Sugar Substitutes

SUGAR SUBSTITUTES

Sugar by Any Other Name? People concerned about the health effects of sugar had two alternatives in the mid 1960s, saccharin and cyclamates. Saccharin, the older of the two, is intensely sweet but may leave a bitter after-taste. Cyclamates, the other substitute, are also intensely sweet—thirty times as sweet as sugar and they leave no aftertaste. The positive qualities cannot outweigh the negative, however, Cyclamates can kill.

Cyclamate Controversy

Dr. Jacqueline Verrett, a researcher at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), experimented with chicken embryos and cyclamates in 1966. She found that the chemical caused birth defects in 15 percent of the chicks exposed. She also showed that cyclamates caused chromosome breaks in rats which were fed high doses of the substance and cancer in other animals. In metabolizing the cyclamates many people's bodies formed cyclohexylamines, breakdown products known to cause bladder cancer in rats. Verrett reported her findings to FDA Commissioner Dr. Herbert Ley, Jr. Along with officials at Abbott Labs (which produced cyclamates), Ley proclaimed the product was safe. A public argument with full press coverage ensued.

A Review and a Ban

Over five million pounds of cyclamates were used each year in America in 1963, and twenty-one million pounds were expected to be used in 1969, most of it in soft drinks. Verrett accused Ley of protecting this $16-billion-a-year industry without regard for public safety. With pressure from the press Ley was forced to ask the National Academy of Sciences Research Council to review what was known about cyclamates. Researchers there supported Verrett's conclusions. U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Robert Finch banned cyclamates in 1969, ordering all products containing the material off grocers' shelves by 1 February.

Sources:

"Bitterness about Sweets," Time, 94 (17 October 1969): 79;

"Food Additives: Blessing or Bane?," Time, 94 (19 December 1969): 41-42;

"HEW Bans the Cyclamates," Time, 94 (24 October 1969): 89.