Now that saccharin’s back in good standing – having last week been lifted from the list of suspected carcinogens – those who prefer a sweet taste without the bitterness of calories have more to choose from.
But not all sugar substitutes are created equal. Or, for that matter, Equal – the white granular sweetener that’s a brand name for aspartame.
Government-approved in 1981, aspartame – also known as NutraSweet – ranks right behind sugar as the country’s most popular sweetener. It’s composed of two amino acids – aspartic acid and phenylalanine – and methyl ester, a substance found in fruits, tomato juice and other foods.
While aspartame has the same number of calories by weight as sugar (4 per gram), it’s 180 times sweeter, so a little goes a long way. The average 12-ounce can of Diet Coke contains 170 milligrams of aspartame.
Now considered safe, saccharin, which is used in Tab and was linked in the 1970s to bladder tumors in rats, is America’s oldest artificial sweetener. It was accidentally discovered in 1879 by a young chemistry research assistant who was developing new food preservatives. Derived from petroleum, it’s a synthetic white crystalline powder that, in its pure state, is 550 times as sweet as sugar cane – and a mere 375 times as sweet in its commercial form, like Sweet ‘N Low.
There’s also sucralose. Marketed as Splenda, it’s the only low-calorie sweetener that’s actually made from sugar – albeit in an altered form. Three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule are replaced with three chlorine atoms, leaving a substance that’s 600 times sweeter than sugar, at about 2 calories per teaspoon.
Introduced in 1981, sucralose is used to sweeten a variety of products, including canned fruit, puddings, baked goods and jellies. It’s also one of the sweeteners in Diet Rite Cola, which mixes it with the newest kid on the artificial-sweetener block: acesulfame potassium.
Acesulfame-K, as it’s commonly called, bowed in 1988 under the brand name Sunette. Sold mostly in packets as a non-caloric sweetener, it’s used in several dry beverage mixes and nondairy creamers.
But how safe are these sugar substitutes?
“They’ve been approved, thoroughly tested – and they’re safe,” says Keith Ayoob, a registered dietitian and spokesman with the American Dietary Association. “They can be a reasonable tool for people who are trying to manage their weight, while minimizing the feeling of deprivation.”
How do a few of the artificially sweetened colas stack up?
We took three diet colas – sweetened with either sucralose, aspartame or saccharin and/or a combination thereof – and subjected them to a blind taste-test by four staffers at The Post: Christina Tam, Marcy Soltis, Billy Heller and Robert George. Here are the results:
DIET RITE COLA
Sweeteners: sucralose (Splenda) and acesulfame potassium (Sunett)
Christina: Ooo. Really bad. Very fake. I feel like I’m drinking plastic.
Marcy: Tastes like a soda can. It has a taste that shouldn’t be duplicated.
Billy: Delayed sweetness. If you’re not a sweet fanatic, it’s a good thing.
Robert: A little bit of an aftertaste; not really sweet. There’s nothing really striking about it.
DIET COKE
Sweetener: aspartame (NutraSweet)
Christina: The taste cuts short – it stops before it reaches your throat.
Marcy: More tolerable than No. 1. There’s no aftertaste at all. Run-of-the-mill diet cola.
Billy: Less sweet than No. 1. Taste seems to disappear. Not bad.
Robert: Has a nice, smooth feel. There’s no aftertaste at all – it’s refreshingly smooth. I like this one.
TAB
Sweeteners: saccharin and aspartame
Christina: I like this one the best. It isn’t diet, is it?
Marcy: Seems like there’s an aftertaste without the taste.
Billy: The most chemical-tasting of all. Not too thick or sweet, but artificial.
Robert: No, no. A biting and acrid aftertaste. Awful.
PEPSI ONE
Sweeteners: aspartame and acesulfame potassium
(Note: Contains 1 calorie; the the rest have zero)
Christina: Not too sweet. It tastes like regular Pepsi. I don’t really like Pepsi.
Marcy: This tastes like Diet Pepsi. It’s the most refreshing, the best of the lot.
Billy: The most artificial-tasting of the bunch.
Robert: There’s a hint of an aftertaste, but it’s not bitter. I like it. For a diet drink, it’s good.