The artificial sweetener in "Sweet'N Low," is
somewhere around 400 times sweeter than sugar. It was discovered in
1879 by Constantine Fahlberg who was actually working on
substitution products of coal tar.
After a long day in the lab, he forgot to wash his hands before
eating dinner. When the bread and everything he touched tasted
sweet, he remembered he spilled a chemical on his hands earlier.
Fahlberg patented saccharin in 1884 and began mass production.
The artificial sweetener became widespread when sugar was rationed
during World War I. In 1907 diabetics started using the sweetener as
a replacement for sugar and it was soon labeled as a noncaloric
sweetener for dieters. Because the body can not break it down, we do
not get any calories.