The Danger of Splenda

Sugar is a word which seems to be synonymous with the word American. Americans consume products with large amounts of sugar. This has been the cause of a host of health problems in the United States including obesity and diabetes. The corporate solution for the growing concern with the amount of sugar in processed foods is to substitute it with fake sugar. Artificial sweeteners have been around for many years now, and have included such brand names as Sweet and Low, Equal, and the newest in the craze- Splenda.

Splenda is supposed to be the new breakthrough in artificial sweeteners. Commercials about Splenda involve caring people serving their loved ones products made with Splenda instead of sugar. What those advertisers don't want us to know, however, is feeding our loved ones this product means feeding them something which more closely resembles DDT than any natural food source.

The reason for this boom in Splenda popularity has to do with the fact that it has been presented as "natural" because it is "made from real sugar." The FDA perpetuated this myth with its press release about Splenda being made from sucralose, that which is naturally found in sugar. The FDA actually has no formal definition of natural, however.

Independent researchers (those not funded by any large companies) have claimed that Splenda actually is more related to pesticides than sugar. This is because the bonds holding the compound together are more like chlorocarbons than salts, and pesticides are largely made up of chlorocarbons. This means that the molecules are chlorinated.

The human body does not really recognize Splenda as a food, and this is why it is so low in calories. Most of the Splenda ingested cannot be digested by the small intestine. However, the healthier the digestive system, the more likely the body is to absorb the chlorinated molecules. This is the explanation of the danger Splenda poses.

Another danger concerns the testing which has been done with Splenda. Apparently, tests on laboratory rats concluded that Splenda causes shrunken thymus glands and enlarged liver and kidneys. However, because these tests were not performed on humans, the FDA claimed that they were inconclusive. This means that humans are the true guinea pigs of Splenda, and that long-term side effects have yet to show themselves. Our children will show the long-term effects of Splenda.

The fact is, no one really knows what this latest craze in low-cal tastiness will produce. It may be perfectly safe, and it may be very dangerous and harmful.

Pick, Marcelle. 2007. Sugar substitutes and the potential danger of Splenda. www.womentowomen.com. Retrieved 3-6-07.