[naasking]

> Sucralose was an instant no to me when I saw the molecule. “Here let’s hang a chlorine off this here sugar.” Nope. I recall seeing similar sentiments in a thread over at Reddit where a biochemist remarked that it looked like a pesticide.

If you could infer the properties of a compound by making vague analogies to other similar looking molecules, chemistry would be easy. Changing a single atom can completely change the safety properties of a compound, ie. H2O->H2O2, Hg2Cl2->HgCl2.

> The weird complicated molecules in Stevia and Monk Fruit seem safe precisely because they look like something the body is going to hack apart right away and look like all the other complicated molecules found in plants that the body is used to dealing with.

Yeah, like the atropa belladonna, the deadly nightshade? I'm sure that's chock full of "baroque carbon sculptures". Maybe biochemistry just isn't so easy.

[totony]

Organic and inorganic molecules are way different. Most small changes to organic molecules are somewhat predictable as to their outcome, afaik.