Amidst the recent consternation regarding IQ, race and genetics raised by the work of former University of Utah professor Henry Harpending (The Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 4), it’s instructive to note the labeling for many diet sodas — “Phenylketonurics: Contains phenylalanine.”
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a heritable genetic disorder that, untreated, often results in severe intellectual disability, as Pearl S. Buck poignantly described for her daughter Carol, in “The Child Who Never Grew.” A mutation in a single gene decreases the ability to process phenylalanine, a common dietary amino acid. The resultant buildup of phenylalanine can be toxic and have devastating consequences.