saccharin

Ninety-four percent of the rats preferred the saccharin.

The safety of sugar replacements, including the decades-old science dispute over the use of saccharin in the diet drink Tab, has been heavily scrutinized.

Aspartame, for example, is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and costs more than saccharin, roughly the same as sucralose and less than stevia, a sweetener industry source said.

The frequency of cancer in nonsugar sweetener consumers was very low in general, though saccharin, an FDA-approved sweetener found in many food products, was associated with a bladder cancer.

Some examples of the sweeteners include aspartame, saccharin, sucralose and stevia.