Saccharin as an alternative sweetener

Saccharin was discovered as a sweetener in 1878 by Constantin Fahlberg. The researcher noticed that his dinner roll tasted strangely sweet and traced it back to a saccharin substance he had accidentally spilled on his hands while working in his university research lab. Saccharin is now available as acid saccharin, sodium saccharin, and calcium saccharin. It is 500 times sweeter than sucrose, contains no calories (kcal), and can be used in a variety of products, including baked or processed foods. Saccharin’s major drawback, at least for some people, is its bitter aftertaste, which can be masked only partially by blending it with other sweeteners.

The controversy over saccharin’s safety peaked when researches in a Canadian study reported an increased incidence of bladder cancer in rats fed with very high amounts of saccharin (5 to 7.5 percent of the diet), the human equivalent of drinking at least 800 diet sodas a day. Responding to that study, the FDA proposed a ban on saccharin in 1977. When letters of protest poured in to Congress, a congressional moratorium was placed on the FDA ban, along with the requirement that all saccharin-containing products carry a public health warning. That moratorium was extended several times before the FDA officially withdrew its proposed ban. The Office of Technology Assessment, a research arm of Congress that attempts to review scientific matters objectively, concluded that saccharin is a potential cause of cancer in humans, although it is among the weakest carcinogens ever detected. The FDA established an acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 2.5 mg per kilogram of body weight, equivalent to 147 mg for a 130-pound adult, or 205 mg for a 180-pound adult. A packet of Sweet-n-Low contains 30 mg of saccharin; a diet soft drink averages 125 mg.