splenda - yay or nay?

The main thing I want to use it for is to put it on my oatmeal.  I buy the instant oatmeal, but the kind that's unflavored, and boy is it ever UN-FLAVORED!  I was thinking a little splenda would make it more tolerable, since I often am in a hurry and don't have time to chop fruits and such to put in there.

Are there any downsides to splenda?  If not perhaps I'll use it on other things too.

I love the stuff! I haven't heard of any downsides. It bakes great and it doesn't taste weird like other sweeteners. 

I have pretty strong views on artificial sweeteners but I'd rather not get into a long, dragged out debate about it... so I'll give you some other flavour-adding items that you can add to your oatmeal:

- ground cinnamon (this has many health benefits)
- ground clove
- honey
- fresh or frozen fruit
- nuts
- take the dry oatmeal and mix it up with some low-fat yogurt

Hope this helps!

I've heard the rumours about splenda having some negative side effects,
but until I hear anything BUT rumours, I'll continue to eat/drink the
stuff.  Without it, I would probably be about 15 lbs
heavier.  I put it in my kool-aid, spaghetti sauces, and anything
else that needs some sweetening. 

I have a bad reaction to it- migraines and shivers.  BUT.  If you don't, I see no reason you shouldn't use it.  Like any chemical (including the "natural" ones, hello? lactose intolerance? allergies?) there are going to be some people that it doesn't agree with.

I just bought a bag yesterday. Haven't used it yet . It taste fine. But does it really add no calories ?? So... say I made Kool-Aid with it the Kool-aid powder has no calories and the water you add has no calories.... and if you use Splenda wich says it has none. Does that mean that the Kool -aid has no calories once it's made up ???? Not that I drink Kool-aid ...my skinny husband does!!!!! just using Kool-aid as an example. I was thinking about making stewed rhubarb which is only rhubarb water and sugar.

Here is the leading website on the topic of Splenda:

http://www.truthaboutsplenda.com/

This website has a lot of good resources:

http://www.foodanddiet.com/NewFiles/splenda.h tml

Here is a conversation about Splenda being Good or Bad:

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/archive/in dex.php/t-238293.html

Here is an article by doctor:

http://www.wnho.net/splenda.htm

Here is the details and History of Splenda:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splenda

Just type Splenda into Google. You will get all kinds of information. Educate yourself, then decide what is best for you.

I love Splenda! It's a chemical, yes, but I'm going to continue to use it until a doctor comes out and tells me it's going to do more harm than good! I can't eat sugar because I'm Diabetic and have been using artifical sweetner for years. No side affects, and I love that it bakes into food, and tastes just like sugar! I use it in everything!

Yes there are chemicals in Splenda. But there are also pesticides sprayed on the fresh fruit and vegetables we buy, chemicals fed to the cows and chickens we get beef and chicken from, different degrees of chemical poisons in every aspirin, tylenol, and cold medicine you put in your mouth, chemical additives in the tap water we drink, carcinogens in the air we breathe...you see where this is going. I'll take my chances with something that tastes good, doesn't elevate my blood sugar, and might not be very healthy for me. 

I would say to use sparingly and to try the other options suggested, I know I am - I never thought to substitute cinnamon and that is one of my all time favorite flavours!  Thanks Babyd! 

Natural is always going to be the better choice!!  I use splenda very in frequently in herbal tea when I have a sugar craving - sorry I can't stand honey!! And sometimes I will put a light layer on a fresh fruit salad other than that I lay off the sweet stuff because I am totally addicted to sugar and I find it makes me crave more! 

From what my pharmacist brother has told me, the tests conducted to study the artificial sweeteners (in which rats got cancer) fed the rats the sweeteners at highly unlikely levels.  You might get cancer if you eat three buckets of Splenda a day, but that isn't going to happen.

Also, be careful with "truthaboutsplenda.com".  If you look at the bottom of the page, you'll see it's paid for by The Sugar Association.  Of course they don't want you to use splenda - it takes away from their business.  Always watch out for who funds "scientific" studies.

Prior to Splenda coming along I did not use artifical sweetners due to the odd taste.

Now 55 lbs lighter since January and Splenda is a major part of my meal planning now.

I am a child of the 60's and 70's and "better living through chemicals" was a major part of my generations outlook,  for better or worse ;)

PS - A teaspoon of Splenda and a dash of cinamon and a few craisins go into my quick oats every morning.

I have read the FDA report on Splenda and have done a fair amount of research on it. I really see no reason to cut Splenda out. truthaboutsplenda.com (as mentioned earlier) is put together by a company that has a reason to not like Splenda nad to want it to fail. My opinion on the matter is that compared to the health problems sugar poses, Splenda is the safer bet. It's not like table sugar isn't refined itself- if you ever walk past a sugar plant (cane or beet), you will notice right off that it smells like rotting flesh all around it. It hardly seems all that natural to me.

Anyways, a little Splenda in your oatmeal won't hurt you. Occasional baked goods or desserts made with Splenda are fine. If you are really concerned, ask your doctor about it, or just keep it minimal- like on your oatmeal or in your coffee.

I have reservations about it, because who really likes the idea of chlorine in your food?  But, in perspective, it's probably less chlorine than I accidentially drink or absorb through my skin when I'm in the pool.

Like anything with no nutritive value and questionable side effects, I use it measuredly.  I prefer splenda to refind sugar or aspartame.  I use it in my tea, but I am in the process of weaning myself off of it.

My suggestion would be to put a teaspoon or less in your oatmeal with dried, frozen, or fresh fruits.  After a little while, use less and less splenda until you don't need it anymore.  Whole foods ought to have enough flavor to be enjoyed on their own; but  tastebuds get out of whack by artificial super-sweetness. But they can be re-trained.

accidentally drink? how about the chlorine most cities put in their tap water?!? When i moved to the city, it felt like I was drinking out of a hot tub, all the time.

Oh, and there's a ton of chlorine in regular old salt - sodium CHLORIDE.  I hate when people (not you personally, but people, like randomly on the net) latch onto a component chemical, when the compound usually does something TOTALLY different than the pure chemical.  Sodium, for example, in its pure form, reacts endothermically to water- it BLOWS UP.  Chlorine is poisonous.  Together they make yummy salt.

Now, my artifical sweetener of choice is still saccharine, and Splenda gives me migraines.  So I'm just ranting.  but my chlorinated city tap water is supergross and I'm sure I singlehandedly was responsible for most of Brita's profits last year.

hey guys, this is FUNNY! I use splenda plenty, but this is great. gues how they invented it? they were testing pestacide and the scientist todl his helper to "test" the chemicle, well the guy thought he said "taste" so he tasted it and it was sweet. NO joke, lol. then the guy put some in his tea and is reminded, "you knwo that stuff might be toxic" he replys, "eh, we'll live" (got this from an article on the history of artificial sweetneers in the New Yorker, you can go to their web site to read it, it's interesting)
-Barb