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anachrohack@lemmy.world to Today I Learned@lemmy.worldEnglish · 2 days ago

TIL The ancient Romans created an artificial sweetener called "Sugar of Lead" by corroding lead in vinegar. It has a mildly sweet taste and also causes brain damage

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TIL The ancient Romans created an artificial sweetener called "Sugar of Lead" by corroding lead in vinegar. It has a mildly sweet taste and also causes brain damage

en.wikipedia.org

anachrohack@lemmy.world to Today I Learned@lemmy.worldEnglish · 2 days ago
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Lead(II) acetate - Wikipedia
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  • johncandy1812@lemmy.ca
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    39 minutes ago

    One of the reasons lead paint chips were frequently eaten by children was because they tasted sweet.

    • Rubanski@discuss.tchncs.de
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      12 minutes ago

      Oh what, so that’s not an exaggerated story? I always thought that’s hyperbole

  • ssillyssadass@lemmy.world
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    10 minutes ago

    They also thought tomatoes were poisonous because the water in them would pick up the lead their plates were made from

  • toppy@lemy.lol
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    12 minutes ago

    What is the mechanism ? Why does it taste sweet ?

  • burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    i could use some brain damage to get me though the day

    • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca
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      2 hours ago

      oooh ooooh leeeead sugar ♩

      I believe you can get me through the daaaayyy ♫

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    58 minutes ago

    They also used lead in their makeup.

  • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    It has a mildly sweet taste and also causes brain damage

    Well… but so does Jack Daniel’s. Interestingly, the Romans were aware of the dangers of lead poisoning, including that it could cause madness - which they called “plumbism” (plumbum being the Latin word for lead). Kind of like we know about the dangers of alcohol, flavored sugar water, and many other things we consume wantonly. Like us, they apparently just didn’t GAF.

    • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Lead and alcohol are on completely different levels.

      There is no way Romans understood fully the damage lead does and how it accumulates in the body.

      Also alcohol is presumably consumed by adults only, while this sweet shit was probably given to children too which makes it even worse.

      • Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 hours ago

        What makes you think it was for children?

        • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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          2 hours ago

          The mild sweet taste part

          • Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            51 minutes ago

            Sugar does that too you know. Better and cheaper.

  • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    1 day ago

    Not having zero, they couldn’t have computers and thus social media, so they had to improvise

    • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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      1 day ago

      Thanks for a good chuckle!

  • Chozo@fedia.io
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    2 days ago

    Hahaha, what a bunch of morons, sugar isn’t even good for you!

    [sips sugar-free microplastic energy-slurry]

    Buncha dummies.

    • xep@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      Artificial sugar still causes an insulin response. Better stick with the vinegared lead.

      • rayyy@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Artificial sugar also triggers hunger. That’s why you often see people with a diet Coke in one hand and a Snickers bar in their other hand.

      • Photuris@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        I wear a CGM (not diabetic, just a weird nerd).

        I can assert that artificial sweeteners do not, in fact, affect insulin at all (at least for this n=1). After a Coke Zero, Diet Coke, or Ghost Energy, my blood sugar remains unaffected for hours (if no other calories are introduced).

        Corn, however, in any form, fucks my shit up, blood glucose-wise. Way more than any other starch. No idea why.

        • frozen@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
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          18 hours ago

          As a T1 diabetic, artificial sweeteners don’t affect my blood sugar either. Caffeine does, though, unfortunately.

        • BananaIsABerry@lemmy.zip
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          24 hours ago

          Per this article, artificial sweeteners can create an insulin response in the body and can ultimately lead to some degree of insulin resistance. Though, they do state that more studies need to be performed.

          https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7014832/

        • underscores@lemmy.zip
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          1 day ago

          Are you eating sugar free corn ?

          • Photuris@lemmy.ml
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            1 day ago

            Huh? No, corn definitely has sugar in it.

            What I mean is, a portion of corn or corn products causes a WAY HIGHER glucose spike with me, than does an equivalently sized portion (by weight or volume) of white rice, beans, milk, or even chocolate cake cake. I don’t know why.

            • despoticruin@lemmy.zip
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              2 hours ago

              Corn sugar is made up of a pretty large amount of glucose, so eating corn is like eating one of the shock tabs. Which is also a good way to confirm that it’s glucose; rice, beans, and chocolate cake all contain pretty small amounts of just glucose, the other sugars need time to break down.

            • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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              1 day ago

              I believe they were making a joke about sugar free corn

              • Photuris@lemmy.ml
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                1 day ago

                Oh I’m an idiot. Good night!

                • Kraven_the_Hunter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  1 day ago

                  Maybe ease off the sugared lead a bit…

                • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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                  23 hours ago

                  Lmao. We all do it eventually!

  • roofuskit@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Yeah, well we pumped it straight into the air for everyone to breathe in. We painted schools and nurseries with it as well.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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      Ah, the good old days. Before those evil woke leftists ruined everything!

    • kiwifoxtrot@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      We still pump it into the air via small aircraft!

      • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Well, thankfully we made NASCAR stop using leaded fuel way back in [checks notes] fucking 2007?! Holeee shiiit.

      • TXL@sopuli.xyz
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        2 hours ago

        Yeah, the good old days are still here. They’re just not evenly distributed.

  • OCATMBBL@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    With the US asbestos comeback, are we getting Sweet Lead now too?

    • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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      1 day ago

      The what now?

      • Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip
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        3 hours ago

        Donny dipshit loosened asbestos restrictions in his first term. Guess which adversarial country is the largest producer of asbestos?

        • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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          3 hours ago

          Fuuuuuuck.

    • ivanafterall ☑️@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      Isn’t that those little rolls of crunchy, colorful candies? SweetTards? (Sorry.)

    • SereneSadie@lemmy.myserv.one
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      Its been in use for a long while over there.

  • HootinNHollerin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    Lead in wine as a sweetener is believed to be why Beethoven was deaf

  • MNByChoice@midwest.social
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    2 days ago

    They had a lot of names for it.

    “salt of Saturn”

    And a lot if uses.

    How much would cause brain damage, and how much brain damage did the average Roman have?

    • bizarroland@lemmy.world
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      One thing that’s overlooked about the Romans and lead exposure is that they did have organic forms of oral chelation available, which helped mitigate the effects. The most commonly quoted version of which is eating garlic, but many foods and nutrients can either decrease the amount of lead you absorb from the other foods that you eat, or increase the amount of lead that you excrete, which decreases their effects on your body and brain.

      Of course, these foods by themselves are not going to completely remove all of the lead in your blood, but it would have reduced the amount, so it’s not like they were completely raw-dogging lead in their wine.

      https://lead.org.au/fs/Foods_for_Lead_Detox_A-Z_20150214.pdf

      • acockworkorange@mander.xyz
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        Man, as if I needed any more reasons to eat even more garlic.

    • some_designer_dude@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      How much brain damage would a brain damaged Roman have if a brain damaged Roman could have brain damage?

      • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 day ago

        dollar fifty

        • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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          It was about that time I realised this wasn’t no Roman legionnaire, it was the goddamn Lernaean Hydra.

      • ThePiedPooper@discuss.online
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        Not as much brain damage as any MAGAt.

  • bizarroland@lemmy.world
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    • GraniteM@lemmy.world
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  • Parafaragaramus@infosec.pub
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    Hmm Wall candy.

  • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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    1 day ago

    Didn’t they also had lead pipes and lead cutely and coups?

    • oppy1984@lemdro.id
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      <>

      • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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        Don’t back-and-forth me

        • oppy1984@lemdro.id
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          1 day ago

          Not a fan of shoowd and JRY, eh.

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