Cyclamic acid and its Na and Ca salts

Studies in people

• No harm found

  Male fertility³

  In people, eating cyclamate at usual levels showed no link to male fertility problems.

• No harm found

  Blood pressure and heart rate⁴

  In people with diabetes, cyclamate turned into cyclohexylamine in some bodies but did not change blood pressure or heart rate.

• No harm found

  Bladder cancer risk⁵

  People with bladder cancer did not report eating more cyclamate than people without it.

Study type not stated

• Open question

  Daily intake limits⁶

  Some tabletop sweeteners hold so much cyclamate that a few tablets could push you past the daily limit.

How it’s made and used

• Sweetener intake in teens¹

  Italian teenagers who ate sugar-free foods stayed well below the daily limit for cyclamate and other sweeteners.

• How much people swallow²

  In people in Spain, some ate cyclamate, and very few went over the daily limit.

• Gut bacteria and sweeteners⁷

  In animal studies, gut bacteria turned cyclamate into cyclohexylamine, which the body then absorbed and passed out in urine.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.

Expert panels that weigh all the research. Shown for context: the signal at the top does not count them. IARC rates whether something can cause cancer at all, not how likely it is at the amounts in food.

• UN and WHO food additive experts (JECFA), 2009

  Reviewed its safety in 2009.

• WHO cancer agency (IARC), 1998

  Not enough evidence to say whether it causes cancer in people (Group 3).