Sweetener Basics

Low-Calorie Sweeteners

Low-calorie sweeteners are also sometimes called sugar substitutes or intense sweeteners because their sweetness is so potent -- ranging from 200 – 600 times the sweetness of sucrose. That means a little goes a long way. And this is why sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose and saccharin can taste sweet but contain virtually no calories.

Learn more about low-calorie sweeteners used in beverages...

Acesulfame K

Aspartame

Cyclamate

Saccharin

Sucralose

Do any International Health Organizations or National Governments have recommendations for consumers when it comes to the daily consumption of sugar substitutes?

Yes. The JECFA, which is the Joint Commission of Experts on Food Additives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization of Food and Agriculture (FAO), has established Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI) or Ingestas Diarias Admisibles (IDA – name used by regulatory entities and norms like the Argentina Food Code) for intensive sweeteners, like the ones that are described below:

These recommendations have been adopted by many countries in their regulatory frameworks, including Argentina⁽¹⁾, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Bolivia.

On the other hand, the EFSA (the European Food Safety Agency) has established the following ADIs:

These values are references for countries of the European Union, including Spain.

⁽¹⁾ The Argentina Food Code establishes an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for Saccharin of 0 – 2,5 mg/kg of corporal weight from acid.