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Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

brunel.ac.uk

11–20 of 124 posts

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#11
post #7

Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener, discovered in 1879. It was popular in the early 20th century, and is available today as Sweet'n'Low or "the pink packet" (generics). The chemical has an advocacy group: https://saccharin.org/ - the latest news is that Canadians can now use saccharin too (2016). Walmart and Amazon have boxes of bulk sweet'n'low for baking/etc. ~4 weeks ago I reposted a submission about Asp…

All these artificial sweeteners taste terrible to me. A very "chemical" taste and especially smell to all of them, reminds me of insecticide. For carbonated beverages, I prefer plain carbonated water, though sometimes I will buy a flavored (but unsweetened) variety.

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#12
post #7

Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener, discovered in 1879. It was popular in the early 20th century, and is available today as Sweet'n'Low or "the pink packet" (generics). The chemical has an advocacy group: https://saccharin.org/ - the latest news is that Canadians can now use saccharin too (2016). Walmart and Amazon have boxes of bulk sweet'n'low for baking/etc. ~4 weeks ago I reposted a submission about Asp…

All these artificial sweeteners taste terrible to me. A very "chemical" taste and especially smell to all of them, reminds me of insecticide. For carbonated beverages, I prefer plain carbonated water, though sometimes I will buy a flavored (but unsweetened) variety.

I've settled on no sugar or under 3g of sugar for this reason. They all taste weird to me. Monk fruit, stevia, aspartame, saccharin, allulose, sucralose. All of them.

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#13
post #7

Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener, discovered in 1879. It was popular in the early 20th century, and is available today as Sweet'n'Low or "the pink packet" (generics). The chemical has an advocacy group: https://saccharin.org/ - the latest news is that Canadians can now use saccharin too (2016). Walmart and Amazon have boxes of bulk sweet'n'low for baking/etc. ~4 weeks ago I reposted a submission about Asp…

I'm only quibbling here, and I agree with you, but an amusing factoid is that the ancient Romans used lead acetate as an artificial sweetener. It was made by boiling wine in a lead pot.

When I lived in Texas, it was practically universal to open up a cup of iced tea, grab several packs of Sweet'n'Low, rip the tops off all at once, and pour them in.

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#14
post #7

Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener, discovered in 1879. It was popular in the early 20th century, and is available today as Sweet'n'Low or "the pink packet" (generics). The chemical has an advocacy group: https://saccharin.org/ - the latest news is that Canadians can now use saccharin too (2016). Walmart and Amazon have boxes of bulk sweet'n'low for baking/etc. ~4 weeks ago I reposted a submission about Asp…

One important thing to mention about the history of saccharin is that it was the subject of a big scare in the 70s and 80s because rat studies showed it caused cancer. Later research revealed that the link between saccharin and cancer was much more tenuous in humans than originally suggested, and the sweetener is generally considered safe today.

When I was a kid in the 70s, our pantry had a bottle of saccharine tablets that my folks would use to sweeten their coffee. They were tiny, not big tablets, more like round little pills. They had an uncanny resemblance to a popular breath mint product.

A common prank was to put some saccharine pills in one of those mint dispensers, walk up to a sibling and asked if they wanted one while putting a real mint in your mouth. They'd take one of the fake mints, put it in their mouth, and half a second later curse you as they ran to the sink to spit it out.

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One important thing to mention about the history of saccharin is that it was the subject of a big scare in the 70s and 80s because rat studies showed it caused cancer. Later research revealed that the link between saccharin and cancer was much more tenuous in humans than originally suggested, and the sweetener is generally considered safe today.

When I was a kid in the 70s, our pantry had a bottle of saccharine tablets that my folks would use to sweeten their coffee. They were tiny, not big tablets, more like round little pills. They had an uncanny resemblance to a popular breath mint product. A common prank was to put some saccharine pills in one of those mint dispensers, walk up to a sibling and asked if they wanted one while putting a real mint in your mo…

I still have a little bottle of those, sold under the brand "Aids".

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One important thing to mention about the history of saccharin is that it was the subject of a big scare in the 70s and 80s because rat studies showed it caused cancer. Later research revealed that the link between saccharin and cancer was much more tenuous in humans than originally suggested, and the sweetener is generally considered safe today.

When I was a kid in the 70s, our pantry had a bottle of saccharine tablets that my folks would use to sweeten their coffee. They were tiny, not big tablets, more like round little pills. They had an uncanny resemblance to a popular breath mint product. A common prank was to put some saccharine pills in one of those mint dispensers, walk up to a sibling and asked if they wanted one while putting a real mint in your mo…

[deleted]

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#17
post #7

Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener, discovered in 1879. It was popular in the early 20th century, and is available today as Sweet'n'Low or "the pink packet" (generics). The chemical has an advocacy group: https://saccharin.org/ - the latest news is that Canadians can now use saccharin too (2016). Walmart and Amazon have boxes of bulk sweet'n'low for baking/etc. ~4 weeks ago I reposted a submission about Asp…

Google Gemini is telling me:

"Saccharin is absorbed primarily in the stomach, with about 85% to 95% of ingested saccharin absorbed and eliminated in the urine."

If this is the case, then why hasn't the antibiotic effect been previously observed in vivo?

Is the concentration too low?

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#19
post #7

Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener, discovered in 1879. It was popular in the early 20th century, and is available today as Sweet'n'Low or "the pink packet" (generics). The chemical has an advocacy group: https://saccharin.org/ - the latest news is that Canadians can now use saccharin too (2016). Walmart and Amazon have boxes of bulk sweet'n'low for baking/etc. ~4 weeks ago I reposted a submission about Asp…

My problem with monk fruit extracts is that they tend to be full of erythritol (even listing them as the first ingredient [0]), which tends to wreck my stomach. I was in a super market once and not a single product on the shelf was pure monk fruit.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/RAW-Natural-Sweetener-Erythritol-Suga...

Re: Sweetener saccharin shows surprise power against antibiotic resistance

#20
These days, about the only liquid you can consume without controversy is water.

Some say coffee is good for you (in moderation), some say it's bad for you.

Some say certain alcoholic drinks are good for you (in moderation), some say no amount of alcohol is good.

Some say some artificial sweeteners have benefits, some say all of them are toxic.

Some think fruit juices are good for you, because fruit. Some (most) say they're bad for you.

Some say fruit smoothies are good for you, because the fiber content outweighs the downside of fructose/natural sugars. But some say all fruit sugar is bad for you.

The only thing that we seem to agree on, is that any sort of beverage containing sucrose is bad for you. But maybe I missed some thread where sucrose in moderation actually has health benefits.

I guess I'll stick to drinking water. But I'm sure there's a reason why that's bad for me.

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