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Ants Don’t Like Aspartame.

Or do they?

So we’re talking about ants at work today, and how they are attracted to sodas. Somebody mentions that they don’t like diet pop because they don’t like Nutrasweet.

My first thought: how can they tell the difference? So home I head ready for a night of internet searching. I found plenty of people who were pretty convinced that Aspartame is bad for you. Generally because it is believed to decompose into methanol under heat (Cecil Isn’t Sure) and/or because ants won’t touch the stuff.

I couldn’t find anything definitive, but this school (?) science project, To Which Sweetener are Harvester Ants Most Attracted?, suggests that ants don’t dislike aspartame as much as everybody assumes.

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Will

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2 responses to “Ants Don’t Like Aspartame.”

  1. Will Avatar
    Will

    By the way, some of the other science projects are worth looking at as well. After all, as Kristyn H so rightly asks: Who wouldn’t want their milk to stay fresher longer?

    Reply
  2. parhatsathid Avatar
    parhatsathid

    Hi:
    I used aspartame to speed up the killing of ants. The science project you mentioned used potatoes plus aspartame. Ants are attracted to potatoes, aspartame was not. However adding sugar 1% boric acid and 5% aspartame might act as a stomach and nerve poisons. Stomach poison from boric acid and nerve poison from aspartame. 5-10% aspartame should not repel ants. Some U.S. patents suggests adding a little caffeine and reducing boric acid to 0.5% might be more effective.

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