2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Cyclamate (E952) (Cyclamate) (Synonyms: sodium N-cyclohexylsulfamate) is a dietary supplement, a synthetic substitute for sugar. It mimics the taste effects of sugar, like other sweeteners, with the difference that it contains less energy than it, ultimately 0 kcal. The cyclamate belongs to the group of the so-called Highly effective sweeteners - substances that are tens or hundreds of times sweeter than ordinary sugar, which group includes aspartame (E951), acesulfame K (E950), sucralose (E955), saccharin (E954), neotam and others.
Cyclamate was synthesized in 1937 and was later widely used as a low-calorie sugar substitute, and was cited as a good alternative for diabetics. Cyclamate is 30-50 times sweeter than sucrose, depending on the concentration (the dependence is not linear) and is usually a common component of the consistency of complex sugar substitutes in tablets.
There are two types of E952 - sodium cyclamate and calcium cyclamate + cyclamic acid. Sodium cyclamate is most commonly used. All of them, unlike saccharin, do not have its metallic taste. Their only taste advantage over saccharin is that cyclamate does not have the residual metallic taste that remains in the oral cavity after consuming saccharin.
As a rule, sweeteners are added to food to improve the taste. Sweetening consistencies other than sugar are added to food or beverages in order to keep the nutritional value of the food consumed, or in other words, to be lower in calories. The official version is that synthetic sweeteners such as cyclamate, saccharin, aspartame are good for diabetics, but this is becoming an increasingly controversial issue.
Now cyclamate with its 30 to 50 times sweeter than sucrose, it is the weakest of the artificial sweeteners used. Studies have shown that it can cause cancer. In the 50s of the last century, diet drinks massively included a mixture of saccharin and cyclamate.
However, in 1969, a laboratory study of chronic toxicity in mice was performed, which showed that this mixture caused cancer in laboratory rats. Experts rushed to explain that rats are not like humans and that they are generally prone to such cancers and generally have a shorter life than humans.
Anyway, in 1970. cyclamate is banned for use in food, drink and medicine in the United States. Within the Old Continent, cyclamate is banned for use in the United Kingdom, but is allowed in many other European countries, including Bulgaria. Today, more than 55 countries still approve the use of cyclamate.
Safe daily dose of cyclamate
In Bulgaria, sweeteners that are approved for use in the preparation of food and beverages are regulated in Ordinance 8 on the requirements for the use of food additives. The ordinance specifies the permitted sweeteners and their maximum concentrations. Cyclamate is allowed in concentrations up to 2500 mg / kg, and saccharin - in concentrations 3000 mg / kg. It is considered that the safe dose for a person is not more than 0.8 g per day. The chemical formula of cyclamen is C6H13NO3S. Na
Where cyclamate is contained
Cyclamate, like most sweeteners, is widely used as a cheap raw material in the food industry. You can find it in almost every item that says "0 calories" on the label. As already mentioned, cyclamate is resistant to heat treatment, withstands high temperatures and is widely used in foods, the preparation of which requires such treatment. It is an integral part of most of the table-top sweeteners on the market.
Cyclamate can be found in a variety of cheap candies, waffles, soft drinks, shakes, energy and sports drinks, dairy products, marmalades and jams, chocolates, iced teas, cereals, all kinds of pastries and baked goods, puddings and jellies and even in quite a few cosmetic products.
Benefits of cyclamen
Health benefits of using cyclamate It is no coincidence that even the mecca of food engineering - the United States, has banned the use of sweeteners. For one reason or another, cyclamate is still used today in Bulgaria, being used in all kinds of products.
As a plus when using cyclamate the preservation of the strength of the teeth and the absence of the residual metallic taste that is present after the use of saccharin are also indicated. For some, the plus is the lack of calories and the fact that cyclamate dissolves easily in water and can withstand very high temperatures. This makes cyclamen suitable for culinary use, because the food can be sweetened in the process of its preparation.
Harm from cyclamate
For any normal person, it is logical to ask how a sweetener may be banned in some countries and allowed in others (mainly in Eastern Europe). Isn't the damage from cyclamate constant all over the world and there is no latent danger of terrible diseases over time. Because the action of sweeteners is not instantaneous, and they accumulate in our body until the disease appears.
The truth is that producers and food tycoons are not particularly interested in the personal health of each of us. The emphasis is on the fact that cyclamate is cheap and, on top of that, very suitable for use in all kinds of food products, because it can withstand high temperatures.
Once in the late 60's it became clear that cyclamate is fully capable of causing cancer in laboratory mice, subsequent studies have shown that the sweetener is extremely contraindicated for people suffering from kidney failure. The sweetener is obtained by extraction from cyclohexylamine and sulfamic acid and this substance is metabolized to a limited extent by bacteria in the intestine. Some of us have reduced absorption from the gut and the substance is released unchanged through the kidneys.
Cyclamate, like other synthetic sweeteners, is unsuitable for use during pregnancy and lactation.
Once in the stomach, under the action of bacteria living there, cyclamate is converted into cyclohexalamine. This is a substance that has not been studied and studied definitively, which is most likely the reason why this sugar substitute is banned in the United States and some EU countries.
