Overview of the artificial sweeteners in the US.
Artificial sweeteners are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- As of 2013, only five artificial sweeteners are approved on the USA market.
- Approximately 15% of the total United States population above the age of 2 years use artificial sweeteners, knowingly or not (From: NIH.gov).
- Artificial sweeteners are not allowed in the organic food (from: USDA.gov)
Status: Approved in US
From May 1980 to December 2010 was listed as a hazardous substances by the EPA. Listing was removed upon request from the Calorie Control Council, a group “representing the low-calorie and reduced-fat food and beverage industry”.
Manufactured from 1901 by Monsanto (From: epa.gov)
Causes skin irritation (From: osha.gov)
Causes weight gain (From: NIH.gov)
Genotoxic potential confirmed using comet assay test (From: NIH.gov)
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) rating: AVOID
Status: Approved in US
Marketed as: Splenda
Alters gut microflora and increases body weight gain (From: NIH.gov)
Limits the bioavailability (absorption) of orally administered drugs (From: NIH.gov)
Accumulates in the environment and affects behavior of the animals in the wild (from: NIH.gov)
Affects insulin production (from NIH.gov)
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) rating: Caution
Status: Approved in US
Marketed as: Equal, NutraSweet
Compared with sugar, induces greater weight gain at similar total caloric intake levels (From: NIH.gov)
Severe adverse reactions in people with mood disorders (From: NIH.gov)
It is not strictly non-caloric (4 Kcal/g) and forbidden in people with phenylketonuria (From: NIH.gov)
Formaldehyde is produced in the body as aspartame is being digested (from NIH.gov)
At the body temperature (above 86F / 30C), the wood alcohol in aspartame coverts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. The methanol toxicity mimics multiple sclerosis; thus people may be misdiagnosed with having multiple sclerosis. (From: NIH.gov)
Genotoxic potential confirmed using comet assay test (From: NIH.gov)
Causes or amplifies headaches in some people (From: NIH.gov)
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) rating: AVOID
Status: FDA banned the use of cyclamate in US in 1969. (From: cancer.gov)
somehow it is used by Coca-Cola (From: SEC.gov section 11)
Acesulfame potassium (aka Acesulfame-K)
Status: Approved in US
Marketed as: Sunett and Sweet One
Genotoxic potential confirmed using comet assay test (From: NIH.gov)
Environmental Contaminant (From: Arizona dept of environmental quality )
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) rating: AVOID
Status: Approved in US
Marketed as: NutraSweet
Invented and named by Monsanto (From: gpo.gov)
relatively recent approved noncaloric food product (from: NIH.gov)
Neotame is the most potent sweetener on the market, at 7,000 times the sweetness of sucrose (sugar). (From: NIH.gov)
Neotame is chemically related to aspartame, but it is chemically more stable, enabling this sweetener to be used in baked foods (From: NIH.gov)
No independent studies have been published on Neotame. Only 4 results come up in PubMed search for Neotame toxicity, of which 2 studies are done by the Nutrasweet themselves, and the other two are not studies.
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) rating: SAFE
