The artificial sweetener, saccharine, was discovered accidentally in the 19th century . A chemist tasted sweetness on his hands. His observation led to the identification of a particular chemical 500 times sweeter than sugar, which has served as a substitute for sugar for more than 100 years. When Dr. Cade and his associates formulated Gatorade with Stokeley-VanCamp they chose a newer, second sweetener, sodium cyclamate , to make the drink attractive. Sodium cyclamate is only 30 times sweeter than sugar, but most people found cyclamates tasted better than saccharin.
Saccharin leaves a rather metallic aftertaste with many users.
Within a year after Gatorade was on the shelves, the FDA learned of toxicity studies carried out with sodium cyclamate. In these tests, cyclamates were fed to mice at various amounts, amounts well above the level of reasonable human consumption of the sweetener. But the mice contracted bladder cancer at a rate that was higher than the rate of similar cancers in animals not receiving cyclamates. While the bladder cancers in mice in no way predicted human response, the FDA took a cautious position. In October 1969, FDA announced cyclamates would be prohibited in foods and beverages after January 1, 1970.