Cyclamate

Name:
Cyclamate
Detailed information:
Group name for synthetic nonnutritive sweetening agents derived from cyclohexylamine or cyclamic acid. The series includes sodium, potassium, and calcium cyclamates. As a result of a study made on laboratory animals in 1970, which indicated that these compounds cause genetic damage in chick embryos and cancer in rats at high dosage, their use in beverages and food products was banned in the U.S. More recent research has failed to confirm the carcinogenicity of these compounds in laboratory animals even at levels up to 240 times human intake. Notwithstanding these results, FDA has not yet withdrawn its ban on use of cyclamates as food additives or as table-top sweeteners, in view of the continuing uncertainty about their safety.See Sweetener, Nonnutritive.