SACCHARIN
Artificial Sweetener
PREGNANCY RECOMMENDATION: Limited Human Data—Animal Data Suggest Low Risk
BREASTFEEDING RECOMMENDATION: Compatible
PREGNANCY SUMMARY
There is limited information available on the risk for humans following in utero exposure to saccharin. The Calorie Control Council believes that the agent can be safely used by pregnant women (1). However, others recommended avoidance of saccharin or, at least, cautious use of it in pregnancy (2–4).
FETAL RISK SUMMARY
Saccharin is a nonnutritive sweetening agent discovered accidentally in 1879; it has been used in the United States since 1901. The agent is approximately 300 times sweeter than sucrose. Saccharin, a derivative of naphthalene, is absorbed slowly after oral ingestion and is rapidly and completely excreted, as the unmetabolized compound, by the kidneys. Although a large amount of medical research has been generated concerning saccharin, very little of this information pertains to its use by pregnant women or to its effect on the fetus (2,3).
In pregnant rhesus monkeys administered IV saccharin, fetal accumulation of the sweetener occurred after rapid, but limited, transfer across the placenta (5
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