The weird science and accidental discoveries behind your favorite sugar substitutes.
By 1907, saccharin was already widely used in sodas and canned goods, but most Americans had no idea it was in their food. As part of a series of sweeping food and drug reforms, Harvey Wiley, the head of the chemical division of the United States Department of Agriculture, recommended banning saccharin for possibly being toxic. The person who got in his way was President Theodore Roosevelt, who was on a weight-loss regimen that included a dose of saccharin prescribed by his doctor.
That was cyclamate, a chemical that’s 30 to 50 times sweeter than sugar. By 1963, cyclamate was America’s favorite artificial sweetener, costing a tenth of the price of sugar and with zero calories. By 1968, Americans were consuming more than 17 million pounds of the stuff each year. That all came to a halt when the sweetener was proven to cause bladder cancer in rats, resulting in an immediate ban by the FDA that’s still in effect.
Though health complaints and investigations linked to both aspartame and saccharin persisted throughout this period, consumption of diet sodas continued to climb in the ‘80s and ‘90s, eventually plateauing in the aughts.Sucralose, which was later marketed as Splenda, was created in 1976 when scientists found a way to molecularly bond sucrose molecules with chlorine. One researcher was asked to"test" the chlorinated compound, but misheard the request andit instead.
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