science · 26 July 1974 · 50 years ago
In 1974, aspartame artificial sweetener was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Objections were raised about its safety, and the FDA issued a stay on 5 Dec 1975 after which followed several more years of tests, studies and scrutiny. Finally, it was approved on 22 Oct 1981 for permitted uses that included in candy, tablets, breakfast cereals, instant coffee and tea, gelatines, and chewing gum, among others. Years earlier, in Dec 1965, while working on an ulcer drug, James M. Schlatter had made the discovery that a mixture of two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalamine, had a sweet taste. By weight it was about 200 times sweeter than sugar, with very few calories. G.D. Seale marketed it as NutraSweet, a low-calorie artificial sweetener without the bitter aftertaste of saccharin.
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