Splenda: Friend Or Foe?

In 1976 scientists at Tate & Lyle Ltd., a large British sugar refiner, and researchers at the University of London discovered sucralose, a no calorie sweetener also known by its brand name as Splenda. Sucralose is a chlorinated chemical compound that is made in a multiple-step chemical manufacturing process. In the process, three atoms of chlorine are substituted for three hydroxyl groups in the sugar molecule sucrose (white table sugar), creating a tightly bonded, highly stable molecule. The tight bonds that hold the molecule together prevent the body from recognizing sucralose as a sugar, therefore preventing it from being metabolized and causing most of it to pass through the body undigested.

Although sucralose has been used outside the United States since 1991, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sucralose for use in the U.S. in April of 1998. It took two years for sucralose to become more widespread, and it was not until 2000 that sucralose was used in many products and available for consumers in grocery stores, restaurants, and retail outlets in its brand form, Splenda. Today Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Specialty Products Company manufactured Splenda and markets it to companies and the public as a sweetener for baked goods, drinks, and other foods. Over 3,500 products contain Splenda, including Orville Redenbacher Microwavable Kettlekorn, Breyer's ice cream, Tropicana Twister products, Kool-Aid, PowerBar Pria Bars, Diet V8 Splash, Propel Water by Gatorade, and Swiss Miss "No-Sugar Added" Hot Cocoa Mix ("Sucralose U.S. Product List").

Splenda is a good sugar substitute for the main reason that it contains virtually no calories compared to sugar that contains 16 calories per teaspoon. The few, fractional calories that are in Splenda come from the common food ingredients dextrose and maltodextrin which are added for volume, however the amount of those ingredients is so small that Splenda still has an insignificant calorie value per serving. The molecular make-up of Splenda allows it to pass through the body unbroken and undigested and then excreted in urine. Unlike sugar Splenda doesn't promote tooth decay and has no effect on insulin or blood sugar levels, the later of which would appeal to people with diabetes. Splenda provides a good-tasting, lower-calorie alternative for those with diabetes, allowing them to experience good-tasting, sweet food and drinks while reducing their calorie and sugar intake at the same time.

Compared to other sweeteners, Splenda fares well above and beyond other artificial sweeteners. When additional chlorine atoms are added to a sucrose molecule the molecule in effect tastes sweeter. In the case of Splenda, the number of chlorine atoms present in the sucralose molecule cause it to taste 600 times more sweeter than tabletop sugar (Truth About Splenda). Other artificial sweeteners don't come close to this: Aspartame (found in NutraSweet and Equal) is only 150-200 times sweeter, and Acesulfame K (Sunette) is only 200 times sweeter ("The Secret DangersÐ'..."). Also, unlike other artificial sweeteners, Splenda does not leave behind a bitter aftertaste, and it remains stable at high temperatures and extreme pH values. Because of this, Splenda is able to stay sweet during cooking and baking, however recipes must be altered and modified because of the dramatic increased sweetness of Splenda. Over 100 toxicity tests have also shown that Splenda is a safer option than other sweeteners. Aspartame and saccharin, two older sweeteners, were deeply studied in the 1980's and were found to cause cancer, but only when consumed in extreme amounts. Splenda users do not need to be concerned with ingesting extreme amounts of the sweetener; a dose of Splenda sufficient to sweeten a serving of baked goods is 1/700th of the FDA's daily-recommended safe amount ("Suralose"). Therefore, when taken in the recommended dosage, the amount of Splenda consumed is extremely small.

However, since Splenda has been on the public market for about five years, it has received a lot of criticisms from consumers, scientists and doctors. One argument comes from a number of consumer, agricultural and health organizations, which claim the marketing pitch for Splenda is misleading and does not accurately reflect the product. Currently, Splenda runs a multi-million dollar advertising campaign with slogans that say, "Think sugar, say Splenda," and "Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar" (Splenda), encouraging the misconception that Splenda is equivalent to natural sugar, which is not true. Splenda is a chlorocarbon chemical that is manufactured in labs and derived from non-sugar-like starting materials, a process that greatly differs from extracting natural sugar, sucrose, which comes from sugar beets and sugar canes (Truth About Splenda).

Another issue with Splenda is that it is a chlorinated compound, meaning it contains chlorine, a carcinogen. Chlorine does not occur naturally in the environment except on some occasions as a rare yellow gas; it is a manufactured substance whose byproducts (organochlorines and dioxins) are fairly toxic because they do not breakdown easily and therefore accumulate in the environment. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), dioxin is 300,000 times more potent as a carcinogen