Saccharin is one of the most disputed sugar substitutes in the United States today. Since 1977, it has been regarded as potentially carcinogenic ("Saccharin", 1999). The sweetness of saccharin compared to sugarcane is utterly amazing. When measured up to sugarcane, saccharin is 550 times as sweet in its pure state. Also, it is estimated to have a sweetening power of 375 times that of sugar ("Saccharin", 2000)! This drug may be amazing, but some people say that it causes a dangerous disease, cancer.

In 1879, while developing new food preservatives a young Johns Hopkins chemistry research assistant accidentally discovered that one of the organic compounds he was testing was intensely sweet. He named it "saccharum", the Greek word for sugar. He further learned that it passed through the body unchanged and was thus a safe artificial sweetener for diabetics (Anderson, 1995). Similar sugar substitutes are used today.

Saccharin, which is also known as ortho-sulpho......

Join Now to view the rest of this term paper!
Members: Login to view this research paper.

Title: Saccharin
Approximate Word Count: 992
Approximate Pages: 4 (250 words per double-spaced page)

With the Term Papers Lab Membership Pass, you get instant access to every essay on this site, including this essay on Saccharin, for as long as you remain a member.

Other essays sites charge almost $100 for a single term paper. At Term Papers Lab, you can get instant access to over 100,000 research papers for as little as $29.95!