Sucralose and Aspartame--do you use Splenda?

[Seneschal]

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*

[LadyOhh]

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

[Seneschal]

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.

[littleindiangirl]

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

[Seneschal]

*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.

[littleindiangirl]

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

[tigerlily]

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.

[PythonWallace]

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.

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.

[tigerlily]

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

[Entropy]

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