Splenda is NOT SUGAR -
it is an Artificial Sweetener!
Splenda is the Trade Name for Sucralose
How about adding two teaspoons of DDT to your coffee or iced tea as a sweetener. Sounds ridiculous but if you are using Splenda as a sweetener, you may by only a couple of atoms away from a pesticide. In fact, Splenda (trade name for sucralose) is a synthetic compound discovered by scientists in Great Britain seeking to create a new pesticide.
Splenda is not a natural sweetener - it is an ARTIFICIAL sweetener
Splenda falls into the same category as NutraSweet; Aspartame and Saccharin. And study after study shows conclusively that people who use artificial sweeteners weigh more. Artificial sweeteners have been show to stimulate the appetite.
Claims are being made that Splenda is made from sugar.
The Sugar Association disagrees and is suing Splenda’s manufacturer (McNeil Nutritionals) for making such claims. The fact is that sucralose is a chemical compound. The Splenda molecule is comprised of sucrose (sugar) but three of the hydroxyl groups in the molecule have been replaced by three chlorine atoms, significantly altering the chemical composition.
Food industry representatives state that the sucralose molecule is similar to table salt or sugar. Independent researchers say it has more in common with pesticides because the bonds holding the carbon and chlorine atoms intact are more characteristic of a chlorocarbon than a salt. Most pesticides are chlorocarbons. The food industry claims that just because chlorine has been added to something that doesn’t make it toxic. That being said... those using Splenda (sucralose) are guinea pigs to validate or disprove the theory.
How is Splenda calorie free if it is made from sugar?
Anything that the body cannot metabolize will be calorie free, simply because it can't be used for fuel...but that certainly doesn't make it healthy! Although advertising claims that sucralose is not absorbed by the body, the FDA has determined that as much as 27% of sucralose is absorbed into the digestive system, and then, because it cannot be broken down and excreted, it is stored by the body. Similar chemical compounds have been found to remain in tissues for decades.
No long term studies have been conducted on humans ingesting Splenda. Rats fed Splenda had shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage) and enlarged kidneys and livers. The thymus is a gland that is responsible for the regulation of body weight and it is also critical to the immune system. The FDA ruled that since these studies were not based on human test animals, they were not conclusive. Other critics of the rat study say the shrunken thymus was due to the rats not wanting to eat the sucralose and was a byproduct of weight loss. The rats may be on to something by not wanting to eat the sucralose.
Separate studies show infertility and numbness in the hind legs of male rats, as well as negative effects on the kidneys, livers and spleens of laboratory animals.
Don't be deceived by the spelling
Because the chemical composition of the sucrose in Splenda has been altered, it must now be called "sucralose" on all food labels. For consumers, the words sucralose and sucrose are deceptively confusing. It's easy to confuse the spelling of the two words when trying to decipher a long list of ingredients on a label, like a protein bar for example. Remember, sucralose (with an "L" in the middle) is an artificial sweetener, and sucrose is normal table sugar. (Make a mental note to connect the "L" in artificial, with the "L" in sucralose).
As a food additive, artificial sweeteners aren’t subject to the same safety trials as pharmaceuticals. The food industry and FDA has once again unleashed a questionable artificial sweetener that have made consumers unwitting guinea pigs.
There are healthier sweeteners to chose from. The following list includes a few:
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Sucanat- whole cane sugar with water removed (evaporated sugar cane juice)
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Stevia-from a South American plant called Stevia
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Xylitol-made from fibrous fruit, corn cobs, or from birch bark
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Fruit juice
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Rice Syrup
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Yinnie syrup
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Amasake – made from sweet brown rice
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Maple Syrup
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Agave Syrup
Try to avoid artificial sweeteners, but if you've been exposed, then here's how to get them out of your system
If you have been duped into using Splenda there is a way to get it out of your system. Fulvic (i.e. Vital Earth’s Fulvic Mineral Complex) provides a natural chelation therapy. It detoxifies the body, the liver, and the digestive tract, by attaching to toxic buildup, including heavy metals, and chlorination by-products, where it disarms, neutralizes and removes them as waste products. Fulvic also works as nature’s most powerful antioxidant, neutralizing dangerous free radicals, as well as supplying hormone stimulating micronutrients.
One final word, if you or someone you know has experienced ill effects from the use of Splenda please report them to the FDA via their MedWatch reporting system. Go to MedWatch (http://www.fda.gov/medwatch). Don’t be a silent victim.
Books on the dangers of “excitotoxins”: Artificial sweeteners, MSG
“Sweet Deception”, by Joseph Mercola
"Splenda: Is It Safe Or Not?", by Dr. Janet Hull
“Slow poisoning of America”, by John E. Erb and Michelle Erb
“Battling the MSG myth”, by Debby Anglesey
“Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills”, Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. |
