Saccharine (Sweet 'N Low)

Saccharine is the "original" artificial sweetener discovered in 1879 by a chemist named Constantine Fahlberg, and available shortly thereafter commercially as a nutritional sweetener. This product is 200 - 500 times sweeter than cane sugar, and thus very little is needed to properly sweeten foods. Also, unlike some other artificial sweeteners, saccharine is stable at high temperatures. Studies published in 1951 and 1977 suggested that saccharine is a carcinogen in rats. These findings prompted the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to attempt to ban this substance. Although it was never actually banned, the FDA issued a requirement that products containing saccharine must include a warning label informing consumers of this potential health risk. This requirement has since been appealed by the FDA due to recent research discounting saccharine's role as a carcinogen. Therefore saccharine has been removed from the FDA list of suspected carcinogens. Nevertheless, saccharine usage has declined since 1981 with the introduction of aspartame, as consumers generally prefer the taste of aspartame over saccharine.