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Introduction:
Cyclamate: Michael Sveda, while a graduate student
at the University of Illinois, discovered cyclamate by smoking
a cigarette. While working on the synthesis of anti-pyretic (anti-fever)
drugs in the laboratory in 1937, he put his cigarette down on
the lab bench. When he put it back in his mouth, he discovered
the sweet taste of cyclamate (unsanitary lab technique).
Cyclamate was initially marketed as tablets that were recommended
for use as a tabletop sweetener for diabetics. In 1958, cyclamates
were classified as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe). A mixture
of cyclamate and saccharin, which had been found to have synergistic
sweetening properties and improved taste, was subsequently marketed
for use in special dietary foods. In the 1950's diet drinks were
introduced using a cyclamate/saccharin blend. The market grew
rapidly and soon accounted for about 30% of the soft drink sales.
In 1969, the result of a chronic toxicity study with a mixture
of cyclamate and saccharin was interpreted as implicating cyclamate
as a bladder carcinogen in rats. Cyclamate was removed from GRAS
status and eventually in 1970 banned in the United States from
use in foods, beverages and drugs, and is still currently banned.
However, many other countries did not act on this incomplete
data, and cyclamate continued to be used as a sweetener in those
countries. Today over 55 countries have approved the use of cyclamate.
Adapted from: Cyclamates
Cyclamate - Chime
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