excreted in urine and feces. It is not concentrated in
any body organs and has not been identified as a
cancer risk. Like acesulfame potassium, neotame has
a clean taste with no bitter aftertaste, combines well
with other sweeteners, and is stable when used in
cooking and baking. It is also used to enhance the
flavors of fruit and other ingredients in food. Neo-
tame is manufactured in the United States by the
NutraSweet Company of Mount Prospect, Illinois,
but does not have a commercial or brand name as of
early 2007.
Saccharin. Saccharin is the oldest nonnutritive sweet-
ener, having been discovered in 1879 by a chemist
working at Johns Hopkins University. It is about
200 to 700 times as sweet as sugar. It was used exten-
sively during World Wars I and II, when sugar was
rationed in the United States as well as in Europe. It is
still the least expensive high-intensity sweetener used
around the world—about 65 million pounds per year
in the late 1990s. Saccharin passes through the body
essentially unchanged. It was so widely used in the
United States that it was considered a GRAS sub-
stance when the Food Additives Amendment was
passed in 1958, but it lost that status when studies
performed on laboratory rats in the 1970s indicated
that it might cause bladder cancer. At that point
Congress mandated that all foods containing saccha-
rin must carry a warning label that they might be
hazardous to health. Later studies indicated that the
bladder tumors in rats are caused by a mechanism that
does not operate in humans, and that there is no
evidence that saccharin is unsafe for humans. In
2000 the NTP took saccharin off its list of carcinogens
and the saccharin-warning label was removed from
food. Details of the controversy over saccharin and
cancer can be found on the NCI website. Saccharin is
presently sold under the trade names of Sweet ’N
Low, Sweet Twin, and Necta Sweet.
Sucralose. Sucralose is unusual in that it is the only
nonnutritive sweetener made from sugar, but it is
about 600 times as sweet as table sugar. Sucralose is
manufactured from sugar by substituting three
chlorine atoms for three hydroxyl groups in the
sugar molecule. Only about 11% of sucralose is
absorbed during digestion; the remainder is excreted
unchanged. The FDA approved sucralose in 1998 as
a tabletop sweetener and in 1999 as a general-
purpose sweetener. The acceptable daily intake
(ADI) for sucralose is 5 mg per kilogram of body
weight per day. Like acesulfame potassium, sucra-
lose is highly heat-stable and works well in foods that
must be baked or cooked. Sucralose is sold under the
trade name Splenda for table use.Nonnutritive sweeteners not approved for use
in the United StatesAlitame. Alitame is a compound of aspartic acid,
D-alanine, and an amide; it is 2000 times sweeter
than sugar. In 1986 it was reviewed by the FDA,
which found the application to be deficient. As of
2007, alitame is approved for use only in Australia,
New Zealand, Mexico, Colombia, and China.
Cyclamate. Cyclamate, which is about 30 times
sweeter than sugar, was used as a nonnutritive sweet-
ener in the United States until 1969, when it was
shown to cause cancer in laboratory rats when com-
bined with saccharin. Although cyclamate by itself
was found by the National Academy of Sciences not
to be a carcinogen in 1985 and is approved for use in
over 50 countries, it has not been reinstated by the
FDA for use in the United States as of 2007.
Neohesperidine dihydrochalcone. Neohesperidine
dihydrochalcone is a compound that is about 1500
times sweeter than sugar and adds a slight licorice
flavor to foods and beverages. The FDA considers
neohesperidone GRAS as a flavoring but not as a
sweetener.
Stevia. Stevia is a sweetener derived from a shrub
native to South America. The FDA has not received
sufficient scientific evidence to indicate that stevia is
safe for use as a food additive.
Thaumatin. Thaumatin is an intensely sweet mixture
of proteins that also acts as a flavor enhancer. The
FDA has given thaumatin GRAS status as a flavor
adjunct but has not approved it as a sweetener as
of 2007.PrecautionsArtificial sweeteners are generally regarded as safe
when used appropriately. The official position of the
American Dietetic Association is that nutritive and
nonnutritive sweeteners are safe as long as one’s diet
follows the current federation recommendations for
nutrition.
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) maintains meas-
urements of acceptable daily intake (ADI) levels for
artificial sweeteners approved for use in the United
States. The ADI is a regulatory definition that is
often misunderstood. It is a very conservative estimate
of the amount of a sweetener that can be safely con-
sumed on a daily basis over the course of a person’s
lifetime. The ADI isnotintended to be used as a
specific point at which safe use ends and health risks
begin, as occasional use of an artificial sweetener over
the ADI is not of concern. To use aspartame as anArtificial sweeteners