benedict's test result.

Edit: Aspartame breaks down when heated and the drink would loose its sweetness, plus it is free to do this test.

 

[DaveC426913]

I'm looking for a test I can do in my car.

 

[DaveC426913]

Urine strips test results.

A 20 cent extremely convenient test strip. Results in less than 10 seconds.