Sucralose and Aspartame--do you use Splenda?

I heard some disturbing things about Splenda from a friend, and have spent this morning doing some research--what I found, I cannot in good conscience keep to myself. My mother and I are currently disposing of all splenda we own.

I'm not going to post all of the articles I read through (I went through about 20 websites) but I will include some of what I found most important.

Splenda, which is sucralose, starts as a normal sucrose (sugar) molecule, until three chlorine atoms are added. Chlorine is a toxic substance to humans, and causes everything from birth defects to cancers to all sorts of problems when ingested. So eating splenda (of which on average you retain 15%) means consuming chlorine.

As I was doing further research, one of the articles mentioned aspartame, a long-used sweetener (Equal, and a few others--I forget what exactly) which is even worse than splenda. Aspartame can get through the brain-blood barrior, and can get into the brain and release neurotoxins into the brain.

Neurotoxins are what many species of venomous insects, reptiles, fish, and other carnivorous creatures and plants, use to kill their prey.

This is only part of what I found, and what alarmed me the most of all..but I'll include a few websites as well--and if you want to, google Splenda, sucralose, and aspartame---you'll be shocked at what comes up. I'm not telling anybody to DO anything, just...well...it's worth considering. I found all of these just by typing "Splenda" into the yahoo search engine.

Anyways...

http://www.splendaexposed.com/

http://www.holisticmed.com/splenda/

http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

http://www.mercola.com/2003/nov/8/splenda_dangers.htm

http://www.splendaexposed.com/articl...science_h.html

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

http://www.aspartame.com/

I'll leave it at that. *waves*

I know for a fact that I get headaches with Splenda and other artificial sweetners...

Chemically however, Chlorine is an essential part of your workings in the body.

http://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu.../chlorine.html

Yes...while chlorine is found naturally in mushrooms, salt, and celery, it is not the same form of chlorine humans manufacture. The form we manufacture is not one we can metabolize easily (thus the reason why Splenda is called "no-calorie"---if we could metabolize it, it WOULD have calories) and because of our inability to completely break it down, some of the 15% we retain from the splenda is stored in our fat as a possible source of energy, much the way that some halucinogenic drugs are...this was addressed in one of the articles I listed.

Before we jump onto the hate splenda band wagon (I dont use it), when we are talking molecular science, one chemical bound with another changes the properties completely. So using the chlorine as an example doesn't really do anything for me.

Salt is 2 dangerous chemicals (NaCl, sodium chloride) combined together to give us good ol table salt. It's just chemistry.

Okay, continue with the hate splenda :)

*grin* Connie, you're the best. *loves the 'okay, continue with the hate splenda'*

In any case...I'm by no means an expert. I don't like chemistry, I'm not good at it, I spent all last semester struggling through my basic college chemistry class...so there's no way I'm gonna argue it.

I'm just repeating some of what I read (sans the technical details because that's too boring to type out) and...sharing it. I just figured I'd put the articles out there, cause some of the stuff I was reading is just downright disturbing.

Yes, I actually thoroughly enjoyed chemistry, though I've forgotten just about everything I learned. I prefer real sugar, sweeteners give me a head ache too, and I don't like the taste. :)

For a chemistry look at sucralose, click on the link
http://www.rosalindfranklin.edu/cms/...sucralose.html

I too get those migraine headaches if I use any of the artificial sweetners. One point I wanted to make that even though some chemicals are bad in large quantity, they can be very beneficial in smaller quantities. Flouride comes to mind as one example, and a more extreme case would be chemotherapy.

Anyway, if you were diabetic I think that the advantages would outweigh the cons of taking such a substance. Everything needs to be taken into account for your particular circumstances.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

One point I wanted to make that even though some chemicals are bad in large quantity, they can be very beneficial in smaller quantities. Flouride comes to mind as one example, and a more extreme case would be chemotherapy.

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Being the conspiracy theorist I am, I would have to disagree about the Fluoride. I also want to point out that in a radio interview, the CEO of the company that makes (Sweet'N Low?) admitted that he won't let anyone in his family touch artificial sweeteners.

Ok, I have to ask.... what is the conspiracy about flouride? :oops:

I can't use anything with Splenda as it seriously upsets my stomach and I'm in agony for the next hour or two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

Ok, I have to ask.... what is the conspiracy about flouride? :oops:

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It makes your teeth healthy and tastes good in city water! MMmmm, city water..... delicious

(big fan of treated water here, hate dasani and don't really care to waste plastic and billions of dollars on water that's way over priced and waste products from plastic )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

Ok, I have to ask.... what is the conspiracy about flouride? :oops:

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I've read a lot of negative effects of using fluoride for anything, including the prevention of tooth decay. In the provinces of Canada that add fluoride to the water, there were actually more people with tooth decay than in the provices that don't use fluoride. I just did a Google search for fluoride and this was the 3rd link.

http://www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm
50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation
by Paul Connett, PhD
Professor of Chemistry
St. Lawrence University
Canton, NY 13617

Treated water is icky ug. I grew up with well water every day for the first 22 years of my life. Even after four years of 'city' water I miss the well. :(

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Originally Posted by Entropy

Treated water is icky ug. I grew up with well water every day for the first 22 years of my life. Even after four years of 'city' water I miss the well. :(

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LOL, omg I cant stand well water! Mineraly, copper, sometimes sulpher taste and smell. *PUKE

There are opposites everywhere, I think we just found one :D

Thanks for the link Jake. :gj:

I will have to check that out. My dentist was advising me to look into flouride drops even, but he is an older dentist. Thanks again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tigerlily

Thanks for the link Jake. :gj:

I will have to check that out. My dentist was advising me to look into flouride drops even, but he is an older dentist. Thanks again.

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It's always a pleasure exposing the evil Illuminati to others. :rolleye2:

I’m going to have to say that I do use Splenda in order to make this a two sided discussion. My morning coffee is the main intake of my Splenda. I find that it dissolves and tastes a bit better than sugar. Plus, it doesn’t contain the dreaded calories.

That being said, I understand the major health concern. I looked through the posted links and found no convincing evidence that aspartame or Splenda was a threat. Most of the sites struck me as trying to scare people enough to purchase their books. The most valid website on the list, IMO, was Wikipedia. After reading up on the subject, I came to the conclusion that there is no proven threat to society.

"A study published in April 2006 sponsored by the National Cancer Institute involved 340,045 men and 226,945 women, ages 50 to 69, found no statistically significant link between aspartame consumption and leukemias, lymphomas or brain tumors" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame_controversy).

I have yet to hear of anyone keeling over because they drank to much coffee sweetened with artificial sweeteners. It seems more likely that one should die of heart disease due to eating too many big Macs and whoppers don't you think?

My position is that there is no real danger, but one should practice moderation. Too much of any one thing is never good for you.

-Sean-

A while ago I made a conscious effort to drink less cola... maybe drop a few? :rolleyes: Well... the one thing my hub and I both liked was the diet Lipton green tee! About that time my hub's headaches were double, and very severe... even landed him in the ER... anyway, that's when he started reading about Aspartame and absolutely will not drink anything with it... so yea, umm, we've lost 0 lbs between the two of us :D

Whoa landed him in the ER?! sorry to hear that. Was it withdrawl? or just lots of green tea?! My current vice is 52 oz Diet Dr. Pepper from Quick Trip

Wow.. maybe that is what triggers my migraines? I get them rarely, and one of my triggers is little sleep and getting up early. I had a Killer one this week.. come to think of it, I had drank diet Coke that day.. seriously.
I am really wanting to stop feeding my body this junk. I Love Snapple Iced teas, but hate the diet versions. I actually like it a little watered-down with ice cubes.. it stretches farther And tastes better to me! More "natural" than soda..
Isn't aspartame a proven carcinogen though? How can they even sell it in foods knowing that?

BUT! Well water is Not all bad. Ours here is a tad on the hard side, but it comes from a natural spring, and tastes better than any bottled spring water that I have tried. No odor either.. I have had Horrific well water that Reeked of sulfur.. now That is grosso! I would never buy a house without researching its well and water and even asking the neighbors about water quality.

It's not a proven cancer-causing agent, any more than peanut butter. Remember that report?
If you feed lab rats nothing but one item(almost no matter what it is) then you'll end up with cancer and tumours. Lots of studies show substances are cancer-causing agents, but they are skewed towards finding something wrong.
My husband got migraines from one of the diet sugar subsitutes. I don't. I just like sugar better though, so I rarely use a subsitute, and frankly diet soda? Eww. Nasty.
I discount almost any 'study' or website that says something causes 50 different health issues. Usually something harmful causes a distinct health risk, not a whole bunch of disorders and diseases that don't usually have any proven cause to begin with.
So in short, I don't know that it's harmless, but I also don't know there is any issue with it either.

Meh... I stopped drinking diet pop and all of a sudden never got migraines anymore... Perhaps a coincidense... Either way, a sort of funny one considering all the research. My Dr swore up and down it was the coffee and made me stop drinking it - it made me miserable and I got more migraines because I needed the caffeine of a diet cola in the morning.

Back to a pot a day, no fake sugar and I haven't had a migraine in 8 months after 3 years of having at least one a week.

I'd always thought that perhaps it was just hormone changes or something... Now I'm tempted to buy a few cases of Diet Coke and experiment! lol!!! (I grew up on only diet cola etc - my parents are both Diabetic).