Artificial Sweeteners and their Health Implications: A Review

Background: Sugar is an inevitable part of our diet. Since ages, sweeteners have been used to enhance the flavour and appearance of food products. Sweeteners may be natural or synthetically produced. Those that are synthetic, as a whole, are referred to as artificial sweeteners. This review aims at highlighting the characteristics and health implications of artificial sweeteners. Methodology: In this review, the physical and chemical characteristics of artificial sweeteners are highlighted. Also, the impact of artificial sweeteners on human health is discussed in detail. The data has been collected using standard search engines like PubMed, Google scholar and websites of publishing houses like Elsevier and springer. Results and Discussion: Today, due to high calorie content, natural sweeteners are getting replaced by artificial ones. The US Food and Drug Administration(USFDA) has approved utilization of five artificial sweeteners namely, saccharin, sucralose, aspartame, neotame and cyclamate. However, artificial sweeteners should be consumed carefully and in limited quantities. This is because the consumption of artificial sweeteners is controversial owing to their effects on health ranging from mild headache to dreadful cancer risks. Conclusion: Hence, long term study of these sweeteners for further safety evaluation on health risks is essential.