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Jai Ganesh

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Registered: 2005-06-28

Posts: 48,564

Saccharin

Saccharin

Gist

Saccharin is a non-nutritive artificial sweetener for sweetening foods and drinks. Saccharin has been investigated for the treatment of Hypertension and Hyperglycemia.

Saccharin appears to be generally safe for consumption and an acceptable alternative to sugar. It may even help reduce cavities and aid weight loss, though only slightly. However, any associated benefits are not due to the sweetener itself, but rather to reducing or avoiding sugar.

Summary

Most health authorities agree that saccharin is safe for human consumption. And replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners like saccharin may have some weight loss benefits.

Saccharin is one of the oldest artificial sweeteners on the market. In fact, it has been used to sweeten foods and drinks for over 100 years.

However, it wasn’t until the ’60s and ’70s that it became popular as a sugar replacement.

Some say that replacing sugar with saccharin benefits weight loss, diabetes, and dental health.

Others are skeptical about the safety of all artificial sweeteners, including this one.

What is saccharin?

Saccharin is a non-nutritive or artificial sweetener.

It’s made in a laboratory by oxidizing the chemicals o-toluene sulfonamide or phthalic anhydride. It looks like white, crystalline powder.

Saccharin is commonly used as a sugar substitute because it doesn’t contain calories or carbs. Humans can’t break down saccharin, so it leaves your body unchanged.

It’s around 300–400 times sweeter than regular sugar, so you only need a small amount to get a sweet taste.

However, it can have an unpleasant, bitter aftertaste. This is why saccharin is often mixed with other low or zero-calorie sweeteners.

For example, saccharin is sometimes combined with aspartame, another low-calorie sweetener commonly found in carbonated diet drinks.

Food manufacturers often use saccharin because it’s fairly stable and has a long shelf life. It’s safe to consume even after years of storage.

In addition to carbonated diet drinks, saccharin is used to sweeten low-calorie candies, jams, jellies, and cookies. It’s also used in many medicines.

Saccharin can be used similarly to table sugar to sprinkle onto food, such as cereal or fruit, or used as a sugar substitute in coffee or when baking.

Saccharin is a zero-calorie artificial sweetener. It’s 300–400 times sweeter than sugar and commonly used to replace it.

Evidence suggests that it’s safe

Health authorities agree that saccharin is safe for human consumption.

These include the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

However, this wasn’t always the case, as in the 1970s, several studies in rats linked saccharin to the development of bladder cancer.

It was then classified as possibly cancerous to humans. Yet, further research discovered that the cancer development in rats was not relevant to humans.

Observational studies in humans showed no clear link between saccharin consumption and cancer risk.

Due to the lack of solid evidence linking saccharin to cancer development, its classification was changed to “not classifiable as cancerous to humans.”

However, many experts feel observational studies are not sufficient to rule out that there’s no risk and still recommend that people avoid saccharin.

Observational studies in humans have found no evidence that saccharin causes cancer or any harm to human health.

Details

Saccharin, also called saccharine, benzosulfimide, or E954, or used in saccharin sodium or saccharin calcium forms, is a non-nutritive artificial sweetener. Saccharin is a sultam that is about 500 times sweeter than sucrose, but has a bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. It is used to sweeten products, such as drinks, candies, baked goods, tobacco products, excipients, and for masking the bitter taste of some medicines. It appears as white crystals and is odorless.

Etymology

Saccharin derives its name from the word "saccharine", meaning "sugary". The word saccharine is used figuratively, often in a derogative sense, to describe something "unpleasantly over-polite" or "overly sweet". Both words are derived from the Greek word (sakkharon) meaning "gravel". Similarly, saccharose is an obsolete name for sucrose (table sugar).

Properties

Saccharin is heat-stable. It does not react chemically with other food ingredients; as such, it stores well. Blends of saccharin with other sweeteners are often used to compensate for each sweetener's weaknesses and faults. A 10:1 cyclamate–saccharin blend is common in countries where both these sweeteners are legal; in this blend, each sweetener masks the other's offtaste. Saccharin is often used with aspartame in diet carbonated soft drinks, so some sweetness remains should the fountain syrup be stored beyond aspartame's relatively short shelf life.

In its acid form, saccharin is not water-soluble. The form used as an artificial sweetener is usually its sodium salt. The calcium salt is also sometimes used, especially by people restricting their dietary sodium intake. Both salts are highly water-soluble: 0.67 g/ml in water at room temperature.

Safety and health effects

In the 1970s, studies performed on laboratory rats found an association between consumption of high doses of saccharin and the development of bladder cancer. However, further study determined that this effect was due to a mechanism that is not relevant to humans (deposition of crystals). Epidemiological studies have shown no evidence that saccharin is associated with bladder cancer in humans. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) originally classified saccharin in Group 2B ("possibly carcinogenic to humans") based on the rat studies, but downgraded it to Group 3 ("not classifiable as to the carcinogenicity to humans") upon review of the subsequent research.

Saccharin has no food energy and no nutritional value. It is safe to consume for individuals with diabetes or prediabetes.

People with sulfonamide allergies can experience allergic reactions to saccharin, although it has been suggested that this may be due to a general predisposition to allergic reactions rather than a specific cross-reaction between antimicrobial sulfonamides and non-antimicrobial ones (like saccharin). Saccharin in toothpaste can cause burning sensations, swelling, and rashes of the mouth and lips in sensitive individuals.

Additional Information

Saccharin is a high intensity, artificial sweetener that has been used for over one hundred years as a sugar substitute. Saccharin tastes over 500 times sweeter than sugar which means that it can be used in small amounts to reduce sugar consumption.

Saccharin has no calories and a Glycemic Index (GI) of zero. Saccharin is not absorbed or broken down by the body and has no effect on blood sugar levels. It is therefore considered as an important sugar substitute to help combat diabetes and obesity. Saccharin is also heat stable. Under conditions of increasing heat, saccharin remains stable at temperatures up to at least 250°C. Therefore, saccharin is commonly used in candies, cookies, some formulations of soft drinks as well as in mouth washes, toothpastes and as part of the tablet coating in medicines. We also produce the saccharin that is used to make table top sweeteners.

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