Sweeteners (Toxins)

TL;DR

something.

Look up

Also found in a large number of medicines!

Sugar

Highly addictive but aside from the risk of overconsumption, relatively harmless.

Acesulfame K (Acesulfame Potassium)

E950

1967

Typically found in combination with aspartame.

Aspartame

Also known as NutraSweet and Equal

Aspartame was discovered by chance in 1965 by chemist James Schlatter while working for the American pharmaceutical company Searle.¹ ²

Aspartame's history and use is a revealing story of how industry lobbying, interests, interference and greed lead, through regulatory weakness, collusion and corruption, to unhealthy, unsafe and toxic ingredients being used and consumed on a global scale. Here's a brief overview and history of aspartame's approval by food standard and safety agencies across the world;

1973: Searle fund several laboratory tests to evaluate the toxicity of aspartame and submit the results to the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1973
1974: The FDA approves aspartame's use as a dry, free flowing sugar substitute and in cold breakfast cereals, chewing gums and dry bases for: i) beverages; ii) instant coffee and tea; iii) gelatins, puddings and fillings; and iv) dairy products and toppings, based on a preliminary, superficial reading of toxicity studies provided by Searle³
1974: Neuroscientist John Olney warns of the risk of brain lesions and tumors⁴
1975: Market approval of aspartame is suspended to allow for further investigation by FDA scientists
1977?: The FDA (through other organisations) identifies numerous instances of negligence and irregularities in the studies conducted on monkeys, rats and mice; unreported symptoms requiring antibiotics, tumor removal before dissection without mention in the reports and the inability to examine certain organs that had deteriorated⁶ ⁷
1980: An FDA initiated public board of inquiry (an external scientific panel) unanimously concluded against the reauthorization of aspartame, believing that it was potentially carcinogenic⁸
1981: FDA Commissioner, Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. rules that aspartame is safe and approves it's use (for the same uses detailed earlier)⁸
1981: Relying on the FDAs ruling, Canada follows suit and approves aspartame⁹
1983: The FDA approves aspartame for use in soft drinks⁸
1986: Relying on the FDAs ruling, Australia follows suit and approves aspartame¹⁰
1987: The FDA issues a final rule declaring that aspartame, when used at a level no higher than reasonably required to perform its intended technical function, is safe for use as an inactive ingredient in human drug products⁸
1994: Relying on the FDAs ruling, the European Union follows suit and approves aspartame¹¹
1996: The FDA approves aspartame for use in all food products

If you'd like to read a fantastic, wide ranging article from Yuka that goes into far more detail on this topic (of which the above is a summary): Aspartame: When Lobbying Dictates Science.

E951

A peptide

Contains roughly parts L-Phenylalanine (an amino acids) which should not be consumed by those with hereditary disease: phenylketonuria or PKU and L-asparatic acid (also an amino acid)

Can't be used in cooking (it looses it's sweetness)⁸

Cyclamate

E952

Another sweetener discovered by chance, in 1937, by graduate student Michael Sveda, while studying at the University of Illinois.

Cyclamate is 30–50 times sweeter than sugar and (like others) is often used with other artificial sweeteners, particularly saccharin.

Banned in 1969 in the USA (with some exceptions), then completely banned in 1970 and has remained so ever since.

Banned in the UK sometime in the late 1960s (I can't find a free source to confirm this) but approved after being re-evaluated by the European Union in 1996.

Saccharin

1879

Banned in 1977 - bladder cancer

saccharin

Sucralose

sucrose?