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Feeding Plants Artificial Sweeteners (2010)

21 points by luu 7y ago

jefftk 7y ago
Turns out putting saccharin on radishes mostly just attracts ants and kills the plants (https://www.jefftk.com/p/radish-experiment-day-9-saccharin-bad-for-radishes-image https://www.jefftk.com/p/radish-experiment-day-9-saccharin-b...) and the surviving ones don't taste any different (https://www.jefftk.com/p/saccharin-does-not-affect-the-taste-of-radishes https://www.jefftk.com/p/saccharin-does-not-affect-the-taste...).
- elvecinodeabajo 7y ago
  It looks quite obvious that saccharin isn't good for plants, but it's good to have results of a simple experiment to demonstrate it. Good work! Thanks a lot!
  - jefftk 7y ago
    Throughout the experiment I was telling friends that I knew it was a silly idea that was very unlikely to work, but it was also easy and fun to try, and if it turned out to work it would be very interesting.
pvaldes 7y ago
Does not work like that. Physiology of plants 101. This is not different than some people thinking that a colagen cream magically puts inside the big molecules that are just extended over the skin, or that you can take iron in your diet just touching a iron bar.
- herpes 7y ago
  Can we inject a mixture of water and sweetener into it, rather than just sprinkling it on the dirt?
lm28469 7y ago
> The main reason most people don't enjoy eating lemons is that they are insufficiently sweet. I think a lot of people would be interested in lemons that tasted like lemonade. Yeah, people would eat many Xs if they tasted like Ys ... Some people should really go in a no (added) sugar diet for a bit, even things like lemons become sweet after a few weeks of no junk/sugary food. I've witnessed people dipping slices of apple in white sugar so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
- ImprovedSilence 7y ago
  Yeah I agree here. But then again, I can eat lemons like an orange and I find them delicious.
  - adrianN 7y ago
    Your dentist must like you.
- criddell 7y ago
  I've never done the no-sugar thing, but I did switch to drinking fizzy water rather than soda a few years ago. Today I'll occasionally order a Coke or Dr Pepper and it tastes so syrupy sweet to me now that I can only manage to drink a small amount. I enjoy it, but it gets overwhelming quickly. Ten years ago I would routinely get a 20+ oz soda with my meal and that feels unimaginable to me today. Part of that is just me getting old. Consuming a bunch of sugar today leaves me feeling hungover tomorrow.
  - foxyv 7y ago
    When I think of how much high fructose corn syrup I ran through my liver when I was young I want to cry a little. It's so disgusting!
xchaotic 7y ago
This doesn’t work but the obvious solution is to add the sweetener after - mix in with lemon juice or whatever.
- pvaldes 7y ago
  And another obvious solution would be to use any of the thousands of Citrus varieties developped for almost anything.
nelsonic 7y ago
The first comment on the post mentions Miracle berries. The taste-modifying protein miraculin contained in miracle fruit has been added to tomatos to increase sweetness and thus reduce the amount of sugar they need to add to ketchup. see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22160133 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22160133 I'm surprised there is not more research into adding miraculin to other bitter (but healthy) foods.
- jefftk 7y ago
  That's fascinating! My experience with miraculin [1] wasn't very positive because it completely removed the sour flavor, though perhaps in smaller doses it would make sense? I guess I'd also worry that it would be hard to cook and eat because it adds an unusual dependency between ingredients: normally you don't worry that your ketchup on your hot dog will later make your cake taste too sweet. [1] https://www.jefftk.com/p/miracle-berry https://www.jefftk.com/p/miracle-berry
Bluecobra 7y ago
But Brawndo's got what plants crave! It's got electrolytes.

21 points by luu 7y ago

Turns out putting saccharin on radishes mostly just attracts ants and kills the plants (https://www.jefftk.com/p/radish-experiment-day-9-saccharin-bad-for-radishes-image https://www.jefftk.com/p/radish-experiment-day-9-saccharin-b...) and the surviving ones don't taste any different (https://www.jefftk.com/p/saccharin-does-not-affect-the-taste-of-radishes https://www.jefftk.com/p/saccharin-does-not-affect-the-taste...).

elvecinodeabajo 7y ago
It looks quite obvious that saccharin isn't good for plants, but it's good to have results of a simple experiment to demonstrate it. Good work! Thanks a lot!
- jefftk 7y ago
  Throughout the experiment I was telling friends that I knew it was a silly idea that was very unlikely to work, but it was also easy and fun to try, and if it turned out to work it would be very interesting.

pvaldes 7y ago

Does not work like that. Physiology of plants 101. This is not different than some people thinking that a colagen cream magically puts inside the big molecules that are just extended over the skin, or that you can take iron in your diet just touching a iron bar.

herpes 7y ago
Can we inject a mixture of water and sweetener into it, rather than just sprinkling it on the dirt?

lm28469 7y ago

> The main reason most people don't enjoy eating lemons is that they are insufficiently sweet. I think a lot of people would be interested in lemons that tasted like lemonade. Yeah, people would eat many Xs if they tasted like Ys ... Some people should really go in a no (added) sugar diet for a bit, even things like lemons become sweet after a few weeks of no junk/sugary food. I've witnessed people dipping slices of apple in white sugar so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

ImprovedSilence 7y ago
Yeah I agree here. But then again, I can eat lemons like an orange and I find them delicious.
- adrianN 7y ago
  Your dentist must like you.
criddell 7y ago
I've never done the no-sugar thing, but I did switch to drinking fizzy water rather than soda a few years ago. Today I'll occasionally order a Coke or Dr Pepper and it tastes so syrupy sweet to me now that I can only manage to drink a small amount. I enjoy it, but it gets overwhelming quickly. Ten years ago I would routinely get a 20+ oz soda with my meal and that feels unimaginable to me today. Part of that is just me getting old. Consuming a bunch of sugar today leaves me feeling hungover tomorrow.
- foxyv 7y ago
  When I think of how much high fructose corn syrup I ran through my liver when I was young I want to cry a little. It's so disgusting!

xchaotic 7y ago

This doesn’t work but the obvious solution is to add the sweetener after - mix in with lemon juice or whatever.

pvaldes 7y ago
And another obvious solution would be to use any of the thousands of Citrus varieties developped for almost anything.

nelsonic 7y ago

The first comment on the post mentions Miracle berries. The taste-modifying protein miraculin contained in miracle fruit has been added to tomatos to increase sweetness and thus reduce the amount of sugar they need to add to ketchup. see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22160133 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22160133 I'm surprised there is not more research into adding miraculin to other bitter (but healthy) foods.

jefftk 7y ago
That's fascinating! My experience with miraculin [1] wasn't very positive because it completely removed the sour flavor, though perhaps in smaller doses it would make sense? I guess I'd also worry that it would be hard to cook and eat because it adds an unusual dependency between ingredients: normally you don't worry that your ketchup on your hot dog will later make your cake taste too sweet. [1] https://www.jefftk.com/p/miracle-berry https://www.jefftk.com/p/miracle-berry

Bluecobra 7y ago

But Brawndo's got what plants crave! It's got electrolytes.