| Nublarsaurusrex
Join Date: May 2005 Location: Calgary//Alberta
Posts: 513
Recipes: 0 |  Artificial Sweetners 101
Just a basic summary of the major artificial sweetners out there. Quote: Aspartame
The FDA has approved 5 non-nutritive sweeteners: aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame K, sucralose and neotame.2,3 The most widely used non-nutritive sweetener is aspartame, scientifically known as 1-aspartyl 1-phenylalanine methyl ester.4 It was discovered by accident in 1965 by Mr. James Schlatter, a scientist who was working on new drugs to treat ulcers, when he licked his fingers to pick up a piece of paper and accidentally tasted the intense sweetness of the compound he had created.
When aspartame is digested it breaks down into the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid, plus methanol. Methanol, or wood alcohol, is a known poison. Methanol is also found in fruit juices, and our regulatory agencies have seized upon this fact to assure us that the methanol by-product of aspartame is not harmful. They fail to point out that the methanol content of a diet soft drink is 15 to 100 times higher than that of fruit juices.
Saccharin
Saccharin, the first artificial sweetener to be discovered, is chemically classified as an O-toluene sulfonamide derivative.25 It was originally synthesized from toluene, a colorless liquid hydrocarbon distilled from coal tar, which may account for saccharin’s bitter, metallic aftertaste. Toluene is also used in the manufacture of certain dyes, pharmaceutical drugs and trinitrotoluene, the blasting agent more commonly known as TNT.26 Saccharin is currently manufactured by a more cost-effective method, beginning with synthetically produced methyl anthranilate, a compound that also occurs naturally in grape and other fruit juices. Saccharin may be found in ingredient lists under three slightly variant forms—acid saccharin, sodium saccharin and calcium saccharin.27
Unlike aspartame, saccharin is not metabolized by the human body and is excreted rapidly through the urine.28 This is the holy grail of the artificial sweetener industry—compounds that taste sweet, are stable in prepackaged foods and beverages, and which are so foreign to the human diet that our digestive system cannot metabolize them to create any dietary calories.
Acesulfame-K
The third of our non-nutritive sweeteners is acesulfame-K, also referred to as acesulfame potassium (K is the chemical symbol for potassium), potassium acesulfame, ace-K or ACK. Any of these names are greatly preferable to the chemical name of the product—5,6-dimethyl-1,2,3-oxathiazine-4(3H)-one-2,2-dioxide. We’ll stick with acesulfame K for our purposes!
Compared to aspartame and saccharin, there is very little information available about acesulfame-K. It is 200 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar)51 and, as it is not metabolized by the body, it is excreted unchanged in the urine.52 It was discovered in 1967 by a German chemist, Karl Clauss, who was working with derivatives of acetoacetic acid.53 In what should now be a familiar theme, the sweetness of one particular derivative revealed itself one day when he licked his finger to pick up a piece of paper.
Splenda
According to the Splenda website, “sucralose, is made from sugar through a patented, multi-step process that selectively replaces three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms. The result is an exceptionally stable sweetener that tastes like sugar, but without sugar’s calories. After consumption, sucralose passes through the body without being broken down.”72 Sucralose is also said to be diabetic-safe, as it does not increase blood sugar levels. However, some researchers dispute these claims.
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06-01-2005, 12:59 AM
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