Are Artificial Alternatives a Safe Alternative to Sugar?
Too much sugar will make you fat but what about too much artificial sweetener: can it kill you or help you? Artificial sweeteners have a long history. The first was discovered in 1897 by a Johns Hopkins University scientist working on coal-tar derivatives. It was not used much because it left a better taste. When cyclamate came on the market in 1951 it was touted as the answer to better teeth and weight loss because it could replace sugar. In the late 1960s, studies were made linking cyclamate to cancer on injected chicken embryos and injected rats getting malignant tumors. The FDA has a ban on any food additive shown to cause cancer in humans or animals so cyclamate was removed from all food products. Saccharin was required to carry a warning label. In 2000 saccharin was removed from the list of suspected carcinogens. Back in 1981 the synthetic compound aspartame was approved for use and it became the leading additive in diet colas. Then in 1995 misinformation that linked aspartame to
