Artificial Sweetners

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Artificial Sweetners

Humans have always craved sweet foods. Nutritive sweeteners such as honey and sugar have been enjoyed since the beginning of time, and people were so active in the past that the caloric content of these products was a necessary addition to their diets. With the 20th Century came an era of sedentary lifestyles and convenience foods in the United States and throughout the civilized world, causing increased incidences of obesity and various chronic diseases. These changes in our world created new markets for dieting programs and calorie-free sugar substitutes. The FDA has approved certain nonnutritive sweeteners for use as food additives, such as saccharine, aspartame and sucralose. Each have faced controversy, but these are now the most widely used sweeteners available.

Saccharine, the worlds oldest alternative sweetener, was discovered in 1897 by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. Its use was very limited until World War II, when sugar rationing created a need for an inexpensive sugar substitute. Saccharine gained popularity in the 1960’s as ...

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