“Splenda: Is it Any Better Than Other Artificial Sweeteners ?”
The best-selling artificial sweetener around the world is Sucralose, marketed as Splenda, and found in tens of thousands of processed food products sold in 90 countries. It is several hundred times sweeter than ordinary table sugar (sucrose). Splenda is specifically marketed for weight loss or to manage diabetes but studies some show that it tends to worsen both of those problems. Sucralose was approved for use as a sweetener in 1998. Before approving sucralose, the FDA claimed to have reviewed 110 human and animal studies, when in fact, only 2 of the studies were on humans. Most of the controversy surrounding Splenda is the way it is advertised, “Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar.” This makes it similar to aspartame and saccharin and with similar adverse health effects. Actually, it starts with cane sugar but has three chlorine molecules added to it, which makes it “unnatural” and not metabolized by the body. The fact that it is not metabolized is what makes sucralose non-caloric. Reported symptoms include, seizures, dizziness, migraines, allergic reactions, weight gain and increases in blood sugar, blurred vision and gastrointestinal issues. After gaining approval by regulatory agencies in the U.S. and Canada (and other countries) in the 1990s, sucralose-based Splenda overtook aspartame-based Equal and NutraSweet and saccharin-based Sweet’N Low as the leading brand artificial sweetener in the U.S. market.
