Acesulfame Potassium is an artificial sweetener used in food and beverages, approved by the FDA and European organizations. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar, has no caloric value, and is used in diet products. There are concerns about its potential carcinogenic effects and impact on hypoglycemia.
Acesulfame Potassium, also known as Acesulfame K, is an artificial sweetener. It was first discovered in 1967 by chemist Karl Clauss, who was then working for the company that would become Nutrinova. It is sold under a number of trade names, most notably Sweet One® and Sunett®. It has a wide variety of applications and is widely used in food and beverages in both the United States and Europe, and has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration and equivalent organizations in Europe.
Chemically speaking, acesulfame potassium is a potassium salt of 6-methyl-1,2,3-oxathiazine-4(3H)-one,2,2-dioxide, with the molecular formula C4H4KNO4S. It looks similar to sugar or other sugar substitutes, like a white crystalline powder. It has a melting point of 437 degrees Fahrenheit (225 degrees Celsius), making it a little more stable than other sugar substitutes, like aspartame. For this reason, acesulfame potassium is often used in situations where aspartame would not be appropriate, such as baking or products intended to sit on a shelf for extended periods of time.
When used in soft drinks, acesulfame potassium is often mixed with other sugar substitutes, especially aspartame and sucralose. The combination of these different artificial sweeteners helps mask the somewhat bitter aftertaste common to all of them, as well as create the sensation of even more sweetness. Other compounds can also be used to try and mask the bitterness, such as sodium ferulate, which helps make products that use the sweetener taste more like traditionally sweetened products.
Like other popular artificial sweeteners, acesulfame potassium is incredibly sweet compared to ordinary sugar. It is about 200 times sweeter than regular sucrose, making it as sweet as aspartame. That also means it’s about half as sweet as saccharin and one-quarter as sweet as sucralose. This intense sweetness means that small amounts can be used to bring a product to the desired level of sweetness, saving on cost and volume.
Also, like many other artificial sweeteners, acesulfame potassium has no caloric value, making it ideal for use in diet versions of popular drinks or foods. The body is not able to metabolize the substance at all, passing it through without transforming it, allowing it to impart taste without adding nutritional value or caloric value to the food or drink. It also has a number of other benefits, including the fact that it doesn’t add to tooth decay and has no effect on serum glucose, making it suitable for diabetics.
There are health concerns about acesulfame potassium that are largely the same as those affecting other artificial sweeteners. Fears that it may be carcinogenic continue to worry advocacy groups, although the USFDA and other organizations have repeatedly said there is no evidence that their use causes cancer. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said the FDA received a petition in 1988 not to approve acesulfame potassium because of studies that appeared to link its use to lung and breast cancers. There is also some concern that the use of acesulfame potassium could aggravate reactive hypoglycemia or hypoglycemia attacks.
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