Good morning. This article is long and in-depth, but it may be one of the most important things you read this year. If you are a consumer of artificial sweeteners, and Splenda in particular, you MUST read this in its entirety.
I want to share a personal story with you today about my consumption of Splenda artificial sweetener and the ensuing health nightmare I experienced. After thoroughly researching artificial sweeteners and Splenda in particular over the last several weeks, I can guarantee you that the information you are getting from the companies that market Splenda and the FDA is untrue and in fact a lot of critical information and research on artificial sweeteners has been actively hidden from us by these same organizations.
As many of you know from working with me as your trainer, I am very health conscious and careful about what I put into my body. I do not take prescription or over the counter drugs, I don't smoke or drink alcohol, and I eat a diet of mostly organic fresh foods, not to mention I exercise constantly. Within the past year I began to experience some serious health problems, including memory loss, headaches, severe knee pain, bloating, and depression. I have no previous history of any of those symptoms prior to this year. After these problems did not go away for several months despite my healthy habits, I realized that about a year ago was when I started to use Splenda in the place of sugar in my beverages, 2 packets a day to be exact. It was the only thing I could think of that I consume regularly that is artificial, and that I realized I really don't know much about. I had bought into the marketing hype, as many of you have, that Splenda is the no calorie sweetener that passes through our bodies unmetabolized, and of course it is "made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar". I can tell you today that these claims could not be further from the truth about Splenda. After only 7 days of not consuming Splenda, ALL of the symptoms I listed above that I had been experiencing for months were virtually GONE. And my symptoms were mild in comparison to some of what you will see later in this article.
Here is some basic background on Splenda: It was accidentally discovered in 1975 by a graduate student in London who was working in a lab trying to create a new insecticide. He accidentally tasted his end product and discovered it was 600 times sweeter than sugar. Splenda was initially denied approval for 11 years (1987-1998) by the FDA. Today Splenda (sucralose) is owned by McNeil Nutritionals LLC, which is owned by Johnson & Johnson. As of 2005, Splenda had yearly sales of $187 million and is present in over 4,500 food products in the United States. The real chemical name for the innocent-sounding sucralose is "1,6-dichloro-1,6-dideoxy-beta-D-fructofuranosyl-4-chlo
ro-4-deoxy-alpha-D-galactopyranoside". It is no accident that the makers of Splenda made up the name sucralose, which sounds very much like sucrose (sugar) and fools us into thinking this is a natural product.
First let me list the claims that Splenda makes on their web site and their packaging, and then we will examine each one closely and reveal what the research really shows (that is, the research that was not paid for by the makers of Splenda and submitted to the FDA to get Splenda on the market as an artificial sweetener; for those that don't know this, as I didn't, the FDA routinely relies on research paid for, conducted, and submitted by the VERY COMPANIES that stand to PROFIT from a food, drug, or food additive's approval. That is how the FDA gets their information on the safety of the products and drugs we consume, as ridiculous as it is.).
Claims by Splenda
· Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar
Sounds nice; that's why Splenda has made it their number one advertising slogan. Splenda is actually made through a 5-step laboratory process that does start with sucrose, which is then turned into "sucralose" with the use of the following chemicals: trityl chloride, acetic anhydride, hydrogen chlorine, thionyl chloride, methanol, dimethylformamide, 4-methylmorpholine, toluene, methyl isobutyl ketone, acetic acid, benzyltriethylammonium chloride, and sodium methoxide. You may recognize some of these harsh chemicals as known carcinogens.
The resulting molecule is classified as a chlorinated hydrocarbon (chlorocarbon) or organochlorine. Some other organochlorines, and the sister chemicals to sucralose, include:
- DDT, an insecticide banned in the U.S.
- Dicofol, an insecticide banned in many countries
- Methoxychlor, an insecticide shown to be a neurotoxin
- Chlorobenzilate, an insecticide banned in the U.S.
- Aldrin and Dieldrin, pesticides banned by the EPA in 1974
- Chlordane, an insecticide banned in the U.S. in 1988
- Trans-Nonachlor, an insecticide banned in the U.S. in 1988
- Heptachlor epoxide, an insecticide known as a possible carcinogen
- PCBs, electrical insulators banned in many countries
- Pentachlorophenol and tetrachlorophenol, insecticides known to have a 60% death rate upon skin penetration
- Hexachlorobenzene, pesticide banned in the 1970s
- Dioxins, chemical by-products known to harm humans
- Vinyl chloride and PVC, plastics components linked to cancer and birth defects in humans
- Phosgene, a lethal respiratory poison used for chemical warfare
- Mustard gas, a lethal respiratory poison used for chemical warfare
- Chloroform, an anesthetic and solvent banned in the U.S.
- Dichloromethane, a solvent known as a possible carcinogen
- Dichloroethene, a solvent that causes nervous system disorders in humans
- Trichloroethane, a solvent banned in 2002 for destroying the ozone and causing unconsciousness and death
Would you add any of these to your food? Splenda is the only organochlorine ever approved and used for human consumption in food.
In order to avoid the association of Splenda as an organochlorine, McNeil Nutritionals conveniently made up a whole new classification called "chloro-carbohydrates". Again this is a completely made up class of chemicals to avoid association of Splenda with other organochlorines.
· Sucralose passes through the body undigested and unmetabolized
McNeil claims that Splenda passes right through our body unabsorbed. Not true. Organochlorines are known to be fat-soluble and to accumulate in organs and tissues that are high in fat, including our brains. Once there, they are permanently stored. The actual human studies on Splenda showed that up to 27% of the product is metabolized in your body, and the only subjects that have been studied for absorption of Splenda are healthy, male subjects. That seems to leave out quite a bit of the population. Our livers are responsible for filtering toxic substances after digestion. So up to 27% of Splenda will go to your liver, possibly causing damage to this organ over time, and whatever amount the liver can't handle will be permanently stored in your fat cells and the fatty tissues of your organs. Also, keep in mind that metabolism is the process of breaking down chemical structures into fragments; in the case of sucralose, the metabolic byproducts can include 21 different chemicals (2 hydrolysis products, 14 chlorinated compounds, and 5 intermediates).
· Sucralose is not actively passed across the placental barrier or the mammary gland in pregnant women
Studies clearly show that Splenda enters the brain, the fetus, the placenta, and the amniotic fluid, peaks after a period of 24 hours, and then drops slowly.
· Splenda is a "no-calorie" sweetener
One packet of Splenda actually contains 99% sugar, 1% sucralose, and 4 calories. All of this at 316 times the price of regular sugar. As long as Splenda keeps the serving size under .5 grams of sugar and 5 calories per serving, labeling laws allow them to call the product sugar and calorie free. In light of this information, it is deplorable that one of the marketing claims of Splenda is that it is safe for diabetics and does not raise blood sugar. Studies show that in fact Splenda does raise blood sugar at a similar rate as regular sugars.
· Splenda can be used almost anywhere you use sugar in cooking and baking
The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for sucralose states, "if subjected to elevated temperatures, it may break down with the release of potentially hazardous decomposition gases including carbon dioxide and hydrogen chloride". For those of you that don't know, hydrogen chloride is a toxic, corrosive gas that you should never inhale. There have been reports of people collapsing while baking with Splenda, complaining of symptoms feeling "as if battery acid had been poured into their nostrils" and as if they had "swallowed hot lava". By the way, foods normally don't have an MSDS sheet; chemicals do.
Sucralose and the Environment
Sucralose production is also a disaster to our environment. The Splenda plant in McIntosh, Alabama is ranked in the top 80-90 percentile among the worst United States plants for environmental releases. The plant releases over 9.5 million pounds of production waste yearly, including cyclohexane, dimethylamine (ranked as one of the most hazardous chemicals to ecosystems and humans), N,N-dimethylformamide, nitrates, phosgene and chlorine (used as poison gas warfare in World War I), 3,3-dichlorobenzidine, dihydrochloride, creosotes, dimethyl sulfate, N-methylolacrylamide, N-nitrosomethylvinylamine, propachlor, acetaldehyde, 2-nitropropane, and 1,4-dichloro-2-butene. The makers of Splenda have plans to complete construction of a new $175 million sucralose plant in Singapore by the end of 2007.
How Much Has Splenda Really Been Studied?
There are 84 published studies on sucralose. Only 15 of those studies were done on animals or humans and specifically looked at safety; only 5 of the studies have been human trials. Of the 5 human trials, only 191 people total were studied. Most of the studies submitted to the FDA by McNeil Nutritionals are unpublished and are not available to public review. I would really like to know why. What is in those studies? In addition, 98% of the studies done on sucralose have been funded by the company that markets the product as Splenda. Can we trust the results of those studies? $187 million of McNeil's income depends on how they design and conduct the studies and report the results.
You should also know that many prominent chemists, biochemists, and pharmacologists have publicly stated that they would NEVER touch Splenda. Animal studies on sucralose had the following symptoms observed:
- Reduced growth rates
- Decreased red blood cells
- Shrunken thymus
- Decreased thyroid function
- Mineral losses
- Decreased urination
- Enlarged colon
- Enlarged liver and brain
- Shrunken ovaries
- Enlarged and calcified kidneys
- Increased adrenal cortical hemorrhagic degeneration
- Increased cataracts
- Abnormal liver cells
Side effects from sucralose consumption that have been observed and reported in humans include:
- Severe skin rashes
- Wheezing
- Coughing
- Shortness of breath
- Tightness in lungs
- Dry mouth and sinuses
- Swelling of the face, eyelids, lips, tongue, and throat
- Headaches and migraines
- Stuffy nose or runny nose; sneezing
- Bloodshot, itchy, swollen or watery eyes
- Bloating
- Gas pain, constipation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea
- Chest pains and heart palpitations or fluttering
- Joint aches and pains
- Seizures
- Anxiety
- Anger
- Panic attacks
- Insomnia
- Dizziness
- Mood swings
- Depression
- Bleeding without clotting
- Blood in urine
- Menstrual delay
- Night sweats
- Numbness of the limbs
Most of the information for this article was obtained from the book Sweet Deception, by Dr. Joseph Mercola, which thoroughly summarizes all the research done to date on Splenda. I highly recommend this book; it is the most important and shocking book I have read in a long time. There is also a web site: www.sweetdeception.com.
As my symptoms from consuming sucralose continue to disappear, I feel so lucky that I made the connection and discovered what I have about Splenda, as terrifying as those discoveries are. Splenda is a testament to the power of marketing in this country and the government's (and FDA's) lack of ability to protect us as consumers. It is truly up to us to educate ourselves about our health. The government, the pharmaceutical and food industries, and the FDA are not going to do it.
As a side note, if you are thinking you will just switch back to aspartame or saccharin, think again, and please read Dr. Mercola's book, as those substances have even more research than Splenda as to their toxic effects on humans
