If you grew up in Australia in the 1980s and 1990s, chances are that Milo was a childhood staple. Whether you consumed it hot, with cold milk, over ice cream or just straight from the tin, Milo is an iconic Aussie favourite, up there with Vegemite and fairy bread.

Could any new lookalike product possibly measure up to the treasured original? Enter Aldi with its NRG Maxx chocolate drink that many are touting as a cheaper, and perhaps even better, alternative.Ìý

It’s half the price of Milo and has a similar nutrition profile, but is it as good as the original? We pitted the OG against the new kid on the block to see which one came out on top.Ìý

And the winner is…

Milo! In a convincing win, 66% of our taste testers preferred the OG chocolate milk drink.

Most people could easily tell which sample was the Nestlé product: a full 78% of our testers correctly picked which product was the original Milo (it was Sample 1). Some testers correctly identified the Nestlé product, but still preferred the Aldi product. The general consensus was that the NRG Maxx (Sample 2) was more chocolatey and sweeter than the Milo, which appealed to some palates. But for those who grew up on the stuff, old-school Milo is hard to beat.

But a full third of testers liked the Aldi product. And at half the price of original Milo, it could be a good option if you’re trying to stretch the family budget.

Let’s face it though, “you’ve gotta be made of NRG Maxx” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as “you’ve gotta be made of Milo”.

Top or bottom?

How you do your Milo is a very personal thing – and we discovered that it’s a topic that many Australians are very passionate about.

We conducted a Facebook poll to find out how people construct theirs, and we were blown away by the response. More than 7000 people cast their vote, and at the time of writing almost 600 people shared their thoughts on this very important matter.

Turns out most of us put the Milo in first, then the milk – 72% of people make their Milo this way. Just 28% of people add Milo to the top.

However, in an interesting twist, three of the four ÌÇÐÄVlog kids who took the taste test put the Milo on top. Kids these days, huh?

How did we do it?

Three o’clock in the afternoon at ÌÇÐÄVlog HQ generally sees a bunch of staff with low blood sugar and/or low blood caffeine descend upon the kitchen for a hit of their pick-me-up of choice. So we tapped into people’s natural circadian rhythms and set up our Milo challenge to coincide with this.Ìý

We invited 40 ÌÇÐÄVlog staff to do a blind taste-test of both the Nestlé original and the Aldi knock-off, and then vote for their favourite. Participants were encouraged to make their drink to their own personal specifications in a judgement-free zone. (You’d be surprised at how many people were embarrassed by the ratio of Milo to milk they prefer, but we didn’t witness any spectacularly heinous crimes against nutrition. What people do in the privacy of their own homes may be a different matter, however…).

We also asked them if they could tell which product was the Nestlé original, just to see how convincing the Aldi version really is.Ìý

And we invited some ÌÇÐÄVlog kids to come and taste both products, to see whether the cheaper version was acceptable to younger palates.

What were the results?

• 66% of ÌÇÐÄVlog taste testers preferred the Nestlé product, based on taste
• 34% preferred the Aldi product
• 78% correctly identified the Nestlé product
• 15% thought the Aldi product was the original Nestlé product
• 8% of people said they couldn’t tell which product was which
• A number of testers said they’d happily buy the Aldi product
• Several testers correctly identified the Nestlé product, but voted the Aldi product as their favourite.
• Of the kids, two preferred Milo, one preferred NRG Maxx and one couldn’t decide between the two.Ìý

What did the taste testers say?

• “Milo isn’t as chunky as what it used to be.” – Wendy
• “Sample 1 has that nostalgic taste. It reminds me of my childhood.” – Patrick
• “I’d happily drink either.” – Rachel
• “I have no idea. They taste exactly the same to me.” – Amira
• “Sample 2 tastes like a Milo bar – the old ones from the 90s.” – Kim

• “Sample 2 isn’t Milo but it tastes better.” – Emily
• “When I had them both with cold milk I didn’t like either.” – Uta
• “Sample 1 was richer, with more depth of flavour. But I think Sample 2 is the real one.” – Guy

ÌÇÐÄVlog tip: for a dairy-free alternative to Milo and milk, try chocolate Nesquik with soy milk. It’s a great option for kids with dairy allergies. (With thanks to Rachel VZ.)

Where is Milo the cheapest?

While it’s easy to assume that Aldi is always cheaper than Coles and Woolworths, it’s not always true. Based on pricing at the time of our test, Costco had the cheapest Milo in town, followed by Coles, Aldi and then Woolworths.Ìý

A note on Health Stars

In 2016, ÌÇÐÄVlog awarded Milo a Shonky for its 4.5 Health Star Rating. It was calculated based on a serving size of three heaped teaspoons mixed with 200mL of skim milk. We argued that this was dishonest as it took advantage of skim milk’s low health star rating to make the product look healthier than it actually is.

“Most Aussies don’t consume Milo with skim milk alone,” ÌÇÐÄVlog campaigner Katinka Day said. “To claim a health star rating by adding nutritionally superior ingredients of another product is not helpful, especially for people who eat their Milo with full cream milk, or even straight out of the can or on ice cream.”

Milo should have a Health Star Rating of 1.5 to more accurately reflect its nutritional status.Ìý

In response to ÌÇÐÄVlog’s campaign, Milo agreed to drop its 4.5 Health Star Rating, but decided not to display the correct rating of 1.5 stars.Ìý

Even now, the Health Star Rating is conspicuously missing from the Milo tin. Aldi’s NRG Maxx product prominently displays its 1.5 Health Star Rating.Ìý

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Said plainly, what most energy drinks do is give you a caffeine fix with plenty of sugar. Here are the key things you need to know:

• Energy drinks such as Red Bull and V have obvious appeal to kids but can contain as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. Even small amounts of caffeine can make kids anxious and disturb their sleep patterns.
• Many of these drinks are also loaded with sugar, which most of us can do without.
• Energy drinks aren’t sports drinks. They generally won’t keep up your hydration when you’re active.

What’s in your energy drink?

Caffeine

Most 250mL bottles of energy drinks have about the same amount of caffeine as an espresso shot.

Caffeine is added in the form of:

• brewed coffee;
• guarana (another caffeine-containing plant product); or as
• the straight chemical caffeine (which is obtained commercially as a by-product of the manufacture of decaffeinated coffee).

Energy drinks (or ‘formulated caffeinated beverages’, as they’re called in the ) must contain no less than 14.5mg and no more than 32mg caffeine per 100mL.

Sugar

Most energy drinks contain sugar, either as ordinary table sugar (sucrose) or glucose. Sugar is rapidly digested and absorbed into the body, so the kilojoules of energy it provides are quickly made available for physical exertion. However, given our modern lifestyles most us would be better off without these additional kilojoules. You wouldn’t stir 18 teaspoons of sugar into your tea, but that’s what’s in V’s largest serving size – a 710mL bottle. That also translates to 220mg caffeine, around two and a half espressos.

, , and all have no sugar, but use artificial sweeteners instead – which raises other health concerns.

Taurine

The taurine in many energy drinks gets its name from the fact that it was first extracted from ox bile (taurus is Latin for ‘bull’). It’s now made synthetically, but the rumour has spread (presumably by word association) that taurine comes from bulls’ testicles. This is of course not the case, but it’s a great promo for energy drinks.

Most energy drinks have taurine as a key ingredient, we checked out the science, but we’ve yet to see any convincing evidence that it’ll give you a buzz. Taurine is used by the body in a wide range of protective and metabolic activities, but exactly what it does (and how it does it) is still largely unknown.

Whatever its merits though, you don’t need to buy it in a can because there’s plenty of taurine in the usual Australian diet and your body can easily make enough of its own — unless, perhaps, you’re an elite athlete.

There’s only limited evidence that taurine is safe at the very high levels found in some of these drinks. Under the it’s allowed in energy drinks at levels that will give you a maximum intake of up to 2000mg per day (although that relies on consumers not exceeding the recommended number of cans in a day). There’s also not a lot known about the long-term effects, so we think it’s crazy to allow such high levels of taurine in drinks that are often consumed by kids.

B vitamins

B vitamins are used by the body in various ways that involve the release of energy from food. There’s no obvious justification for including them in these drinks because a well-balanced diet already provides an adequate intake, and more of a good thing isn’t necessarily better.

Sports performance

Energy drinks shouldn’t be confused with sports drinks, which are designed to maximise hydration. A high sugar concentration can slow absorption of water into the body, making energy drinks unsuitable for rehydration during prolonged and vigorous physical exercise.

There’s good evidence that caffeine enhances sports performance forÌýelite athletes, though not for the average athlete. Caffeine also dehydrates, so it’s not recommended for use during sport. In fact, energy drinks were banned in France after an 18-year-old man as a result of playing basketball after consuming four cans of Red Bull.

Caffeine – how much is too much?

Caffeine is a poison created by plants to protect themselves from being eaten and most animals can’t stand the bitter taste. A lot of humans, however, can’t live without it. So how much caffeine is OK?

While there’s no current consensus on what’s a safe amount of caffeine, a expert working group found that increased anxiety levels were recorded in adults whose exceeded 210mg, and reduced ability to sleep above 100mg. An espresso coffee has about 97mg of caffeine.

Commonly cited research suggests that moderate amounts of caffeine (300-400mg, roughly three to four espressos, a day) isn’t considered to be harmful for most people. But it is a stimulant and has measurable effects even at very low ‘doses’. While we may think caffeine is a relatively benign drug, the side effects include headaches, hand tremors, impaired coordination, nervousness, diarrhoea and even delirium. It also dehydrates.

The effects of caffeine differ from person to person, depending on age, body size and general health.

• Young children can suffer disturbed sleep patterns, bedwetting and anxiety from the caffeine in just one can of an energy drink.
• Pregnant women should be wary, and make sure their daily caffeine consumption doesn’t exceed 200mg.

Alcohol and energy drinks

Energy drinks must display a warning on the label indicating that they’re not recommended for children, pregnant or lactating women, or people sensitive to caffeine. Still, they’ve become hugely popular among youth.

Since ÌÇÐÄVlog first looked at energy drinks back in 2005, there’s been a growing trend of mixing them with alcohol. The problem with this combination is that it can . Consuming an energy drink alongside alcohol can make you feel more alert, and less drunk. Many people use energy drinks as mixers for exactly that reason – it enables them to drink more alcohol, and for longer.

It’s that a quarter of heavily intoxicated persons on Australian city streets on a Friday or Saturday night have consumed more than two energy drinks.

Mixing energy drinks with alcohol increases dehydration and the likelihood of engaging in risky behaviours such as drink-driving.

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With more sophisticated market segmentation and targeted marketing, sales of sports drinks have reached over 50 million litres per year with a market value of $150m. And their popularity continues to grow.

Meanwhile the simple action of drinking water when thirsty has been unnecessarily complicated by science and pseudoscience, to the point where people no longer trust their bodies to tell them when to drink.

Sports drinks: what’s in them?

Strenuous exercise in hot conditions can lead toÌýwater lossÌýof up to two litres per hour through sweat. If you sweat more than two per cent of your body weight your heart is placed under stress, your body temperature goes up, and your physical and mental performance declines, so it’s important to replace lost water during exercise.Ìý

(FSANZ) has a standard for “” which states that per litre, they must contain at least 230mg of sodium and 50–100g of sugars (no more than 50g of fructose).

Sports drinks have three basic ingredients:

• water
• sugar
• salt.

These three ingredients work to rehydrate, reenergise and replace lost electrolytes.

Hydration

The sugar and salt in sports drinks are at the right concentrations to maximise the speed with which water moves from your gut into your bloodstream. But plain water is absorbed almost as quickly and is perfectly adequate for moderate exercise or if you’re exercising for less than about an hour.

But the sense of thirst is slow to react to dehydration, so if you’re exercising hard in hot conditions it’s a good idea to drink before you become thirsty. In fact you need to drink before, during and after exercise.

Energy

The sugars in sports drinks can also help replenish the fuel you use during exercise. The body stores fuel as carbohydrates in the muscles and the liver and releases sugar into the bloodstream for instant energy. But after prolonged exercise – about an hour of intense exercise, like a fast run or hard cycling – the carbohydrate stores are depleted and blood-sugar levels can drop. A steady source of sugar during strenuous exercise for an extended period can help fight off fatigue and enhance performance. With lower intensity exercise, such as jogging, it may take two hours or more before energy needs replacing.

Electrolytes

The salts in sports drinks help replenish the body’s electrolytes lost in sweat. Sodium helps regulate the body’s fluid balance and plays a role in muscle contraction, and potassium is also involved in muscle contraction. But for the average exerciser this is less important than the ads would have you believe: most of us already get too much salt in our regular diet so your usual food intake should be more than enough to replace any electrolyte losses. A 600mL bottle of some sports drinks gives you more than 10% of the maximum recommended daily intake of sodium.

However, for endurance athletes, sodium losses are a more serious issue: low sodium levels often coupled with excessive water consumption have caused more than a few deaths among athletes, hikers, military personnel and people undertaking strenuous activities over long periods of time in hot conditions – see Too much water?

Verdict: do you need a sports drink when exercising?

The bottom line is that for most people sports drinks are an unnecessary expense and provide unnecessary salt and kilojoules. If you’re simply an active person who plays social tennis, swims or goes to the gym a couple of times a week, you don’t need sports drinks. However, for long periods (an hour or more) of strenuous exercise they may be beneficial.

Kids and sports drinks

Sports drinks are sometimes promoted as better than water for young kids because the kids tend to drink more than if they were only offered water, preventing dehydration. But sports drinks are acidic and can erode dental enamel. And the salt in sports drinks is even more undesirable for children than it is for adults because their maximum recommended intake is less (depending on age).

Experts argue that sports drinks are unnecessary for children and adolescents, and their consumption is part of the growing childhood obesity problem. If kids are thirsty, they’ll drink water if water is provided.

Homemade sports drink

If you regularly engage in strenuous activity of an hour or more and feel you could benefit from a ‘sports drink’, you don’t need to fork out for a commercial one. Here’s a recipe from the US Olympic Committee website:

1/4 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup hot water 1/4 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons lemon juice 3 ½ cups cold water

Dissolve the sugar and salt in hot water, then add juices and cold water.

A simpler recipe is to combine 500mL of unsweetened fruit juice, 500mL of water and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt. Experiment a little with the proportions – less juice, more water and half the salt will make it hypotonic (less concentrated).

Staying hydrated: tonicity

Some sports drinks claim to be isotonic, which means they have the same concentration of solutes (substances dissolved in water or another solution) as the blood and cells, which helps with their absorption. The Standard for electrolyte drinks specifies criteria for the osmolality (concentration of solutes, being salt and sugar in this case) of drinks that claim to be isotonic.

Drinks like fruit juice or soft drink areÌýhypertonic, meaning they have a higher concentration of solutes than the blood and cell fluids. They are released from the stomach more slowly than weaker drinks, so don’t rehydrate as quickly, and also draw water from body tissues into the gut, potentially increasing dehydration.

Then there’s hypotonic drinks, which have lesser concentrations of solutes than the blood and cell fluids. An example is Mizone Formulated Sports Water, which promises rapid hydration and is marketed for sports. While it meets the Standard for electrolyte drinks (or ‘sports drinks’) in terms of sodium, it has less sugar (3.7%) than other sports drinks (5-10%), which should be taken into account if energy is an important consideration – as for endurance events.

There is that hypotonic drinks are absorbed faster than water, isotonic or hypertonic drinks, and that drinking them may feel more “refreshing”. You can achieve a similar effect by adding one part juice to three or four parts water.

Too much water?

For most people, constantly topping up with water regardless of thirst may be harmless, but for some endurance athletes it has proven deadly. A condition called hyponatraemia, meaning low sodium, has caused the deaths of marathon runners and other endurance athletes, hikers and military personnel during training.

Over-hydration (hyponatraemia)

Hyponatraemia occurs when sodium levels in the fluid between cells are reduced relative to water, causing water to move from there into tissue cells, making them swell. Hypnotraemic encephalopathy refers specifically to brain swelling, and results in dizziness, nausea, confusion and muscle disorders, and can lead to unconsciousness, coma or death.

It’s increasingly occurring in exercise situations due to over-hydration. Indeed, experts in the field have noted that while there are no documented cases of anyone dying of dehydration during endurance sport events, people have died of hyponatraemia caused by over-hydration. And it’s not just sport: the reported that several hikers walking the Kokoda track have suffered from exercise-associated hyponatraemia, while a hiker’s death in Tasmania in 2011 was also attributed to hyponatraemia.

Hyponatraemia in athletes

Researchers investigating this relatively recent trend have observed that so entrenched is the mantra to “stay ahead of your thirst”, long-distance runners and other athletes tend to drink at drink stations regardless of how thirsty they feel. Consequently, athletes are finishing events heavier than they started due to drinking more fluids than they lose through sweat and other processes.

A in the 2002 Boston Marathon found 35% of runners gained weight during the race, 13% had mild hyponatraemia and 0.6% had critical hyponatraemia. One woman (not a study participant) died from hyponatraemia after the race.

An Australian study on adolescent elite athletes at a one-day sports camp found that they drank more than enough, and were mildly hyponatraemic.

Some people seem to be more at risk of hyponatraemia than others. Risk factors include length of time exercising (longer race times create greater risk) and amount of liquid consumed. Some studies have found women are more at risk, though others put this down to smaller body size and slower race times (therefore larger consumption of fluid) rather than gender. Increased risk may also have a genetic basis.

Can sports drinks help prevent hyponatraemia?

If drinking too much water can cause hyponatraemia, does drinking sports drinks solve the problem? Sports drinks contain sugar and salts, with the sugars providing an energy source and assisting absorption of water, and the salts replacing those lost through sweat. In addition, the salts and sugar make you a little thirsty and encourage you to drink more, therefore providing adequate – though some would argue excessive – hydration.

When it comes to hyponatraemia, however, the concentration of salts in sports drinks is lower than the saline concentration in blood. When you sweat, you lose about 900–1400mg of salt per litre, and while some drinks contain almost this much sodium (for example, contains around 840mg of sodium per litre), most sports drinks typically contain 230–510mg/L. This means the levels of salts in the drinks don’t quite replace the amount of salt lost through sweat, and it’s the dilution of sodium in the body that causes hyponatraemia.

So although sports drinks don’t necessarily prevent hyponatraemia –Ìýand people drinking sports drinks have suffered hyponatraemia – it makes sense when heavy salt losses through sweat are likely, such as during endurance sports and long hikes in hot weather, to drink sports drinks instead of plain water, because you’re replacing at least some of the salts.

Official recommendations for preventing exercise-related overhydration and dehydration

The and other long distance runners from the International Marathon Medical Directors Association (IMMDA) is to “drink to thirst”. Don’t drink if you’re not thirsty, don’t feel compelled to drink at every station and be mindful it’s normal to lose a little weight during a race.

Although this advice may not sound very scientific, in fact it’s based on the latest scientific evidence. If you need better guidance than this, the IMMDA recommends you work out your sweat rate – how much sweat you lose over a given time and different conditions – by weighing yourself before and after a training run. Some say adults should expect to lose one to two per cent of body weight in sweat, and most agree that more than two per cent affects physical and mental performance.

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Unfortunately, diet cola might not be as helpful in the fight against flab as you’d think. Kids risk overdosing on the artificial sweeteners, and it’s still harmful for your teeth.

Myth 1: Big-name diet colas taste better

Amatil spent more than $18 million on promoting Coke Zero alone when it was introduced as a variation of the standard Diet Coke. These big corporations tend to use their marketing money effectively so chances are you’ll grab the heavily advertised brand next time you decide to purchase a fizzy drink, not quite knowing why you selected one type over another.

Diet cola taste test

To find out if the big brands really taste better, in 2007 ÌÇÐÄVlog asked a few hundred consumers at a Sydney shopping centre to taste and rate 11 brands of diet cola.

Brands included:

• Australia’s Choice Diet Cola (KMart)
• Black & Gold Diet Cola (IGA)
• Classic Taste Diet Cola (Aldi)
• Coca-Cola Zero
• Diet Coke
• Home Brand Diet Cola (Woolworths)
• LA Diet Ice Cola
• LA Maxi Ice Cola
• Pepsi Light
• Pepsi Max
• You’ll Love Coles Diet Cola (Coles)

No clear favourites

The colas were identified only by code numbers so the tasters didn’t know which brands they were tasting. We recruited 277 tasters who said they regularly drink diet cola – 40% of them male, and 42% of them aged between 10 and 18. Each tasted four colas and rated them on a five-point scale to indicate how much they liked the taste.

Overall the tasters didn’t prefer any one brand more or less than the average. And it was the same when we separated the results for adults and young people under 18 – neither group had any clear favourites.

The manufacturers of Coke and Pepsi pass on their huge marketing budgets to consumers as higher prices. So why not ignore the ads and try the cheaper alternatives? You’ll save money, and you might find a drink you enjoy just as much.

Myth 2: Caffeine makes cola taste better

All the drinks in our test contain caffeine. Soft drink manufacturers claim it has a distinctive taste that heightens the flavour, but recently published research suggests this is untrue.

Expert tasters were unable to distinguish between caffeine-free Coca-Cola and the same drink spiked with caffeine at the level usually added to cola drinks.

This suggests adding caffeine could have more to do with its mildly addictive properties than its taste.

Myth 3: Diet colas help you lose weight

A can of regular Coca-Cola contains about eight teaspoons of sugar and gives you 675 flab-forming kilojoules. If you drink a can of diet cola instead you’ll get less than 10 kJ.

Although some studies have shown people lose weight if they substitute diet soft drinks for sugary ones, evidence is emerging that even artificially sweetened drinks can stimulate your appetite. If the sweet taste is still conveyed, they can give you more of a craving for sweet foods and so contribute indirectly to you putting on weight.

You’re more likely to lose weight if you avoid these drinks altogether — instead you could drink fizzy water with a splash of juice or fruit slices for extra flavour, or get your caffeine fix from a cup of coffee.

Myth 4: Diet cola drinks are safe for teeth

Diet colas don’t contain sugars that cause tooth decay but they contain phosphoric acid (and sometimes citric acid as well).

These acids can cause erosion in teeth, a condition where enamel is dissolved from tooth surfaces. It’s different from decay, but can be just as bad for your teeth.

Artificial sweeteners

What sweeteners are used?

The diet colas in our test contain no sugar but they’re sweetened with artificial sweeteners. Drinks usually contain at least two sweeteners because manufacturers have found that combinations give a quality of sweetness that’s more like sugar than any one sweetener on its own.

You can identify the sweeteners from the code numbers on the label:

• Acesulphame potassium (950)
• Aspartame (951)
• Cyclamate (952)
• Saccharin (954)
• Sucralose (955)

These substances can be many hundreds of times sweeter than sugar so the amounts you get in your drink are very small.

Are sweeteners safe?

There have been reports linking many of these artificial sweeteners to increased risk of cancer. In the 1970s several studies of rats fed very large amounts of saccharin raised concerns about its safety, and as a result it was banned in Canada and until 1996 products containing saccharin in the USA had to be labelled with a warning.

It was much the same with cyclamate. A study found that it increased the risk of bladder cancer in rats and as a result its use was banned in Canada and the USA, and in the UK it was banned until 1996.

And aspartame has been linked to a variety of health problems, ranging from increased risk of brain and breast cancers to Gulf War Syndrome.

But most of these claims for the various sweeteners have failed to stand up conclusively to rigorous scientific examination. A European report claimed aspartame causes a number of different cancers, whereas an independent panel of experts looking at the same research results found no compelling evidence for aspartame being harmful at the levels permitted in foods and drinks.

With these controversies widely reported in the media it’s not surprising that a quarter of adult Australians now believe artificial sweeteners cause cancer. Experts, though, are generally convinced that any risks are small. And you have to balance these small perceived risks against the very substantial, proven risks to your health from being overweight.

As long as there’s no absolute certainty, experts recommend we limit our intake of artificially sweetened foods and drinks as well as sugary ones – and there is no real substitute for a class of water. Recent surveys have found that some consumers (mainly children) are now exceeding the acceptable daily intake (ADI) for cyclamate. The ADI is the ‘safe’ level recommended by scientific experts; there’s a substantial safety margin and consuming more than the ADI over a short period isn’t necessarily a health risk, but on a regular basis there might be cause for concern.

‘Contains phenylalanine’

You’ll see this warning on any product sweetened with aspartame because when it breaks down in the body, one of the products produced is the amino acid phenylalanine. This is a health hazard for people born with the rare hereditary disease phenylketonuria (PKU). Their bodies have a problem breaking down phenylalanine, so it builds up in the blood to levels that can cause brain damage.

To prevent this from happening they have to limit their intake of phenylalanine from all sources, including common protein foods such as meat and milk. It’s not a warning that needs to worry you if you don’t have this rare condition.

Did you know?

Some artificial sweeteners were discovered by chance — or sloppy laboratory practices.

Ira Remsen, one of the discoverers of saccharin (in 1879), was working on the chemistry of compounds made from coal tar, but noticed a sweet taste after not thoroughly washing his hands before dinner.

Michael Sveda was developing an anti-fever drug when he discovered cyclamate. He was a smoker and noticed a sweet taste after momentarily putting his cigarette down on the lab bench.

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