In 1981, aspartame artificial sweetener was approved for tabletop use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Its permitted uses included in candy, tablets, breakfast cereals, instant coffee and tea, gelatines, puddings, fillings, dairy-product toppings and as a flavour enhancer for chewing gum, among others. It was first approved on 26 Jul 1974, but objections caused a stay on 5 Dec 1975, and years of scrutiny followed. Years earlier, in Dec 1965, while working on an ulcer drug, James M. Schlatter had made the discovery that a mixture of two amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalamine, had a sweet taste. By weight it was about 200 times sweeter than sugar, with very few calories. G.D. Seale marketed it as NutraSweet, a low-calorie artificial sweetener without the bitter aftertaste of saccharin.« Aspartame: Physiology and Biochemistry, by Lewis D. Stegink and Lloyd J. Filer. - book suggestion.