I'm sure you're not alone in having assumed that. Nor does anyone seem to be doing much to challenge the government's decision. Alas they can pretty much rely upon the apathy of the British public in matters like this... But let's not get me started on that particular rant!

Obviously we can only speculate at the real reason the government banned it. Their official line is that it hasn't been tested sufficently to be proven safe...

Which is odd, really, because the chemical alternatives have indeed been tested and proven to have major flaws. But why let a little thing like that stand in the way of big business eh? Suffice to say there is much talk of behind the scenes intervention from the makers of aspartame et al.

I've been trying to find the URL for the full government report so you could judge for yourself, but what was popping up top of the list on a google search only a couple of days ago seems to have mysteriously disappeared now.

Meanwhile I just read an interesting article at http://www.whatreallyworks.co.uk/st...?article_ID=247 which makes reference to a substance called fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS for short!). Obviously "fructo" flags it up as containing fruit sugars, but the ingredients listed look hopeful, so it would be interesting to know the carbohydrate content and creation process involved in it...

Lest I repeat the jelly bean incident, I'll make a hasty note I'm only talking about the article itself... not the sugar alternatives suggested at the bottom!

Hope that helps a little. I'm fairly hopeful at the moment of establishing a UK source for the plant although, as I say, should that fail you can always order in the seeds online from the US and grow your own.