Health issues

A 2005 study by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio showed that increased weight gain and obesity was associated with increased use of diet soda in a population based study. The study did not establish whether increased weight leads to increased consumption of diet drinks or whether consumption of diet drinks could have an effect on weight gain.[7]
Animal studies have indicated that artificial sweeteners can cause body weight gain. A sweet taste induces an insulin response, which causes blood sugar to be stored in tissues (including fat), but because blood sugar does not increase with artificial sugars, there is hypoglycemia and increased food intake the next time there is a meal. After a while, rats given sweeteners have steadily increased calorie intake, increased body weight, and increased adiposity (fatness). Furthermore, the natural responses to eating sugary foods (eating less at the next meal and using some of the extra calories to warm the body after the sugary meal) are gradually lost.[8]

Cyclamate

In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the sale of cyclamate in 1970 after lab tests in rats involving a 10:1 mixture of cyclamate and saccharin indicated that large amounts of cyclamates causes bladder cancer, a disease to which rats are particularly susceptible. The findings of these studies have been challenged[by whom?] and some companies are petitioning to have cyclamates reapproved[citation needed]. Cyclamates are still used as sweeteners in many parts of the world, and are used with official approval in over 55 countries.[citation needed]
Saccharin

Aside from sugar of lead, saccharin was the first artificial sweetener and was originally synthesized in 1879 by Remsen and Fahlberg. Its sweet taste was discovered by accident. It had been created in an experiment with toluene derivatives. A process for the creation of saccharin from phthalic anhydride was developed in 1950, and, currently, saccharin is created by this process as well as the original process by which it was discovered. It is 300 to 500 times as sweet as sugar (sucrose) and is often used to improve the taste of toothpastes, dietary foods, and dietary beverages. The bitter aftertaste of saccharin is often minimized by blending it with other sweeteners.
Fear about saccharin increased when a 1960 study showed that high levels of saccharin may cause bladder cancer in laboratory rats. In 1977, Canada banned saccharin due to the animal research. In the United States, the FDA considered banning saccharin in 1977, but Congress stepped in and placed a moratorium on such a ban. The moratorium required a warning label and also mandated further study of saccharin safety.
Subsequently, it was discovered that saccharin causes cancer in male rats by a mechanism not found in humans. At high doses, saccharin causes a precipitate to form in rat urine. This precipitate damages the cells lining the bladder (urinary bladder urothelial cytotoxicity) and a tumor forms when the cells regenerate (regenerative hyperplasia). According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, "Saccharin and its salts was (sic) downgraded from Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic to humans, to Group 3, not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans, despite sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity to animals, because it is carcinogenic by a non-DNA-reactive mechanism that is not relevant to humans because of critical interspecies differences in urine composition."
In 2001, the United States repealed the warning label requirement, while the threat of an FDA ban had already been lifted in 1991. Most other countries also permit saccharin, but restrict the levels of use, while other countries have outright banned it.
Aspartame

Main article: Aspartame
See also: Aspartame controversy
Aspartame was discovered in 1965 by James M. Schlatter at the G.D. Searle company (later purchased by Monsanto). He was working on an anti-ulcer drug and spilled some aspartame on his hand by accident. When he licked his finger, he noticed that it had a sweet taste. It is an odorless, white crystalline powder that is derived from the two amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine. It is about 200 times as sweet as sugar and can be used as a tabletop sweetener or in frozen desserts, gelatins, beverages, and chewing gum. When cooked or stored at high temperatures, aspartame breaks down into its constituent amino acids. This makes aspartame undesirable as a baking sweetener. It is more stable in somewhat acidic conditions, such as in soft drinks. Though it does not have a bitter aftertaste like saccharin, it may not taste exactly like sugar. When eaten, aspartame is metabolized into its original amino acids. It has the same food energy as proteins, but because it is so intensely sweet, relatively little of it is needed to sweeten a food product, and is thus useful for reducing the number of calories in a product.
Since the FDA approved aspartame for consumption, some researchers have suggested that a rise in brain tumor rates in the United States may be at least partially related to the increasing availability and consumption of aspartame.[9] Some research, often supported by companies producing artificial sweeteners[citation needed], has failed to find any link between aspartame and cancer or other health problems.[10] A recent paper attempted to demonstrate a link between this substance and cancer, leading some to renew calls for the FDA to pull aspartame from the market.[11][12] This research has led the Center for Science in the Public Interest to classify aspartame as a substance to be avoided in its Chemical Cuisine Directory.[13] However, the EFSA's press release about the study,[14] published on 5 May 2006, concluded that the increased incidence of lymphomas/leukaemias reported in treated rats was unrelated to aspartame, the kidney tumors found at high doses of aspartame were not relevant to humans, and that based on all available scientific evidence to date, there was no reason to revise the previously established Acceptable Daily Intake levels for aspartame.[15]
Several European Union countries approved aspartame in the 1980s, with EU-wide approval in 1994. The European Commission Scientific Committee on Food reviewed subsequent safety studies and reaffirmed the approval in 2002. The European Food Safety Authority reported in 2006 that the previously established Adequate Daily Intake was appropriate, after reviewing yet another set of studies.[citation needed]
It has also been investigated and approved by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization.[citation needed]
Sucralose

Sucralose is a chlorinated sugar that is about 600 times as sweet as sugar. It is produced from sucrose when three chlorine atoms replace three hydroxyl groups. It is used in beverages, frozen desserts, chewing gum, baked goods, and other foods. Unlike other artificial sweeteners, it is stable when heated and can therefore be used in baked and fried goods. About 15% of sucralose is absorbed by the body and most of it passes out of the body unchanged.[16] The FDA approved sucralose in 1998.[17]
Most of the controversy surrounding Splenda, a sucralose sweetener, is focused not on safety, but on its marketing. It has been marketed with the slogan, "Splenda is made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar." Sucralose is a chlorinated sugar prepared from either sucrose or raffinose. With either base sugar, processing replaces three oxygen-hydrogen groups in the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms.[18]
The "Truth About Splenda" website was created in 2005 by The Sugar Association, an organization representing sugar beet and sugar cane farmers in the United States,[19] to provide its view of sucralose. In December 2004, five separate false-advertising claims were filed by the Sugar Association against Splenda manufacturers Merisant and McNeil Nutritionals for claims made about Splenda related to the slogan, "Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar". French courts ordered the slogan to no longer be used in France, while in the U.S. the case came to an undisclosed settlement during the trial.[18]
Safety concerns pertaining to sucralose revolve around the fact that it belongs to a class of chemicals called organochlorides, some types of which are toxic or carcinogenic; however, the presence of chlorine in an organic compound does not in any way ensure toxicity. The way sucralose is metabolized may suggest a reduced risk of toxicity. For example, sucralose is extremely insoluble in fat and thus does not accumulate in fat as do some other organochlorides; sucralose also does not break down and will dechlorinate only under conditions that are not found during regular digestion (i.e. high heat applied to the powder form of the molecule).[16]
Lead acetate

Lead acetate (sometimes called sugar of lead) is an artificial sugar substitute made from lead that is of historical interest because of its widespread use in the past, such as by ancient Romans. The use of lead acetate as a sweetener eventually produced lead poisoning in any individual ingesting it habitually. Lead acetate was abandoned as a food additive throughout most of the world after the high toxicity of lead compounds became apparent.
List of sugar substitutes

The three primary compounds used as sugar substitutes in the United States are saccharin (e.g., Sweet'N Low), aspartame (e.g., Equal, NutraSweet) and sucralose (e.g., Splenda, Altern). Maltitol and sorbitol are often used, frequently in toothpaste, mouth wash, and in foods such as "no sugar added" ice cream. Erythritol is gaining momentum as a replacement for these other sugar alcohols in foods as it is much less likely to produce gastrointestinal distress when consumed in large amounts. In many other countries xylitol, cyclamate and the herbal sweetener stevia are used extensively.
Natural sugar substitutes

Brazzein — protein, 800× sweetness of sucrose (by weight)
Curculin — protein, 550× sweetness (by weight)
Erythritol — 0.7× sweetness (by weight), 14× sweetness of sucrose (by food energy), 0.05× energy density of sucrose
Glycyrrhizin — 50× sweetness (by weight)
Glycerol — 0.6× sweetness (by weight), 0.55× sweetness (by food energy), 1.075× energy density, E422
Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates — 0.4–0.9× sweetness (by weight), 0.5×–1.2× sweetness (by food energy), 0.75× energy density
Inulin
Isomalt — 0.45–0.65× sweetness (by weight), 0.9–1.3× sweetness (by food energy), 0.5× energy density, E953
Lactitol — 0.4× sweetness (by weight), 0.8× sweetness (by food energy), 0.5× energy density, E966
Luo han guo - 300× sweetness (by weight)
Mabinlin — protein, 100× sweetness (by weight)
Maltitol — 0.9× sweetness (by weight), 1.7× sweetness (by food energy), 0.525× energy density, E965
Malto-oligosaccharide
Mannitol — 0.5× sweetness (by weight), 1.2× sweetness (by food energy), 0.4× energy density, E421
Miraculin — protein, does not taste sweet by itself, but modifies taste receptors to make sour things taste sweet temporarily
Monatin — naturally-occurring sweetener isolated from the plant Sclerochiton ilicifolius
Monellin — protein, 3,000× sweetness (by weight)
Pentadin — protein, 500× sweetness (by weight)
Sorbitol — 0.6× sweetness (by weight), 0.9× sweetness (by food energy), 0.65× energy density, E420
Stevia — 250× sweetness (by weight) - extracts known as rebiana, Truvia, PureVia; mainly containing rebaudioside A, a steviol glycoside
Tagatose — 0.92× sweetness (by weight), 2.4× sweetness (by food energy), 0.38× energy density
Thaumatin — protein, 2,000× sweetness (by weight), E957
Xylitol — 1.0× sweetness (by weight), 1.7× sweetness (by food energy), 0.6× energy density, E967
[edit] Artificial sugar substitutes
Note that because many of these have little or no food energy, comparison of sweetness based on energy content is not meaningful.
Acesulfame potassium — 200× sweetness (by weight), Nutrinova, E950, FDA Approved 1988
Alitame — 2,000× sweetness (by weight), Pfizer, Pending FDA Approval
Aspartame — 160–200× sweetness (by weight), NutraSweet, E951, FDA Approved 1981
Salt of aspartame-acesulfame — 350× sweetness (by weight), Twinsweet, E962
Cyclamate — 30× sweetness (by weight), Abbott, E952, FDA Banned 1969
Dulcin — 250× sweetness (by weight), FDA Banned 1950
Glucin — 300× sweetness (by weight)
Neohesperidin dihydrochalcone — 1,500× sweetness (by weight), E959
Neotame — 8,000× sweetness (by weight), NutraSweet, FDA Approved 2002
P-4000 — 4,000× sweetness (by weight), FDA Banned 1950
Saccharin — 300× sweetness (by weight), E954, FDA Approved 1958
Sucralose — 600× sweetness (by weight), Kaltame, Splenda, Tate & Lyle, E955, FDA Approved 1998