Five common sweeteners and what they really do to your body

Over the past five to six years, a new sweetener has made its way into a variety of common foods. The name is neotame, or E961. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced in 2007 that it was safe to use in foods and soft drinks, an alternative to aspartame that was over 8,000 times sweeter than sugar.

But new research has shown that neotame may not be as benign as first thought. Last week, Dr. Havovi Chichger published a study in the journal Limits of nutrition which suggested it could potentially damage cells in the intestinal wall. These cells ...