New Sweetener Approved

The government approved a new artificial sweetener for the diet cola wars Tuesday, and Pepsi immediately announced it would use Sunett sweetener in a new one-calorie drink.

Sunett, known chemically as acesulfame-K, is 200 times sweeter than sugar. The Food and Drug Administration already allows it in products from sugarless chewing gum to instant puddings. But Tuesday's action lets Sunett into the booming diet drink market, opening it to millions more Americans.

Manufacturer Nutrinova says Sunett will revolutionize diet colas because mixing Sunett with its leading competitor, aspartame, makes drinks distinctly more sugarlike, without that diet aftertaste, said scientific director Jon Simplicio.

The mix is sweet enough that drink makers can cut the amount of sweeteners they need to use by up to 40 percent, thus cutting costs, he said. So-called blended diet drinks are popular in the 80 other countries where Sunett sells, he said. For instance, Sunett is in 70 percent of diet colas sold in Canada.

Pepsi One will become the first U.S. diet cola to mix Sunett and aspartame, debuting in stores this fall, Pepsi announced Tuesday.

Promising an aggressive advertising campaign to convince consumers that a diet cola won't compromise taste, Pepsi said nearly 70 percent of consumers who tested the new drink said they would buy it.

Sunett has generated some controversy. A consumer advocacy group in 1996 urged the FDA to ban Sunett, arguing that some early studies suggested Sunett might have increased tumors in laboratory rats and demanding further study. But several scientific groups have rejected those findings, and the FDA concluded the sweetener is safe.

Diet colas account for 75 percent of the $1 billion U.S. market for artificial sweeteners.

Sunett is the second new sweetener for diet colas in as many months. The FDA in April approved sucralose, the only artificial sweetener made from sugar and one 600 times sweeter.