Saccharin, saccharin sodium salt, saccharin potassium salt, saccharin calcium salt (Saccharin, saccharin sodium salt, saccharin potassium salt, saccharin calcium salt, E954) — colorless crystals of sweet taste, slightly soluble in water. Saleable “saccharin” is a crystallohydrate of sodium salt, which is 300-500 times sweeter than sugar. Saccharin is not absorbed by the body (excreted in the urine).
Saccharin is poorly soluble in water (1: 250) and alcohol (1:40). The melting point of the crystals is 228-229 °C.
Saccharin is used instead of sugar in diabetes, as well as as a substitute for sugar. Like other sweeteners, saccharin has no nutritional properties and is a typical xenobiotic. The first experiments showed that saccharin is well tolerated by diabetics. Currently, the food use of saccharin is greatly reduced, although it is produced sweeteners based on saccharin (Sucrazide), and in drinks and some other products use mixtures of sweeteners, since being used by itself gives a not very pleasant metallic taste.
In the 1960s, there were reports that saccharin was allegedly a carcinogen. Studies conducted in 1977 showed an increase in the incidence of bladder cancer among laboratory rats fed large doses of saccharin. In the same year, the US FDA proposed to ban the use of saccharin in the food industry, as did Canada and the USSR. However, the US Congress, instead of banning it, imposed a requirement that all products containing saccharin contain a warning on the packaging about the possibility of cancer. However, these assumptions were later refuted — laboratory animals did get cancer, but only if they were fed saccharin in amounts comparable to their own weight. Opinions were also voiced that the 1977 studies were conducted without a well-developed methodology and without regard to the physiology of the human body.
In 1991, the FDA withdrew its proposal to ban saccharin, and in 2000, Congress repealed the law on the indication of possible harm to health on packaging. Saccharin is now approved by the Joint Expert Commission on Food Additives (JECFA) The World Health Organization and the Scientific Committee on Food Products of the European Union, it is allowed in more than 90 countries (including our country). JECFA recommended daily dose of 5 mg per 1 kg of human weight. It is considered that if this dose is observed, the product does not pose a health hazard.