Artificial Sweeteners, Splenda

Hello,

I've been using splenda for a few months and I've been researching a bit about it. It seems that the sucralose contained in Splenda can cause shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage) and enlarged liver and kidneys. Is there anyone here who has used Splenda on a regular basis and can comment on that?

I'd also like to know how using artificial sweeteners like Splenda can effect healthy eating and dieting. I generally use Splenda in cereals, oatmeal, tea, and coolade for the kiddies.

Thanks, MT

Im pretty sure those effects are only on rats and things like that (and then, its from being fed their body-weight in splenda a day or some crazy amount...). So basically, doesnt really have anything to do with normal (or even human) consumption.

I hear some people have a rare condition that causes issues with splenda (i think?) so that might be something to look into.

Other then that, splenda is really helpful for dieting! Its in a lot of diet foods.... just lowers the calories while still letting you have sweetness.

There are always two sides to a coin.

Its impossible to know for sure.

I've done a decent amount of research regarding the different types of artificial sweeteners and still can't come to a conclusion...

I'm no professional so take this with a grain of (low-sodium LOLOLOL) salt

I look at splenda (and any other "sweetener") as a processed food.  It is not something that you're going to find in nature and every fiber in my being screams in horror at the thought of ingesting any of it. (and no, I'm not a food nazi in the strictest sense -- I'll eat boxed mac & cheese and the occassional canned soup, but I try to do most of the foods around here myself)

Aspertame (nutra-sweet) gives me horrendeous migrains (found this out after accidently ending up with a diet lemonade at the movie theater).  That just drove home that fact that I wasn't supposed to eat that crap.

My body can process honey & real sugar.  As long as they're in moderation, it's not going to kill me. 

Like I said though, I'm no scientist and "they're" gonna give you stats to confirm both sides (good and evil).  Oddly enough, honey and regular sugar have never been associated in anyway with cancer or any other weird health risks -- just the normal health risks   I can't argue with eons of ancestors that used and survived them both. 

Im pretty sure everything is toxic ...just depends on the concentration. And most things are processed...so...

You know what they put in all the foods you eat? the colorings and all types of things! Its just they dont get as much attention for some reason (i guess because people dont really use them at home and only eat them from packages....and they arent as likely to look at the package closely).

Splenda might end up being really bad... but for now, there isnt anything that would suggest it (even after all attempts to find something).

They cant try to prove that its NOT going to hurt you ...they can only try and prove that it will (and so far, they cant outside of crazy concentrations....water and salt will kill you in a lot lower concentrations btw).

I just dont understand why people are so afraid of it (and so strongly against it) without any info to support it. I understand the headaches thing, but that doesnt mean its dangerous... just means it doesnt work for you (and thats fine, i understand that). But other people who have no issues with eating it are so strongly against it for no reason! Drives me crazy!

I just live by the rule to try to keep it as natural as possible so I use no kind of artificial sweetner.  Keep it simple!

Personally I've found that artificial sweeteners make me REALLY bloated/gassy (I'll look like I'm about 4 months pregnant). And I really detest the gross aftertaste they leave in your mouth.

I think it just depends on the person. It's like cigarettes, some people can smoke a pack a day for the rest of their life and never get any health problems, while others will end up getting lung cancer just from second hand smoke.

If you are using artificial sweeteners, and you haven't had any problems, it's probably fine to continue to do so. But decide for yourself, there's tons of research out there (some legit, some not).

Not to act a bit full of myself or anything, but going by the headaches comment, I'm going to play like that last post was directed at me.   (sorry, others have snuck in here since I started typing -- that should now read like post 4 was directed at me )

Yes, I'm very aware of what goes into the foods I and my family eat.  They get plenty of attention around here.  Everything from Dannon All Natural Yogurt and organic milk or hemp milk to making my own breads.  Not a granola girl (or as I mentioned earlier, a food-nazi), but you put icky stuff in and your body will make sure you know it

I never said anyone else *shouldn't* have it (splenda).  I simply pointed out why I don't.  If the splenda factory blows up tomorrow, it's not like we (as a people) can just go out and pick some more to have it ready tomorrow.  And for me, that means that it's made in a lab somewhere with some sort of chemical extruding going on.  Unlike, say, bananas...  there's no factory to worry with -- go pick some more.  The beauty of free-will is the option to choose for yourself what you would like to put in you.

And no, not "most" things are processed.  Most canned/boxed items are processed.  But if you scour the perimeter of a store and keep the middle aisles to a dull roar, you've eliminated a lot of processed foods.

And as far as "I just dont understand why people are so afraid of it (and so strongly against it) without any info to support it.", for MANY years cigarettes were promoted and promoted and everyone was told they were safe safe safe....  well, guess what?  Everyone needs to weigh their options and choose for themselves based on their own eyes and experiences.  NOT what they read by the companies that make a product or the ones that are dead set on destroying a company.  Or just go with your instincts   If mine are wrong, I'm not out anything.  But if they're right.... 

And wow.  If I came off sounding like some psycho-b***h on a soapbox with that first post, my apologies -- I was simply giving the imaginary 3rd side of that coin and maybe a  bit of something for others with the same dilema (to use it or not to use it) to think about.  I'm way too much of a hippie-chick to ever give consideration to spending much energy on trying to make others do what I do. 

 

I eat some products with Splenda in them, but I am not a Splenda user at home.  I always figured, sugar only has about 16 calories a teaspoon.  That's really not much.  I never saw the point of putting splenda in my tea and the one time I bought Splenda and tried to bake with it, the banana bread didn't brown.  Ultra-weird.  That turned me off and I never bought Splenda again.  It's not sugar or made from sugar, as far as I'm concerned, no matter what they say. 

 It probably can't harm you in small doses though, just like anything else.

My husband was diagnosed with Diabetes 2 four years ago.  He was referred to a clinic at the hospital with a nurse and diatician who advised him on food and other things to take care of (foot care etc).  He was told to replace all sugar with Splenda and to eat/drink diet type beverages and foods containing sugar alternatives.  They also told him that unless he had an intolerance/allergy to the sugar alternatives that the dosage a normal user would have could never harm him.  To date we use Splenda white and brown sugar for all baking and cooking purposes and drinks/foods have sugar alternatives with no adverse reactions.

I can only share my experience with artificial sugars. For about a month, I was buying only the sugar free products. Anything with sucralose in it and yogurt that says "Naturally sweetened with Splenda". I thought, if it's natural, it should be all right. Sucralose and Splenda are still being passed by as natural sweeteners here, even if they're not. So I bought a bunch of things. Yogurt, Jello, frozen yogurt, cookies and so on. Since the Yogurt was only 40 calories, I thought it be safer to eat it and same with the other foods that was sugar free. I ended up consuming 6-8 of those products daily for about a month.

A few weeks later, I started having jabbing pains in my gut that would jerk me awake, my face gotten a red lining over the nose and cheek, was having gas build ups and diarrhea. I decided to do some research on sucralose, and found there were other people that been having the same symptoms as me from consuming it and some gotten even worst and been hospitalized. It really is 50/50 chance of being affected by it or not. Because I was taking such high quantities of it, my body couldn't handle it anymore. I decided to test it out and went off the products with sucralose and bought ones with real sugar instead. There was a bit more calories in them, but my health is more important than to worry about that. A few days later, I gotten better, and over a week all to most the symptoms were gone.

I'm not diabetic or anything, so no point of me eating the artificial sugars. Same foods get made with real sugar and taste better anyways. So it really is your choice. Because of my experience, I wouldn't recommend it, but to each, his own.

Edited: lol, I messed up the saying "to each, his own" Just corrected it now 

Highly recommend trying it. Has helped a lot with the weight loss, and so far have suffered zero symptoms of any sort.

Still use honey and brown sugar occasionally for specific things, but I regard Splenda as just another chemical. Of course, all those natural things we put in our bodies are just chemicals as well. Pretty much everything on earth is either an element or a chemical (A chemical is a combination of two or more elements). So the alternative to putting chemicals into your body is ...... starvation. I don't think I care to try that one.

I also don't plan on going back to non-pasterized and homogenized full fat milk, though it never caused me any issues growing up.

Plan on keeping on eating foods with all those additives to preserve freshness and flavor too, despite what you hear, food poisoning is a lot less common these days than it was 50 years ago or more.

Oh well, to each his own.

I have been using splenda since it came out. It is a byproduct of sugar which is a result of processing cane sugar into table sugar. I am a type 2 diabetic, I was diagnosed a couple of years ago and was put on Metformin 2X/day then advanced to insulin when I got pregnant and after I lost the baby, my obstetrician wanted me to stay on it for tighter control in case i conceived again but now that I am losing weight, excercizing and using strictly splenda...no sugar whatsoever, I am off of everything. I still monitor my blood sugar 4X/day but I am not taking anything and my sugars are in the normal ranges and I havent really had to give up anything....I just traded sugar for splenda and you really cant tell the difference. My mom who swears she cant stand any artificial sweetener, doesnt even know the difference when she comes to our house. Besides, hospitals have even replaced equal and sweet'n'low with splenda on the trays of all their diabetic patients and being a nurse, I havent met a patient yet who prefers the "blue" or "pink" over the "yellow" one. And its no calorie just like the others, only tastes better.

My kids are not allowed to have artificial sweeteners in anything.  I don't consider them safe for consumption.  They drink mostly unsweetened oolong or barley tea or water, milk and occasionally real fruit juice.  We also occasionally make them popsicles from fruit juice.

 

It's hard for me to understand why people would want to bring their kids up with a sweet tooth from chemical sweeteners, when it's just as easy to give them unsweetened tea.  Mine have been drinking it since they were toddlers.

There have been more complaints to the FDA about aspartame than all other food additives put together.  And sucralose is sugar molecularly bound to CHLORINE.  YUM!

 

No thanks.  I don't need the chemicals, and I need only very little real sugar.  Jack LaLanne was right. 

I've been using it since it came out. I love the fact that I can drink sweetened soda and tea, eat sweetened oat meal, etc. without having to incur the caloric penalty of using sugar or honey. I'm not sure I could have stuck on a diet this long (since Feb) without it because I would have had radically to have changed my diet. While I could do that for a short time, I'm not sure I could have done it permanently.

I've never tried baking with it, but am interested. I was thinking about swapping out the sugar in my cranberry sauce this year with it and then adding some sure-jel to make up for any lack of gelling caused by the Splenda. A cup of sugar has 774 calories in it, a cup of splenda has 96 calories and a 1/2 cup of Splenda sugar blend has 384 calories, a 1/2 cup is used per cup of normal sugar a recipe uses. In the case of my cranberry sauce, I could get away with just the regular Splenda because I'm just using sugar for the sweetness, not the texture or moistness factor like in baking.

I'm actually starting to become curious here with a pattern I noticed. We have a saying. If the first man who walked this earth would appear in our time, he'll die  instantly on the first breath.

Our bodies are use to the toxins it grew up around. I wasn't born in north america or anywhere near north america.  So the artificial sugars were new to my family here. Because I wasn't brought up on those chemicals in the artificial sugars, which could be why my body rejects it. 

The people who claim they have no problems with the sweeteners, also say they were taking them since they came out.

Lets see how many people this applies to. How many who have no problem with the artificial sugars after long term consumption grew up on it, and how many haven't? How many who's body reject the sugars, are not familiar with the chemicals used in them, or are familiar? When I say familiar, I mean through consumption.  

I use splenda in moderation. (In tea and coffee and yogurt)It is a big calorie saver for me, because I only aim for a few hundred calorie deficit a day.  I eat a balanced and healthy diet with very few processed foods, and I went from a size 12 down to a 6-8.  I think it may give some people digestive problems, but they may be using a TON!  Try it, and if you like the taste Go For It!  It has been shown that people who have alot of tastebuds(supertasters) don't like any artificial sweeteners. 

Aspartame causes cancer in Rats, not humans.

I've never used it in my life until I read that, which was a couple days ago. I only put it in tea, which helps me with my water consumption, considering it's hard for me to get a lot of water plain.

I don't buy the "but it doesn't occur naturally in NATURE!" argument because neither do a lot of other things we put into our bodies. Flu shots don't occur naturally in nature. Seedless watermelons did not occur naturally in nature.

Give me a break.

kick the sweet-tooth habit. no one needs superflurous sugar. sweeten cereal with honey - yogurt with fruit - and drink, honey or not at all.

 

 

Original Post by udokier:

 And sucralose is sugar molecularly bound to CHLORINE. 

And.....?   I understand the objection to artificial sweeteners, but that chlorine is in it is kind of a non-sequitur.

Salt = sodium molecularly bound to.....chlorine.