Is Sodium Saccharin Bad for You?
Saccharin or sodium saccharin is a sugar substitute. However, it has its advantages and disadvantages, it is a synthetic sweetener. It has been marketed as a high franks sweet taste without calories but it has been associated with some side effects and is environmentally unfriendly. This article looks at the facts about sodium saccharin covering what it is, its uses, and its health implications if consumed. This will be helpful for how long to buy powdered sodium saccharin.
Sodium Saccharin Artificial Sweetener
Sodium saccharin is one of the oldest artificial sweeteners which has been used in food industry for several decades. It is reported that it is 300-500 times sweeter than sucrose and is not even metabolized in the body; the body excretes it through the kidneys. It is preferred in many applications because of its high sweetness level and affordable price it is used in beverages, bakery products and other products like toothpaste. This sweetener also offers an excellent value proposition of cost-effectively reducing sugar in foods; thus is a contender for the best sugar substitute.
Artificial sweeteners like sodium saccharin offer several benefits:
- Low-Calorie Alternative
Sodium saccharin is extremely potent as a sweetener, and has zero calories, making it suitable and the best sugar alternative for those that are watching their weight, or have diabetes. - Economic Efficiency
On the sweetness potency scale, sodium saccharin is 300-500 times sweeter than sugars, it is cheap for the food manufacturers. - Stability
It cannot affect, change, or be affected by heat processing or any food preparation process which makes sodium saccharin suitable for many uses.
What is Sodium Saccharin Made of?
Sodium saccharin is the sodium salt of o-benzoic sulfimide called also an elastase inhibitor. It is created from petrochemicals which include toluene, chlorosulfonic acid, as well as o-toluidine. When undertaking the production process some compounds which can have adverse effects on the health of people and the physical environment are used. These raw materials are well known for their dangers such as poisoning, respiratory trouble, or depletion of the environment. However, the toxicity of sodium saccharin has been a major concern because of its long shelf life during food processing, and its cost advantage.
Further reading： Where Does Saccharin Sodium Powder Come From?
Sodium Saccharin Side Effects​
The overconsumption of sodium saccharin is dangerous to human health. Sodium saccharin is an artificial sweetener that has been designated as GRAS, but when used in the production of foods one gets some worries. It is added to munchos, beverages, preserved fruits, and even children’s products such as jellies to cut on bill without putting it on the ingredients list. This puts the consumers at the risking of saccharin dangers due to the lack of transparency of the manufacturers.
Here are sodium saccharin side effects:
- Loss of Appetite
Some chemical substances interfere with or modify biosenzyme enzymes of intestinal digestion and absorption consisting of sodium saccharin. Such disruption may bring about the result of poor appetite and nutrient-poor diets. - Developmental Effects
In adolescents, the intake in large quantities can make the absorption and functionality of the necessary nutrients compromised thus affecting growth in one or the other. - Allergic Reactions
Symptoms of some intolerance to sodium saccharin include itching, rash, or in severe cases laryngeal edema. - Severe Health Issues
It was established by scientists that a high concentration of sodium saccharin reduces the platelet count and causes later prolonged bleeding and sometimes organ dysfunction.
Sodium Saccharin Safety Controversy
The safety of sodium saccharin has been an issue of concern for a long period. The compound does not take part in biotransformation in the body and it is cleared without having a positive ion on the kidney and without altering enzyme activities. However, its carcinogenic potential has remained a critical issue of debate for long.
Does Sodium Saccharin Cause Cancer?
Early work in the 1970s published reports claiming that sodium saccharin caused bladder cancer in rats leading to some restrictions in use in the United States. Subsequent research was unable to provide definitive evidence for this association in man. In 1993, JECFA reviewed the safety of BHA and reevaluated its findings and on the issue of carcinogenicity, JECFA could not find definitive evidence. While such arguments have been brought to bear in smothering such arguments, consumers’ perception of risk associated with saccharin still holds strong.
Sodium saccharine was by far used mostly because it was cheap and resembled most artificial sweeteners in that they had a bitter aftertaste and did not give the feeling of taking something sweet. The healthy sweeteners also seem to look for more like stevia, erythritol, or any other natural zero-calorie sweeteners than sugar.
What Artificial Sweetener is Good for Diabetics?
Sodium saccharin sweetener is mostly promoted as a product suitable for Diabetic individuals since it has no impact on blood sugar levels. But the healthiest and safest sweetener that can supplement sugar, especially for diabetic patients, could be stevia or monk fruit.
Environmental and Ethical Concerns
The production of sodium saccharin has dangerous chemicals and intermediates present which are hazardous to the environment. Organizations that apply those chemical compounds release gases and liquids into the atmosphere and water bodies like toluene and chlorosulfonic acid. Further, some of the practices in manufacturing can be said to be ethically incorrect all because of wrong manufacturing practices. Some producers tend to focus more on the profit to be gotten from this substance and put much of it into the food products but the customers are not well enough enlightened on the contents. It is against consumer rights and increases health hazards.
Applications of Sodium Saccharin
While sodium saccharin is primarily known to be used in serving as a sweetening agent in food and beverages and is possibly the best sweetener for health, its role is much broader than that. Its unique chemical properties make it valuable in various industrial sectors:
- Pharmaceuticals
Sodium saccharin is employed in masking the distasteful ‘bitter’ taste associated with some drugs, particularly in chewable tablets syrups and lozenges. It is highly sweet and has the advantage of isomeric stability hence its popularity in the formulation of pharmaceutical products. - Cosmetics and Personal Care
It is widely used in goods such as sodium saccharin in toothpaste and mouthwash to boost taste. Sodium saccharin makes products containing bitter active ingredients more palatable. - Electroplating Industry
In the metal finishing industries, sodium saccharin finds application as a brightener in nickel electroplating. The use of bright acid solution makes the finished plated items have better surface finish hence better looks and also it increases the life of the plated items. - Animal Feed
Owing to its low price and the ability to enhance the sweetness of feed, sodium saccharin may from time to time be supplemented to animal feed to promote feed consumption. - Specialty Chemicals
It is used as a chemical intermediate for the synthesis of other chemicals as well as as a reagent in a variety of laboratory operations because of its unique chemical stability.
These applications show that sodium saccharin is widely used outside the food industry, and enhances its relevance to industries all over the world.
Conclusion
Although excessive use of sodium saccharin artificial sweetener is harmful to the body, artificial sweetener saccharin sodium is used in food and drinks but it has also found its place in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and care products manufacturing. Mondstar specializes in food additives supply, please contact us for more information about sodium saccharin sweeteners.
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