Blends of artificial sweeteners such as saccharin and cyclamate produce less of a bitter off-taste than each of the individual components, but the explanation for this puzzling phenomenon has been elusive ever since its discovery more than 60 years ago. A study published September 14th in the journal Cell Chemical Biology solves this long-standing mystery, revealing that saccharin inhibits the activity of bitter taste receptors stimulated by cyclamate and, conversely, that cyclamate reduces the off-taste elicited by saccharin.