Splenda: The Newest Artificial Sweetener and Why You Should Avoid It

Have you ever looked around while shopping and noticed that more and more items these days contain artificial sweeteners? If you have, you're not alone.

Upon shopping at my local Marks & Spencer grocery store and purchasing what I felt would be a highly nutritious (and delicious) set of natural yogurts filled with exotic fruits, I discovered that I had made the unfortunate mistake of falling victim to misleading labeling. On the package, in very small letters, the yogurt read: "contains sugar and other sweeteners." Other sweeteners. I've gotten very used to seeing this lately. I try to make it a general rule to normally read all labels and check the list of ingredients on items that I purchase. Today, however, I slipped, and as a result had to toss out the yogurts that I had bought.

Up until today, I had considered myself something of an expert when it came to sussing out what was wholesome and what was not. I could spot fruit juices a mile away that have other sweeteners in them as they are usually labeled with a shiny red and bold NEW! and followed by the highly suspicious wording, "Natural," or "Healthy Choice," on them, which usually guarantees quite the opposite in most cases. These things I tend to shy away from as I don't feel that artificial sweeteners are at all natural or healthy.

The companies responsible for making these artificial sweeteners all have a long and distinctively dubious track record. Take aspartame, for instance. Aspartame is the sweetener that is sold under the product names of Equal and NutraSweet and has been on the market since 1981. It is a chemical that can result in the accumulation of formaldehyde in the brain, and has had more complaints than any other food additive available to the public. It has been linked to MS, lupus disease, fibromyalgia and numerous other central nervous system disorders. Some researchers have even linked aspartame with depression, manic episodes and male infertility.

Before aspartame was released to the public, tests on lab rats were conducted for safety purposes. When these tests were completed, the lab rats were shown to suffer the same symptoms and problems that are described above. Nevertheless, the FDA and the makers of aspartame insisted that it was a safe product and suggested that the tests that had been conducted on the mice yielded different results than if they had been conducted on humans. It was afterwards with much fanfare that aspartame was released on the unsuspecting public who were unknowingly being used as guinea pigs. That humans began to suffer the same afflictions that had been seen in lab rats previous to 1981, no one should be surprised at.

It would seem that we have still not learned our lesson today. For a new sweetener looms before us, this one even more insidious than the rest. It is called sucralose and goes by the product name Splenda. Millions of people have been duped into believing that this is a natural product that is just as innocuous as sugar. I've even known people that have baked homemade cookies with Splenda and who swore that it was completely natural, because that is what they had been led to believe by the manufacturers.

What exactly is Splenda and why do so many people believe it's a naturally occurring substance like sugar? It could have something to do with the fact that Its maker, McNeil Nutritionals, purposely misleads the public by advertising that it is "made from sugar and tastes like sugar." It's easy to see how people could get the wrong impression about Splenda with false marketing like this.

After bearing in mind that the FDA itself has no actual definition of what "natural" really is, let us look at how Splenda is made. Splenda is a synthetic compound that was discovered entirely by accident back in 1976 when British scientists were experimenting with a new pesticide formulation. The Splenda molecule is technically comprised of sugar, but with one very glaring difference -- 3 of the hydroxyl groups in the molecule have been replaced by 3 chlorine atoms. This is perhaps why some authorities suggest that Splenda has more in common with DDT than with food.

Remember those aspartame tests that were conducted on lab rats I told you about earlier? Well, guess what. Similar tests were conducted on lab rats with Splenda and numerous problems were discovered. Some of these troubling results include shrunken thymus glands by up to 40%, an enlarged liver and kidneys, decreased red blood cell count, aborted pregnancy, decreased fetal body weights and placental weights, and atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus.

Results like these would hardly indicate that Splenda is safe for human consumption. But, as with aspartame, the FDA has again decided to use the public as a sort of human trial. This does not bode well when even Splenda's makers agree that around 15% of sucralose is absorbed by the body and cannot guarantee us how much chlorine gets flushed out of the body, or even if it does. To date, no independent controlled human studies on sucralose have ever been conducted, nor have long-term (12-24 month) studies ever been done.

It is astonishing just how many products Splenda is found in these days; from children's medications to vitamin supplements, protein bars and powders, popcorn, gum, toothpaste and even water, sucralose is everywhere. Even Ross Products, the maker of Pedialyte, is now using Splenda. Even more frightening is that there is now an agreement between the maker of Splenda -- McNeil Nutritionals -- and PTO Today, which is an organization that provides marketing and fund-raising to parents' associations. This means that your child's school sales could be sponsored by Splenda in the future.

It is exceedingly wise in this day and age to always be cautious whenever reading labels and ingredients. Common sense would indicate that it is perhaps best to stay away from artificial sweeteners like Splenda and when craving something sweet choose instead something healthy, such as fruit. Honey is another natural sweetener that has been used from time immemorial, and, unlike Splenda, doesn't need mass advertising behind it to falsely lure people into believing it is safe.

Remember: whenever in doubt, investigate thoroughly before purchasing or consuming and always go natural!

Sources: http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda, http://www.womentowomen.com/nutritionandweightloss/splenda.asp, http://www.splendaexposed.com