L’histoire des édulcorants intenses, dont la plupart ont été découverts par hasard, est faite de rebondissements. Qu’ils soient naturels ou de synthèse, ils répondent, en théorie, à certains objectifs nutritionnels de santé publique. Ils ont l’avantage de se substituer au sucre, sans apport énergétique significatif et sans modifier la glycémie. En pratique, il en est autrement. En effet, les édulcorants de synthèse les plus courants – saccharine, cyclamate, aspartame – qui ont tous été autorisés sur la base d’un dossier toxicologique, sont l’objet de polémiques et de controverses qui interpellent avec insistance les autorités de santé, mettant en cause leur innocuité. Leur interdiction, en vertu du « principe de précaution », est souvent réclamée, malgré l’absence d’arguments scientifiques nouveaux. L’autorisation récente du rébaudioside A, extrait d’une plante herbacée, la stévia, dont la sécurité n’est pas contestée, ouvre de nouvelles perspectives.

Most intensive sweeteners were discovered through unexpected opportunities and either successes or obstacles have punctuated their history. Irrespective of whether they are from natural or artificial origin, intensive sweeteners are theoretically aimed at providing answers to nutritional public health concerns. Their main advantages are to serve as substitute for sugars without contributing to both energy supply and glycemic excursions.

However unsuitableness for commercial use is regularly brought at the front of the scene. For instance, such common sweeteners as saccharin, cyclamate and aspartame remain a recurrent subject of strong controversies even when official approvals are supported by strongly evidence-based toxicological experiments. Public health authorities are regularly questioned on the safety of sweeteners and either solicited or urged to ban their utilization according to the “precaution principle” even though there is, at present, no new scientific argument against their use. Rebaudioside A, which is a natural compound extracted from the leaves of the stevia, might become a widespread intensive sweetener in the foreseeable future since it has recently been approved for commercial use on the basis of both its natural origin and safety.