Hi, As we head into the Thanksgiving weekend here in the US, we thought we'd keep this issue a bit lighter and focus on whether or not these three popular stories are urban legends or actually true:
- Does eating turkey make you sleepy?
- Was aspartame (the artificial sweetener) originally created to be an ant poison?
- Did numbers recommended by a fortune cookie really lead to a lottery win?
First, though, we recommend you check out the most popular articles from our other sites during the past week (we're going to start including some holiday articles during the holiday season):
Experiment Reveals Some Surprising Truths about Identity Theft: A series of new experiments on identity theft reveal some surprising results.
Shopping Secrets of Savvy Consumers: Check out these four money-saving tips used by savvy consumers -- and you'll find some easy ways to save.
The Importance of a Free Credit Report: Getting a free credit report each year is important, even if you've never used a credit card.
Holiday Articles:
Top-Secret Turkey Cooking Tips For Thanksgiving: Discover some unusual turkey cooking tips, as well as more traditional ideas.
The History of Santa Claus's Wife: If you're curious about Santa Claus's wife, check out this webpage to find out about her history.
Chocolate Lovers Can Try This Tasty Christmas Craft: Chocolate dipped spoons are a tasty -- and fun -- Christmas craft.
On to today's urban legends...
Does eating turkey make you sleepy?
A popular urban legend asserts that eating makes you unusually drowsy. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, subscribers asked us if this was true or merely another urban legend. In other words, is there actually something in turkey that causes sleepiness?
Although the answer is clear, it is not as simple as you might think.
Turkey does contains tryptophan, which is an amino acid that is a natural sedative. However, in order to produce this effect, there must be no protein present and tryptophan must be taken on an empty stomach. Since turkey obviously has protein, this is an urban legend.
Further, the amount of tryptophan you consume (even during a huge Thanksgiving feast) is too small to make a significant difference. Plus, beef and soybeans contain more tryptophan than turkey.
So, why do people feel so tired after Thanksgiving dinner? There are quite a few potential causes, including overeating (especially lots of carbohydrates) and drinking alcohol.
You can find more urban legends related to Thanksgiving and turkey here.
Was aspartame originally created to be an ant poison?
Another popular story, unrelated to Thanksgiving, is that aspartame (marketed as NutraSweet (R)) was originally created to be an ant poison, but was turned into a sweetener when it was recognized that a lot more money could be made if it was sold as an artificial sweetener.
Is this true? No, it's false.
Aspartame was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s by G.D. Searle expressly as an artificial sweetener. Both saccharin and cyclamates already existed, but many consumers found that saccharin had a bitter aftertaste and cyclamates had been banned because of a potential link with bladder cancer.
The connection between aspartame and ant poison actually comes from a spoof article called "FDA Certifies Aspartame as Ant Poison," which you can find here.
The article ends by saying: "The story above is a satire or parody. It is entirely fictitious."
Finally, there is no evidence whatsoever that aspartame kills ants. :)
