What's the news on Splenda®?

May 7, 4:31 PMSacramento Nutrition ExaminerAnne Hart

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The role of sweeteners on cancer risk and other health issues has been widely debated over the last few decades. What alternatives to sugar can you use that are safe other than letting a big breakfast keep neuropeptide Y from stimulating your appetite at four in the afternoon for sweets?

Tasting sweetness can trigger cravings for more sweets. One trick to avoiding sweets is to drink a cup of chicken broth instead to which you've added cooked beans, barley, and onions.

Another trick noted in the article, "So Long, Sugar!"  by Meghan Rabbitt, reports a suggestion by Nicole Egenberger, ND, a NYC naturopath published in the June 2009 issue of Natural Solutions, page 77. The naturopath Nicole Egenberger recommends "Applying a few leaves of the gymnema sylvestre plant directly to your tonque, and then chew and swallow."

You can also reduce sugar cravings by cutting the salt in your diet, if you eat a lot of salt. See the article, Too Much Sugar? Cut the Salt in Natural Solutions, published September 1, 2008.

In the article, "So Long, Sugar!"  in the June 2009 issue of Natural Solutions, Dr. Egenberger's solution to the sugar-craving problem explains that the reason why a few leaves of the gymnema sylvestre plant works is that, "Its anti-sweet saponins temporarily alter the way you experience the taste of sweets." 

Maybe you should skip sweets altogether. But in baking, what can you add to sweeten your brownies and cookies? How about fruit? What research actually is out there that makes the news about how people are reacting to alternative sweeteners?

Last year the news was about aspartame (Nutra Sweet®) in diet sodas possibly causing everything from cancer of the esophagus, diabetes, hypertension, seizures in people, insulin resistance problems, and running fits in dogs. Studies are conflicting. That's why you need to do your own research and talk to health care professionals that study the evidence.

Next in the media was news that Splenda® might cause fast heart beat problems and anxiety, among other issues. Fifty years ago it was saccharin causing cancer. But now saccharin has been excused and put into toothpaste. What's next? Can you use anything other than fruit and refined sugar? You could use Turbinado raw sugar, honey, or dried fruits. Maybe you're tired of food product labels saying evaporated cane juice has been added. You know very well that it's sugar.

I don't use sugar. Instead, when making cookies, sometimes I use a table spoon of fruit juice concentrate. Other times I use dried fruits--diced dates, figs, bananas, nectarines, or raisins. There’s always that jar of organic raw honey for the cookies, or the maple syrup or molasses. 

I don’t use chemical sweeteners such as aspartame (NutraSweet) or sucralose (Splenda®). But that’s my family’s choice based on our individual metabolism, responses, and genetic makeup. See the Endurance Library articles on sweeteners.  Also, see an interesting article at the site on Simple Sugars and Complex Carbohydrates – An Incompatible Combination.

There are lots of articles about studies on Splenda on the Internet. It's the wild west out there. Check out the SPLENDA® (Sucralose) Safety Facts and Information  site, and get both sides of the story. To do your own research, also go to the site called The Truth About Splenda®.

When I attend the local state fair each year, often I see several demonstrations of equipment that makes pretty good fresh fruit smoothies. The only problem is that last year they sweetened their juice, cooking, and baking demonstrations with the chemical sweetener sucralose (Splenda®). When I told them it was healthier to use fruit to sweeten fruit juice smoothies, one of the demonstrators replied, “but my boss told me to use Splenda®.”

Several years ago, I brunched in San Francisco with my physician (internal medicine) son-in-law and physician son, (neuroradiologist), and both their families, including their nine children. We discussed using stevia.

I told them to research the news in medical journals and/or online to see whether stevia  is safer to use. Stevia is a natural sweetener that has been used for centuries in other countries such as India. I told them I never sweetened my green tea with anything, but used fruit in my baking such as cherries, blueberries, dates, figs, and raisins.

When my physician son-in-law, complained of physical symptoms such as tachycardia after eating the sugar substitute, Splenda® I began to research this product to see whether other people were reporting similar symptoms of rapid heartbeat and anxiety after consuming the same sweetener. Local health food stores had numerous brands of sugar substitutes.

Check out some of  these studies on sucralose, and decide for yourself. This had been the first time two physicians in their mid-forties had asked my advice about a sweetener they never actually researched before our brunch discussion. In the book, Splenda® Is it Safe or Not? Dr. Janet Starr Hull discloses the research documenting the negative effects on the liver, spleen and kidneys of laboratory animals. In addition, she reveals research results of infertility in male rats and gastrointestinal problems in pregnant rats fed Splenda.

According to research referenced in the book, Splenda® Is it Safe or Not?, "giving sugar-free chemicals to your children or using them during pregnancy may be harmful to a child's emotional and physical maturation and to the normal development of a fetus." Fewer studies currently exist on sucralose. More studies are available on other sweeteners.

On the other hand, see the study, "Artificial sweeteners and cancer risk in a network of case–control studies."  That study's conclusion was that, "The present work indicates a lack of association between saccharin, aspartame and other sweeteners and the risk of several common neoplasms."

So you decide for yourself and keep researching. Results applying to your individual needs are out there. Have there been enough studies yet, or would you like to see more research? There haven't been too many studies yet on sucralose compared to all those studies on saccharin and aspartame. Keep on researching.

See a sample newsletter published by Endurance News in a PDF file online. Endurance News  provides the following table below showing the number of studies that have been done on sweeteners as determined by MEDLINE.  

Sweetener Number of Studies:

Saccharin 2374
Aspartame 598
Cyclamates 459
Acesulfame-K 28
Sucralose 19

According to the site, Healthyagain.biz, in terms of safety, it is not just the original substance (sucralose) that one needs to worry about. As the FDA notes, "Because sucralose may hydrolyze in some food products...the resulting hydrolysis products may also be ingested by the consumer."

See: the abstract of the Duke University study at informaworld that researched how “Splenda® Alters Gut Microflora and Increases Intestinal P-Glycoprotein and Cytochrome P-450 in Male Rats,” abstracted in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health.  

On March 2007, Citizens for Health, the national grassroots advocacy organization committed to protecting and expanding natural health choices, established a Splenda® Side Effects Hotline. The site notes, "To report side effects or adverse events, please call toll-free, 1-888-774-CALL (2255)." Also see the Citizens for Health article, "NutraSweet®, in Tandem with Splenda®, Nails Consumers Again." 

According to the Globe Newswire (Minneapolis) James Turner, chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health "expressed shock and outrage after reading a new report from scientists at Duke University." Turner noted, according to the Globe Newswire, that "The report makes it clear that the artificial sweetener Splenda® and its key component sucralose pose a threat to the people who consume the product."

Hundreds of consumers have complained to Citizens for Health about side effects from using Splenda. The 2008 study was published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Part A. What do you think? Should various types of sweetener packages have  warning labels? See Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Part A. 2008;71(21):1415-29. According to that study, Splenda® alters gut microflora and increases intestinal p-glycoprotein and cytochrome p-450 in male rats.

In that study, in the animals studied, researchers found that "Splenda® reduces the amount of good bacteria in the intestines by 50%, increases the pH level in the intestines, contributes to increases in body weight and affects the P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in the body in such a way that crucial health-related drugs could be rejected."

James Turner, chairman of the national consumer education group Citizens for Health, noted in the Globe Newswire release that the P-gp effect "could result in crucial medications used in chemotherapy for cancer patients, AIDS treatment and drugs for heart conditions being shunted back into the intestines rather than being absorbed by the body as intended." Also see an article on Splenda® in Consumers Research magazine.

Also see, Splenda®- Is it Safe or Not? In the Medical Letter on Drugs & Therapeutics, according to The Sucralose Toxicity Information Center, "sucralose is broken down "into small amounts of 1,6-dichlorofructose, a chemical which has not been adequtely tested in humans."

Medical Letter on Drugs & Therapeutics reported on July 3, 1998; (1030) pp. 67-68 that "Sucralose (Splenda® − McNeil Specialty) has been approved by the FDA for use as a nonnutritive sweetener in beverages, baked goods and other foods, and as a tabletop sugar substitute (Fed Reg, 63:16417, April 3, 1998)."

According to Medical Letter on Drugs & Therapeutics, "Other non-caloric sweeteners available in the USA include saccharin (Sweet’n Low, and others), aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) and acesulfame potassium (Sunette − Medical Letter, 30:116, 1988)."

 Internet Posts or Article  Titles - 2006-2009 on Splenda®:

• 01/15/09 - New Splenda®, Sucralose Study Reveals Shocking Potential Harmful Effects
• 08/15/08 - Update on Splenda Lawsuit Filed by Sugar Industry
• 06/27/08 - Splenda® Advertising Legislative Hearings in California
• 06/19/07 - Some Soft Drinks May Seriously Harm Your Health
• 05/15/07 - Equal, Splenda Settle Lawsuit Over Ad Claims
• 04/ 6/07 - Makers of Artificial Sweeteners Go To Court
• 03/26/07 - Citizens For Health Says Splenda Causing Health Problems
• 01/30/07 - Sweetener Soured
• 09/24/06 - Bristol, Connecticut, schools join state program to limit artificial sweeteners, sugar, fats for 8800 students
• 08/ 7/06 - Excess Soda Could Raise Esophageal Cancer Risk