It would appear that the US FDA and European FSA disagree with you on that subject.
Concerning saccharin:
In a December 14, 2010 release, the EPA stated that saccharin is no longer considered a potential hazard to human health
Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccharin
Concerning Acesulfame potassium
Critics say acesulfame potassium has not been studied adequately and may be carcinogenic, although these claims have been dismissed by the European Food Safety Authority and FDA
Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acesulfame_potassium
Plus a report that lactobacillus concentration may actually be enhanced by artificial sweeteners:
In vitro analyses of Lactobacillus 4228 growth characteristics showed that presence of NHDC significantly reduces the lag phase of growth and enhances expression of specific sugar transporters, independently of NHDC metabolism. This study suggests that sensing of NHDC by a bacterial plasma membrane receptor underlies sweetener-induced growth of a health promoting gut bacterium.
Bacterial sensing underlies artificial sweetener-induced growth of gut Lactobacillus
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278045609_Bacterial...
Plus one of the last hold-outs to declassification of saccharin as carcinogenic was Health Canada which based the original prohibition on University of Nebraska studies but later concluded:
Such sodium salts, the council said, “produce tumours only when administered at high doses and only in rats,” thus “the mechanism by which the rats develop cancer is not present in humans.”
https://www.agcanada.com/daily/saccharin-cleared-for-use-in-...
Appears the jury is still out.
URL: http://alliednutrition.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/AN-Suc...
Start a liquid stenabolics (sr 9009) / weight training regimen coupled with piracetam (1.5g), choline (.5g), and Steven Hawking's purported vinpocetine supplements, TID, and you'll be like Conan the Barbarian (or Valeria) with a 20pt IQ boost in two months. (sorry, just kidding - a shrink friend recently started that routine and I'm curious to see how it goes)
As for prebiotics and probiotics - I have been getting increasingly enthusiastic about the gut microbiome subject during the recent months and have achieved amazing results this way and switched from extreme treatment to mild support regimen already yet I'm still very curious about whatever findings in this area.
BTW if you know of any tricks (other than taking choline, it's not enough) that can potentially increase acetylcholine secretion and/or sensitivity - I am very interested to learn them. I have been struggling from ACh deficiency symptoms during my whole life and the only efficient solution I've found so far is nicotine but I'd really love to replace it with something that doesn't cause physiological addiction.
Just added that comment for the fun of it but you are exactly correct concerning piracetam. From experience, it does take about two weeks to kick-in in earnest but during that time it's necessary to focus on some mentally-demanding skill. Also personally experimented with aniracetam but found that cognitively it morphs you into the proverbial 'Mr Spock' complete with persona.
Assume for ACh you're eating three eggs a day, soft-boiled for 6 1/2 minutes or fried sunny side up until a cataract forms over the yokes (pro dietician's recommendation I once received)
Not according to the National Cancer Institute [1]. The amount of misinformation in nutrition is frustrating at times.
[1] https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/d...
What I find problematic is that they list a concentration, but no real world examples. We sell a concentrated product that contains 1.3mg sucralose per ml which would seem damning, if not for the fact it gets diluted 8-16x when mixed.
Current daily allowance is about 5mg/kg which for a 50kg/120lb person (very tiny) is 250mg. At 8x dilution this is 2 liters of sugar-free sweetened drinks.
Which actually doesn't sound that difficult to hit.
You mentioned erythritol, which is undergoing an explosion in popularity due to Swerve. Xylitol is available in Whole Foods, and even some regular grocers on occasion, and is a bit more work to good with but works very well for some uses. And of course Stevia, when used appropriately, is all over the place. Monk Fruit is also used on occasion, but its flavor profile has to be carefully considered.
As an aside, for those complaining about Stevia, the $6 bottle from Whole Foods has more than 10x as much Stevia in it as the $6 bottle from your local grocery store. Stevia is also not appropriate in all places, but as a replacement for simple syrup in gin drinks it is great, and it is also great to use in Lemonade and Limeade.
(In ice cream, or anyplace with dairy? Use something else, and maybe add a couple drops at the end for a bit extra of a kick.)
It looks like lactulose is prescription only in the US, so that makes it a no go for home chefs!
My ultimate advice for people though, it just get used to things not being sweet. After a couple weeks, the taste isn't missed, and food tastes a lot more subtle when everything isn't accompanied by a sweet aftertaste.
I'll have to look into lactulose and palatinose.... And it looks like lactulose is out for the diarrhea reason, and isomaltulose--Palatinose is a trademarked name for it--looks practically identical to slow-motion sucrose, including caloric content. It has a lower glycemic index, but is half as sweet as sucrose, so you may end up consuming more calories for the same amount of sweetness.
Erythritol is not good for gut bacteria. It is 90% absorbed before reaching the colon, and excreted mostly intact in urine and feces, and the early absorption is why it doesn't have the diarrheal effect common to most sugar alcohols. Sweeteners that are neither absorbed nor digested draw water out of the digestive tract as they pass. Those that can be fermented by colon bacteria also tend to produce gases, that help push the water out. Xylitol is not fermentable, so the diarrhea you might get won't be quite so bad.
I think I'll stick with a mix of erthyritol and stevia, with proportions titrated such that equal-volume measures of erythritol/stevia and sucrose crystals have roughly equivalent sweetness. The flavor profile isn't quite right, but it's good enough for me until something better comes along.
(edit) I'll also add that it seems to work best in foods where other flavors can dominate. While you can sort of taste it as not being real sugar in lemonade, in sugar-free fudge, all you can taste is the sweetness. But it also forms crystals during cooling, and I haven't quite worked that out yet. Gritty/crunchy fudge is not exactly ideal.
For those paying less attention, by "different" I don't mean white sugar and raw sugar. Those are the same molecule.
Sweetleaf is generally what I use.
The taste is quite different though.
It's not like it's bad, though. It's just not what sucrose-eaters are accustomed to.
Lactulose is a great prebiotic (not widely known infortunately) very good for gut bacteria (AFAIK), has geroprotective properties, is a mild osmotic laxative, has zero calories, doesn't affect blood sugar/insulin and tastes great. I use it instead of maple syrup. As far as I also know erythritol (looks, feels and cooks almost exactly like sugar) and palatinose (same, but has calories yet doesn't kick insulin and doesn't feed mouth bacteria so is safe for teeth) are good for gut bacteria too. We could also mention inulin (which is a well-known prebiotic very beneficial for gut microbiome) but it's sweetness is weaker.