# Why don't we hear about artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 30, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328 "2017-03-30T02:47:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/1 "2017-03-30T02:47:49Z")
> **[Acesulfame potassium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acesulfame_potassium)**
>
> Acesulfame potassium (UK: /æsɪˈsʌlfeɪm/, US: /ˌeɪsiːˈsʌlfeɪm/ AY-see-SUL-faym or /ˌæsəˈsəlfeɪm/), also known as acesulfame K (K is the symbol for potassium) or Ace K, is a synthetic calorie-free sugar substitute (artificial sweetener) often marketed under the trade names Sunett and Sweet One. In the European Union, it is known under the E number (additive code) E950. It was discovered accidentally in 1967 by German chemist Karl Clauss at Hoechst AG (now Nutrinova). In chemical str Acesulfame K i...
This was first approved for “tabletop use” in the US in 1988–the Wiki article doesn’t say if it was used a a food ingredient before that. Presumably so.
In the 1980s, all you ever heard about was Nutrasweet (aspartame), and then in the 90s (well, 1999) finally you started to hear about Splenda.
Acesulfame potassium? It was actually a TIL for me. I’d never heard about it in any context.
My question is why? What’s the straight dope on this art-swee, and why has it never become as prominent as its fake-o brethren?
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/2 "2017-03-30T02:54:05Z")
I think I remember that the sugar free version of red bull has this.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/3 "2017-03-30T03:01:59Z")
I could be wrong here but I seem to remember acesulfame K, by which it is commonly known, is an artifical sweetener that is usually combined with other artifically sweeteners as a sort of intensifier (that may be the wrong term here but I’m drawing a blank). So it may not get as much publicity or scrutiny because it’s not usually the main or only artificial sweetener used.
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/4 "2017-03-30T05:25:32Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#):
>
> I could be wrong here but I seem to remember acesulfame K, by which it is commonly known, is an artifical sweetener that is usually combined with other artifically sweeteners as a sort of intensifier (that may be the wrong term here but I’m drawing a blank). So it may not get as much publicity or scrutiny because it’s not usually the main or only artificial sweetener used.
Actually, it’s more commonly known as Ace-K, which I’ve known about and remember because it sounds sort of like Ice-T’s obscure cousin. 😃
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### Author:  [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/5 "2017-03-30T05:49:40Z")
Maybe because the fashion is to push stevia or sucralose, as more natural …
well stevia is a plant extract.
sucralose is sucrose with Cl replacing some OH… Which makes it taste 1000 times as sweet.
And well they give it a nice sounding name, sucralose, so it might be assumed to be a natural sugar like fructose or glucose or sucrose.
Because names tell you how dangerous something is.
Thats why they don’t put this name on for sucrose…
(a standardised name of the structure … ) (2R,3R,4S,5S,6R)-2-[(2S,3S,4S,5R)-3,4-Dihydroxy-2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)oxapent-2-yl]oxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)oxahexane-3,4,5-triol
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/6 "2017-03-30T05:51:35Z")
> [@voltaire](#):
>
> Actually, it’s more commonly known as Ace-K, which I’ve known about and remember because it sounds sort of like Ice-T’s obscure cousin. 😃
Or Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, who was known as “Dice-K” when he pitched for the Red Sox.
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### Author:  [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/7 "2017-03-30T08:14:52Z")
what were we supposed to hear about it?
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/8 "2017-03-30T11:45:13Z")
If the stuff is loud enough to hear, I don’t want it on my food. 🙂
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/9 "2017-03-30T11:48:25Z")
> [@am77494](#):
>
> I think I remember that the sugar free version of red bull has this.
It’s used in a lot of stuff. Coke Zero is a mix of aspartame and ace K, for example. I just looked at the ingredients of the Walmart Great Value brand diet lemon-lime soda product, and it’s the same: aspartame & ace K. Minute Maid light lemonade, too. Etc.
It’s a good question, though. I’ve long been aware of ace-K, as it mixed with aspartame is my favorite sugar substitute (and the one I find most convincing), but I’ve never heard it marketed along the lines of Nutrasweet/aspartame, Splenda/sucralose, or stevia (yuck.) I’ve also never seen ace-K used on its own, but always paired with another artificial sweetener, usually aspartame, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it paired with sucralose, too.
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/10 "2017-03-30T12:14:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> … I’ve long been aware of ace-K, as it mixed with aspartame is my favorite sugar substitute (and the one I find most convincing) … I’ve also never seen ace-K used on its own, but always paired with another artificial sweetener, usually aspartame, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it paired with sucralose, too.
The pairing is the key. I don’t remember the details but IIRC the idea in pairing aspartame and acesulfame K in Coke Zero (and in other products, and similar pairings) is that one of them tends to create a blast of sweetness that then tapers off into a bitter aftertaste while the other acts more slowly and balances the effects of the first, producing a close simulation of natural sugar. And it works.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/11 "2017-03-30T12:21:10Z")
The only thing I remember hearing about it was in a recent study where it was used as a [marker to determine how many people were peeing in the pool.](http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/01/517785902/just-how-much-pee-is-in-that-pool)
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/12 "2017-03-30T12:23:19Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> The pairing is the key. I don’t remember the details but IIRC the idea in pairing aspartame and acesulfame K in Coke Zero (and in other products, and similar pairings) is that one of them tends to create a blast of sweetness that then tapers off into a bitter aftertaste while the other acts more slowly and balances the effects of the first, producing a close simulation of natural sugar. And it works.
That was my understanding of it, too, that the ace K takes the edge off Nutrasweet. Or that they have a symbiotic effect on each other, mellowing each other’s bad points.
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### Author:  [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2017, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/13 "2017-03-30T23:00:41Z")
Cool, thanks for the input, guys!
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/14 "2017-03-31T16:25:32Z")
Just to add to the data points, I just bought some Diet Pepsi, and it is sucralose and ace k. When did this happen? I swear it was nutrasweet back in the day.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/15 "2017-03-31T20:57:13Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> The only thing I remember hearing about it was in a recent study where it was used as a [marker to determine how many people were peeing in the pool.](http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/01/517785902/just-how-much-pee-is-in-that-pool)
No need for markers. There are two type of people, those who pee in the pool and those who lie about peeing in the pool.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/16 "2017-03-31T21:43:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Just to add to the data points, I just bought some Diet Pepsi, and it is sucralose and ace k. When did this happen? I swear it was nutrasweet back in the day.
It is. And Pepsi even makes an “classic sweetener” version of Diet Pepsi.
While the “regular” stuff has silver labeling, the “classic sweetener” sort has sky-blue labeling.
[Apparently it has to do with some consumers wanting no aspartame, and others thinking the new stuff sucks.](http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/Business_News/2016/07/Why_PepsiCo_is_bringing_aspart.aspx?ID=%7BDE71EB18-D347-4C76-AFD7-3A0E94E2B797%7D&cck=1) (link also has photos of both sorts of cans)
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/17 "2017-03-31T22:03:27Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Just to add to the data points, I just bought some Diet Pepsi, and it is sucralose and ace k. When did this happen? I swear it was nutrasweet back in the day.
Diet Pepsi replaced aspartame with sucralose a year or two ago because… reasons. Pseudoscience “chemicals are bad” nonsense, really. Diet Coke still uses aspartame and tastes better for it.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
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### Author:  [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2017, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/18 "2017-03-31T22:03:55Z")
Huh, the Diet Mtn Dew I drank today is… Aspartame, Ace-K, AND sucralose.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2017, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/19 "2017-04-01T11:34:39Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#):
>
> No need for markers. There are two type of people, those who pee in the pool and those who lie about peeing in the pool.
No.
Maybe I’m the only one, but I get out of the ocean to pee.
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### Author:  [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-we-hear-about-artificial-sweetener-acesulfame-potassium/783328/20 "2017-04-01T18:47:57Z")
Just can’t get the same feeling of warmth running down your legs while you’re still in the water?
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