far as taste goes they're not bad. used them a few years ago. i haven't rotted or turned into a robot yet. everything is made up of chemicals. that's what we call the atoms that get together. water is hydrogen and oxygen, two chemicals. can't escape them. it's whether the body can tell the man made chemicals from the natural ones and what it does in response. if it causes cells to mutate and become cancer, that's a negative response. if it passes through and makes no changes, that's a benign response. if it causes something good to happen, that's the response we want. if it helps those of us on restricted diets to feel less restricted and more normal ( like other people) i'd say that can be a pretty positive response.