Artificial Sweeteners

Aadil Malik Dr. Thelman Honors Chemistry October 1st, 2010

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Americans are addicted to sugar. Therefore, chemists searched (and still are searching) for a healthier alternative that pleases our addiction. They have most recently come up with the idea of artificial sweeteners. Artificial, as in not sugar, sweeteners, also called sugar substitutes, are used as a supplement of sucrose (table sugar). Replacing sucrose with artificial sweeteners in our foods and drinks does cause a massive reduction in the amount of calories consumed. However, with these benefits, there are just as many risks. They offer the same, or even more amount of sweetness to the consumer as table sugar does. Excessive consummation of table sugar can lead to dental cavities, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, osteoporosis, etc. which all make artificial sweeteners sound perfect. Thats where the cons of sugar substitutes come in to play. Sugar substitutes have been rumored to lead to diarrhea, bladder cancer, brain cancer, seizures, an enlarged liver, shrunken thymus glands, skin rashes, panic attacks, stomach pain, and many more side effects that a paper cant sum up. The idea of consuming fewer calories with the same sweet taste is still just a theory in some peoples minds. However, it can chemically be done. This does not mean it is healthier. The fact that you will be consuming fewer calories it healthy, but it is still risky, and that will be proven in this detailed essay. Evidently, these sugar substitutes arent a joke, and should be taken in moderation. So next time you are at Dunkin Donuts, and you ask for twenty Splendas instead of normal sugar dont think you are making a healthy choice. You could actually be taking one step forward to bladder cancer, stomach pain, seizures, brain cancer and other nightmares you dont want anything to do with.

Malik, 4 Sweetness is not an easy property to work with, and that is why it is so hard for chemists to find other molecules that are sweet but have no calories. It took many tries to find alternatives. At first, chemists didnt know which part of the molecule made it sweet. And then, if they did find the molecule, they had to find an alternative that had the same taste but no calories. The answer to the difficult question chemists had (what makes sugar sweet?) took a while to figure out. The answer is the Oxygen and Hydrogen combinations which stick out from the side of the molecules. The reason it took so long to figure out was because it didnt depend on the amount of these groups, but the arrangement. There are only specific ways to arrange these pairs in order for a sweet taste. Chemists used these groups to create sweeteners that are not sugar. The first attempt ever to find an alternative was over 2000 years ago, by the Greeks and Romans. They discovered that boiling grape juice produced syrup that was extremely sweet. However, they didnt know that it contained lead acetate trihydrate, Pb(CH3CO2)23H2O which is toxic. Some people at the time also tried to use beryllium, unaware that it was poisonous. Aside from sugar of lead, the first substitute, saccharin (fig.1), was prepared in 1879 at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, by Ira Remsen and Constantin Fahlberg. After testing it on diabetics, it seemed safe. However, many thought different. Sugar was considered pure and organic, Fig. 1therefore and many European countries didnt approve of the idea. President Roosevelt

Malik, 5 decided to end controversies by issuing a review board to examine saccharin. The board concluded that 0.3g was an ideal and healthy amount of consummation. Sodium cyclamate (fig. 2) is another artificial sweetener. In 1957, a research team in England reported a lab test that they did on mice, in which they exposed the mice to cyclamate. The mice developed bladder Fig. 2 cancer. The test was not impressive

at the time to the FDA, however, when done again with the same result the production of cyclamate as an artificial sweetener was banned. Similar tests were done with saccharin, and the results were the same. Saccharin too was banned in Canada in 1977. Later, these tests were deemed as unconvincing. More observers decided to test it on humans, and it was proven safe. Today, saccharin is used all over the world as a well-known sugar substitute. Another successful artificial sweetener is aspartame (C14H18N2O5). The aspartame Fig. 4 molecule consists of two amino acids which are nutritional, and caloric. This low-calorie sweetener, commercially known as Equal (fig. 4), is most commonly used at a small quantity. Some people, who have a genetic disorder called phenylketonuria (PNK), are at risk when consuming aspartame. A more recent sweetener is sucralose (C12H19Cl3O), which is found in

Fig. 5

Malik, 6 Splenda (fig. 5). Sucralose is considered as the safest and most modern artificial sweetener, disregarding its theoretical relationship with thymus glands. In essence, artificial sweeteners arent as unhealthy as the rumors make them seem. The chances of getting cancer or any other terminal disease from artificial sweeteners are extremely small to none. Saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose are in market today. Cyclamate was banned in the U.S. due to the fact that it was proven to be a co-carcinogen (a substance revving another cancerstarting substance). The question comes down to this: are artificial sweeteners good or bad? They are chemicals. When a person who is ignorant to the field of chemistry thinks about eating chemicals, he thinks it is unhealthy. Though, that only stereotypes artificial sweeteners. Everything we eat is a chemical. The problem is which chemical you are consuming. Artificial sweeteners are neither good nor bad. They arent good, because the reason you are using them is because you are either diabetic or obese; and they arent bad, because they have no calories. That is why there are so many controversies. Artificial sweeteners purpose is right in the core definition to act as an alternative for table sugar. If an obese person uses it excessively, he will suffer minor side effects. If an obese person doesnt use it at all, he will remain the same. The tests and experiments on lab rats that were done to approve the small amount of sugar substitutes in market today were only necessary to get rid of the fears created by society. Americans love sugar, and the only reason chemists found alternatives to sucrose was to satisfy addictions.

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Bibliography

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