Sodium cyclamate is harmful? Food supplement E-952

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

It's hard to imagine modern food without the right additives. Various sweeteners have gained particular popularity. For a long time, the most common of these was the chemical sodium cyclamate (another name is e952, an additive). To date, the facts that speak of its harm have already been reliably confirmed.

Properties of dangerous sweetener

Sodium cyclamate belongs to the group of cyclamic acids. Each of these compounds will appear as a white crystalline powder. It smells absolutely nothing, its main property is a pronounced sweet taste. According to its effect on taste buds, it can be 50 times sweeter than sugar. If you mix it with other sweeteners, then the sweetness of food can increase many times over. Exceeding the concentration of the additive is easy to track - aftertaste with a metallic taste will be clearly noticeable in the mouth.

This substance dissolves very quickly in water (and not so quickly in alcohol compounds). It is also characteristic that in fattysubstances E-952 will not dissolve.

Food additives E: varieties and classifications

On each product label in the store there is a continuous series of letters and numbers that are incomprehensible to a simple layman. None of the buyers wants to understand this chemical nonsense: many products go into the basket without close examination. Moreover, there are about two thousand food additives used in the modern food industry. Each of them has its own code and designation. Those that were produced in European factories bear the letter E. Commonly used food additives E (the table below will reflect their classification) have approached the border of three hundred items.

Food supplements E, table 1

Use area	Name
As dyes	E-100-E-182
Preservative substances	E-200 and above
Antioxidants	E-300 and above
Consistency stabilization	E-400 and above
Emulsifiers	E-450 and above
Acidity regulators and leavening agents	E-500 and above
Substances to enhance taste and aroma	E-600
Index fallbacks	E-700-E-800
Bread and flour improvers	E-900 and above

Prohibited and allowed lists

EveryoneThe e-product is a priori considered technologically justified in use and tested for safety for use in human nutrition. For this reason, the buyer trusts the manufacturer without going into details of the harm or benefit of such an additive. But E supplements are just the tip of a huge iceberg. Their true impact on human he alth is still debated. Sodium cyclamate is also controversial.

Such disagreements related to the permission and use of such substances take place not only in our country, but also in European countries and the United States. In Russia, three lists have been compiled to date:

1. Allowed Supplements.

2. Prohibited Supplements.

3. Substances that are not expressly allowed, but not prohibited either.

Dangerous food additives

The food additives shown in the following table are clearly prohibited in our country.

Food additives E banned in Russia, table 2

Use area	Name
Orange peel processing	E-121 (dye)
Synthetic dye	E-123
Preservative	E-240 (formaldehyde). Highly toxic substance for storage of tissue samples
Flour improvement additives	E-924a and E-924b

The current state of the food industry does not allow us to completely dispense with food additives. Another thing is that their use is oftenturns out to be unjustifiably exaggerated. Such chemical additives in food can increase the risk of very serious diseases, but this will not be clear until decades after their use. But it is impossible to completely deny the benefits of eating such food: with the help of additives, many of the products are enriched with vitamins and trace elements that are beneficial to humans. What kind of danger or harm is E952 (additive)?

History of using sodium cyclamate

The chemical's original use was in pharmacology: Abbott Laboratories wanted to use this sweet discovery to mask the bitterness of certain antibiotics. But closer to 1958, sodium cyclamate was recognized as safe for human consumption. And in the mid-sixties, it was already proven that cyclamate is a carcinogenic catalyst (although not a clear cause of cancer). That is why the debate about the harm or benefit of this chemical is still ongoing.

But, despite such claims, the additive (sodium cyclamate) is allowed as a sweetener, the harm and benefits of which are being studied to this day, in more than 50 countries around the world. For example, it is allowed in Ukraine. And in Russia, this drug was, on the contrary, excluded from the list of approved food additives in 2010.

E-952. Is the supplement harmful or beneficial?

What does this sweetener carry? Harm or benefit hidden in its formula? The popular sweetener was previously sold in the formtablets given to diabetic patients as an alternative to sugar.

For food preparation, it is typical to use a mixture that will consist of ten parts of the additive and one part of saccharin. Due to the stability of this sweetener when heated, it can be used in both confectionery and hot water-soluble drinks.

Cyclamate is widely used in the preparation of ice cream, desserts, low-calorie fruit or vegetable products, as well as in the preparation of low-alcohol drinks. It is found in canned fruits, jams, jellies, marmalades, sweets, and chewing gum.

The additive is also used in pharmacology: mixtures are made on its basis, used for the manufacture of vitamin-mineral complexes and cough remedies (including lozenges). It is also used in the cosmetic industry - sodium cyclamate is a component of lip glosses and lipsticks.

Conditionally Safe Additive

During use, E-952 is not fully absorbed by most people and animals - it will be excreted in the urine. A daily dose of 10 mg per 1 kg of total body weight is considered safe.

There are certain categories of people in whom this dietary supplement is processed into teratogenic metabolites. That is why sodium cyclamate can be harmful when eaten by pregnant women.

Despite the fact that the dietary supplement E-952 is recognized by the Worldhe alth care organization is conditionally safe, it is necessary to be careful about its use, while observing the indicated daily rate. If possible, it is necessary to abandon the products containing it, which will have a great effect on human he alth.