The Truth About Artificial Sweetners: Saccharin

Since their discovery, the safety of artificial sweeteners has been controversial. Artificial sweeteners provide the sweetness of sugar without the calories. As public health attention has turned to reversing the obesity epidemic in the United States, more individuals of all ages are choosing to use these products. These choices may be beneficial for those who cannot tolerate sugar in their diets (e.g., diabetics). However, scientists disagree about the relationships between sweeteners and lymphomas, leukemias, cancers of the bladder and brain, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, autism, and systemic lupus.

According to a 2007 survey from the Calorie Control Council, 86% of Americans use low-calorie, reduced-sugar, or sugar-free foods and beverages. To date, the FDA has approved five sugar substitutes for use in a variety of foods with another pending. In the United States, the three most common primary compounds used as sugar substitutes are saccharin (e.g., Sweet’N Low), aspartame (e.g., Equal and NutraSweet), and sucralose (e.g., Splenda). In many other countries, cyclamate and the herbal sweetener stevia are used extensively.

Saccharin, marketed as Sweet’N Low, the first artificial sweetener, was discovered serendipitously, as were most artificial sweeteners. In 1879, Constantine Fahlberg was researching the oxidation mechanisms of toluenesulfonamide (if someone knows what that means, please leave a comment :-) while working at Johns Hopkins University. During his research, a substance accidentally splashed on his finger; he later licked his finger and noticed the substance had a sweet taste. Since that time, a number of compounds have been discovered and used as food additives for their sweetener properties. Saccharin has been in use since 1900 and obtained FDA approval in 1970.

Saccharin has no calories and is 300 times sweeter than sugar and sweetens various products, including soft drinks, baked goods, jams, chewing gum, canned fruit, candy, dessert toppings, and salad dressings. Saccharin is also used in cosmetic products (e.g., toothpaste, mouthwash, and lip gloss), vitamins, and medications. Saccharin is not absorbed or metabolized. It is excreted, unchanged, via the kidneys. Because saccharin is not metabolized, the FDA considers this compound safe.

Exposure studies of saccharin provide both positive and negative results, including the potential to induce cancer in rats, dogs, and humans. For these studies, animals were exposed to the compound of interest, in this case saccharin, at all stages of development (i.e., in utero, during lactation, and in feed as an adult). These studies clearly demonstrated that when rats were exposed to diets containing 5% or 7.5% saccharin from the time of conception to death, an increased frequency of urinary bladder cancers was found, predominantly in males.

In a 2007 trial of 132 rats, they indicate virtually all rats preferred saccharin over intravenous cocaine.

The results of the above study resulted in the prohibition of saccharin in Canada and a proposed ban in the United States. This proposed U.S. ban was withdrawn in 1991, but foods containing saccharin were required to carry a warning label. This warning label was placed on all products containing saccharin to indicate “saccharin is a potential cancer causing agent.” Future research showing the safety of this product led to this decision being overturned in 2000.