Saccharin

The oldest artificial sweetener saccharin was discovered by accident by Ira Remsen and Constantin Fahlberg in 1879 at Johns Hopkins University. Saccharin is approximately 300 times sweet as sucrose and is heat stable. However it has a metallic or bitter after taste that is unpleasing for many individuals. Saccharin is often blended with other high intensity artificial sweeteners to mask the off taste and give sweetness similar to sugar. For example cyclamate is often combined with saccharine in the ratio of 10:1 to compensate for each sugar’s weakness and give a synergistic effect to the product.

The food addictive code or E number allotted to saccharine is E954. Saccharine is stable to acidic and alkaline medium and helps to increase the shelf life of a product as it does not react chemically with other food ingredients. Due to these properties saccharin forms the base for many low calorie sugar free products worldwide. It is widely used as a sugar substitute in baked goods, chewing gums, hard candies, soft candies, canned fruits, dessert toppings, table sweetener, salad dressings and even saccharin toothpaste. The most popular brand of saccharin available in supermarkets is Sweet’N Low.

Saccharine has effectively no food energy and passes the digestive system without being digested and absorbed. Thus saccharine is very important discovery for diabetics as it does not affect blood sugar or insulin levels. People with diabetes can have a wider choice of food to consume and can satisfy their sweet tooth with the help of saccharin based products. Saccharine is tooth-friendly and does not promote tooth decay or dental carries as it is not easily hydrolyzed by the bacteria in the oral cavity. The amount of saccharine required to sweeten a product is very low and thus can be considered calorie free as it does not provide any calories. It can be effectively used by people on low carbohydrate diet or weight loss diet.

Saccharine became popular during World War I due to the shortage of sugar in that period. This wide spread use of saccharin continued through out World War II. Saccharin has been studied for its safety since many years. Some studies suggested that saccharin can be carcinogenic when used in high amounts and can increase the rate of bladder cancer in rats. But it was later proved that these effects were due to very large amount of saccharin were given to test subject rats. These doses were more than hundred times higher than the normal recommended daily doses by humans. After this saccharine safety has been studied largely, but no study proved saccharin relation with any health risks including cancer.

Submitted on January 16, 2014