Defining, regulating and using saccharin at the outset of the industrial food era (1888-1914).

This paper focuses on the in-depth debates on saccharin that took place around 1900. In numerous discussions among chemists and physicians the sweetener was defined and redefined in a complex way and with a clear lack of agreement among experts. Nevertheless, this fact did not hinder the search for an international agreement on the regulation of saccharin in the food market. This paper analyses these discussions by building on the new trends in material culture studies, and estimates the real impact of medical and chemical expertise on international agreements.

The sugar industry, political authorities, and scientific institutions in the regulation of saccharin: Valencia (1888-1939).

In the late-nineteenth century food production and trade were greatly transformed. Changes in the food chain gave rise to new problems connected with food safety and food quality, which caused new controls to be introduced throughout Europe. In this paper I will contribute to ongoing debates by focusing on the regulation of saccharin in an agrarian city in the south of Europe, Valencia. The laboratory-made sweetener was introduced into the food market at the turn of the century, becoming highly controversial shortly afterwards. Several local groups of players got involved in this dispute. The sugar industry was not only an important stakeholder in the passing of some specific laws that were to constrain the use of saccharin, but also the main driver of regulation, primarily in periods when saccharin could become a serious competitor and reduce the sector's profit. Furthermore, the combined work of the sugar industry and the municipal laboratories was essential for the implementation of regulations. It was in such municipal laboratories that scientists played a main role in regulation. My paper will address the commercial disputes linked to the use of saccharin and the limited role of science and scientists in its control.

Artificial sweetener as a historical window to culturally situated health.

This article employs the history of artificial sweetener consumption in the United States as a window onto the ways in which American women defined health as a physical and cultural construct in the mid-20th century. It uses, as an evidentiary basis, two consumer case studies: the initial adoption of saccharin and cyclamates in the 1950s, and the defense of saccharin in the wake of pending FDA restrictions in 1977. These instances suggest that individuals have historically based their assessment of healthy food products on both their understanding of the products' physical impact and their set of held values, attitudes, and beliefs particular to a historical moment. They also suggest that gender, class, and geographic location are formative influences on how those values, attitudes, and beliefs are constructed. The history of artificial sweetener consumption points to the importance of considering health from a physical and cultural point of view in attempts to shape nutrition practice and policy in the United States.

Ira Remsen, saccharin, and the linear model.

While working in the chemistry laboratory at Johns Hopkins University, Constantin Fahlberg oxidized the 'ortho-sulfamide of benzoic acid' and, by chance, found the result to be incredibly sweet. Several years later, now working on his own, he termed this stuff saccharin, developed methods of making it in quantity, obtained patents on these methods, and went into production. As the industrial and scientific value of saccharin became apparent, Ira Remsen pointed out that the initial work had been done in his laboratory and at his suggestion. The ensuing argument, carried out in the courts of law and public opinion, illustrates the importance of the linear model to scientists who staked their identities on the model of disinterested research but who also craved credit for important practical results.

Saccharin as a sugar surrogate revisited.

Two papers by George Collier are reviewed and replications and extensions of these data are presented. The first paper by Collier and Bolles (1968) reported the total caloric intake of rats during sucrose versus water preference tests. In addition, a paired comparison was made with each of a wide range of sucrose solutions. The latter experiment resulted in a re-thinking of "preference" in that it showed that although rats drank more of a middle range concentration, they always consumed more of the higher concentrations in paired comparison tests. Many other behavioral studies have confirmed that the rat's attraction to the taste of sucrose is a direct function of sucrose concentration. The second paper by Collier and Novell (1967) reported that saccharin was similar to sucrose in that intake increased and then decreased as concentration increased, although in direct choice tests, higher concentrations were preferred to lower ones except in one case. Subsequent studies using a wider range of saccharin concentrations and a variety of test measures revealed, however, that saccharin preference and acceptance decreases substantially as concentration exceeds 0.4% (19.5 mM). Furthermore, saccharin versus sucrose choice tests indicate that optimal saccharin solutions (0.2-0.4%) are "isopreferred" to only dilute sucrose solutions (2-4%). Thus, at best, saccharin is only a weak surrogate for sugar.

[Comparative studies on saccharated preparations in traditional medicine].

We studied the descriptions of saccharated preparations found in traditional medical books and reported the following points. 1. Among the preparations described in medical books in Uigurian traditional medicine, the most numerous are saccharated preparations. These are often used to ripen and detoxicate malignant body fluids. 2. The contents of ancient writings found in Turfan in Uiguru relate not only to Greek medicine but also to Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicine. The application of saccharated preparations described in these writings is similar to that mentioned above. 3. The most important book of Tibetan medicines, "Sibu Yidian (The Four Medical Tantras)" describes saccharated preparations as making viscous body fluids ripe and improving their passage. The same book also regards them as mitigative. 4. "Caraka samnita" and "Sushruta samhita" show that honey and sugar are used separately in most cases of Ayurvedic medicine and that they expel malignant body fluids. 5. According to books of Greek medicine, honey is often added to extracts of herbal medicine at the time of taking it, and is used to ripen, detoxicate, and expel malignant body fluids. 6. The origin of saccharated preparations seems to be related to similary humoral theories in Greek, Arab, Indian, and Tibetan medicine.

Saccharin: a toxicological and historical perspective.

Saccharin, first synthesized in 1879, eventually became popular as an inexpensive substitute for sugar, particularly as a non-caloric sweetner. The dispute concerning the safety of saccharin for human consumption is almost as old as saccharin itself. In this article, the history concerning the uses of saccharin and the accompanying controversy are reviewed. In addition, the spectrum of toxicological and epidemiological studies to which saccharin has been subjected are also examined. While the toxicological data indicate that saccharin is probably the agent solely responsible for the bladder tumors observed in second generation male rats, the epidemiological studies provide, at best, an equivocal relationship between the consumption of saccharin and bladder cancer. A benefit-risk evaluation for saccharin showed few, if any documentable benefits from the use of saccharin and much genuine uncertainty concerning the potential risks for ingestion by man. This element of genuine uncertainty as to the extent of human risk posed to man is the crux of saccharin's past and its foreseeable future.

Two-generation saccharin bioassays.

The controversy regarding the safety of saccharin for human consumption started shortly after its discovery over 100 years ago and has yet to subside appreciably. The consumption of saccharin, particularly in North America, began to escalate when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration set new standards of identity which allowed foods containing artificial sweeteners to be promoted as "nonnutritive" or "noncaloric" sweeteners for use by the general public. In 1969, when cyclamates were banned, at least 10 single-generation feeding studies were undertaken with saccharin to more accurately assess the potential toxicological consequences resulting from the anticipated increase in its consumption. None of these studies resulted in any overt regulatory action. Subsequently, the introduction of the two-generation chronic toxicity/carcinogenicity bioassay added a new tool to the toxicologist's arsenal. Three two-generation studies using saccharin have since been conducted. The results from these studies clearly show that when rats were exposed to diets containing 5 or 7.5% sodium saccharin from the time of conception to death, an increased frequency of urinary bladder cancers was found, predominantly in the males. While some study results suggested that impurities in commercial saccharin or the presence of urinary tract calculi may have been responsible for the observed bladder tumors, it now appears that these possibilities are highly unlikely. The mechanism by which saccharin elicited the bladder tumors using the two-generation experiment has not been ascertained.