There is ongoing controversy over the supposed health risks of artificial sweeteners such as saccharin and aspartame. Some studies have shown that they cause brain tumors as well as lymphatic cancers in laboratory animals. Multiple scientific study has demonstrated health risks of saccharin to humans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined in 1981 that aspartame is safe to use in foods, but only after it was denied for many years and only when an industry friendly director was placed in power after Ronald Reagan's election. It has also ruled that all products containing aspartame must include a warning to phenylketonurics that the sweetener contains phenylalanine (as do many foods).
Cyclamate controversy
In the United States, the FDA banned the sale of cyclamate in 1970 after lab tests indicated that large amounts of cyclamates caused bladder cancer in rats (a disease which rats are particularly susceptible to, also caused by drinking sugar water). The findings of these studies have been challenged and some companies are petitioning to have cyclamates reapproved. Cyclamates are still used as sweeteners in many parts of the world. They are used with official approval in over 55 countries.
Saccharin controversy
There have been worries about the safety of saccharin since its introduction.
Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener and was originally synthesized in 1879 by Remsen and Fahlberg and 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 and the original process by which it was discovered. It is 300-500 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 mixing it with other sweeteners.
Fear about saccharin increased when a 1960 study showed that high levels of saccharin may cause bladder cancer in lab rats. In 1977, Canada banned saccharin due to results from animal research. The FDA in the United States considered banning saccharin in 1977, but after a moratorium was placed on the ban to study the safety of saccharin, the ban was withdrawn in 1991. Likewise, in 2000, the United States repealed a law requiring saccharin products to carry health warning labels. Most other countries also permit saccharin but restrict the levels of use, while other countries have outright banned it.
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. Its chemical name is N-L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine-1-menthal ester and its chemical formula is C14H18N2O5. Though it has no bitter aftertaste like saccharin, its drawback is that it might not taste exactly like sugar because it reacts with other food flavors. When eaten, aspartame is metabolized into its original amino acids and has a relatively low food energy.
Initial safety testing suggested that aspartame caused brain tumors in rats; as a result, the additive was held up in the United States for many years in the FDA's approval process. In 1980, the FDA convened a Public Board of Inquiry (PBOI) consisting of independent advisors charged with examining the purported relationship between aspartame and brain cancer. The PBOI's conclusions were unclear whether aspartame causes brain damage, and recommended against approving aspartame at that time, citing unanswered questions about cancer in laboratory rats. In 1981, FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes, newly appointed by President Ronald Reagan, approved aspartame as a food additive. He was closely associated with the artificial sweetner industry having several close friends, most notably Donald Rumsfeld, the current Secretary of Defense, and then the CEO of G.D. Searle. Hayes cited data from a single Japanese study that had not been available to the members of the PBOI, as his reason for approval.
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. However, more recent research has failed to find any link between aspartame and cancer or other health problems.
One of the many hypotheses about the causes of Gulf war syndrome is that soldiers, after drinking gallons of aspartame-containing soft drinks in the extreme heat, accumulated toxic doses of methanol, formaldehyde, diketopiperazine and formic acid from the breakdown of the sweetener into its component molecules. However, the symptoms do not greatly resemble those of classic methanol poisoning, and the body, in its normal metabolism, produces methanol in quantities comparable to or greater than would be ingested via aspartame, so this theory does not have wide support.
Sucralose controversy
Sucralose is a modified sugar compound that is about 600 times as sweet as sugar. It is produced from sucrose when three chlorine atoms replace three hydroxyl groups (OH). This modified molecule can be used in beverages, frozen desserts and gum. Unlike the others, it is stable in heat and can be used in baked and fried goods. Sucralose is minimally absorbed by the body and passes out unchanged.
The FDA approved sucralose in 1998.
The first significant rumblings were in 2000, when osteopathic physician Joseph Mercola wrote an article entitled "The Secret Dangers of Splenda (Sucralose), an Artificial Sweetener". Since then, many others have chimed in.
In December of 2004, five separate false advertising lawsuits were filed against chemical sweetener manufacturer Johnson & Johnson/McNeil for claims made about its artificial sweetener Splenda.
On January 10, 2005, the "Truth About Splenda" website was created by The Sugar Association, an organization representing sugar beet and sugar cane farmers in the United States, in an effort to educate the public on their views.