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Saccharin is a non-nutritive or artificial sweetener.

It’s made in a laboratory by oxidizing the chemicals o-toluene sulfonamide or phthalic anhydride. It looks like white, crystalline powder.

Saccharin is commonly used as a sugar substitute because it doesn’t contain calories or carbs. Humans can’t break down saccharin, so it leaves your body unchanged.

It’s around 300–400 times sweeter than regular sugar, so you only need a small amount to get a sweet taste.

However, it can have an unpleasant, bitter aftertaste. This is why saccharin is often mixed with other low or zero-calorie sweeteners.

For example, saccharin is sometimes combined with aspartame, another low-calorie sweetener commonly found in carbonated diet drinks.

Health authorities agree that saccharin is safe for human consumption.

These include the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

However, this wasn’t always the case, as in the 1970s, several studies in rats linked saccharin to the development of bladder cancer (1).

It was then classified as possibly cancerous to humans. Yet, further research discovered that the cancer development in rats was not relevant to humans.

Observational studies in humans showed no clear link between saccharin consumption and cancer risk (2, 3, 4).

Due to the lack of solid evidence linking saccharin to cancer development, its classification was changed to “not classifiable as cancerous to humans (5).”

Saccharin is found in a wide variety of diet foods and drinks. It’s also used as a table sweetener.

It’s sold under the brand names Sweet ‘N Low, Sweet Twin, and Necta Sweet.

Saccharin is available in either granule or liquid form, with one serving providing sweetness comparable to two teaspoons of sugar.

Another common source of saccharin is artificially sweetened drinks, but the FDA restricts this amount to no more than 12 mg per fluid ounce.

Due to the ban on saccharin in the 1970s, many diet drink manufacturers switched to aspartame as a sweetener and continue to use it today.

Saccharin is often used in baked goods, jams, jelly, chewing gum, canned fruit, candy, dessert toppings, and salad dressings.

The FDA has set the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of saccharin at 2.3 mg per pound (5 mg per kg) of body weight.

This means if you weigh 154 pounds (70 kgs), you can consume 350 mg per day.

To further put this into perspective, you could consume 3.7, 12-ounce cans of diet soda daily — nearly 10 servings of saccharin.

No studies have measured the total intake of saccharin in the U.S. population, but studies in European countries have found that it’s well within limits (6, 7, 8).

Replacing sugar with a low-calorie sweetener may benefit weight loss and protect against obesity (9).

That’s because it allows you to consume the foods and drinks you enjoy with fewer calories (9, 10).

Depending on the recipe, saccharin can replace 50–100% of the sugar in certain food products without significantly compromising the taste or texture.

Nevertheless, some studies suggest that consuming artificial sweeteners like saccharin can increase hunger, food intake, and weight gain (11, 12).

One observational study including 78,694 women found that those using artificial sweeteners gained about 2 pounds (0.9 kgs) more than non-users (13).

However, a high-quality study that analyzed all the evidence about artificial sweeteners and how they affect food intake and body weight determined that replacing sugar with zero- or low-calorie sweeteners does not cause weight gain (14).

Saccharin is often recommended as a sugar substitute for people with diabetes.

This is because it’s not metabolized by your body and does not affect blood sugar levels like refined sugar does.

Few studies have analyzed the effects of saccharin alone on blood sugar levels, but several studies have looked at the effects of other artificial sweeteners.

One study including 128 people with type 2 diabetes found that consuming the artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda) did not affect blood sugar levels (15).

The same result was observed in studies using other artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame (16, 17, 18).

What’s more, some short-term studies suggest that replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners may help blood sugar control. However, the effect is usually quite small (19).

Added sugar is a major cause of dental decay (21).

However, unlike sugar, artificial sweeteners like saccharin are not fermented into acid by the bacteria in your mouth (21).

Therefore, using a low-calorie sweetener in place of sugar can reduce your risk of cavities (22).

This is why it’s often used as a sugar alternative in medicines (23).

However, it’s important to be aware that foods and drinks containing artificial sweeteners can still contain other ingredients that cause cavities.

These include certain acids in carbonated drinks and naturally occurring sugars in fruit juices.

Most health authorities consider saccharin to be safe for human consumption.

That said, there is still some skepticism about their potentially negative effects on human health.

A recent study found that using saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame may disrupt the balance of bacteria in the gut (24).

Research in this area is relatively new and limited. Yet, there is strong evidence to suggest that changes in gut bacteria are associated with an increased risk of diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer (25).

In one 11-week study, mice fed a daily dose of aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin showed unusually high blood sugar levels. This indicates glucose intolerance, and therefore, a higher risk of metabolic disease (24, 26).

However, once the mice were treated with antibiotics that killed the gut bacteria, their blood glucose levels returned to normal.

Saccharin appears to be generally safe for consumption and an acceptable alternative to sugar.

It may even help reduce cavities and aid weight loss, though only slightly.