Splenda- not the "better" sweetener

I used to buy the huge yellow bags of Splenda.  Dumped it in everything.  I believed the company when it said it was "sugar with no calories".  In this journey of mine I have learned quite a few things about foods and additives that I had been putting in my body for years. 
 When I found out about the dangers of Splenda 6 months ago- I literally threw away an almost full bag of the poison sweetener. 


(Gasp!) 


I know.  


There went a good $10 down the drain....or into the landfills.  


But $10 of something not found in nature was not going into my body.  

So here is why Splenda is NOT the "better" sweetener:




1. The most misunderstood fact about sucralose is that it is nothing like sugar even though the marketing implies that it is.

Sucralose was actually discovered while trying to create a new insecticide.

STOP!!!

READ THAT SENTENCE AGAIN!!!

It may have started out as sugar, but the final product is anything but sugar.

2. Sucralose is made when sugar is treated with trityl chloride, acetic anhydride, hydrogen chlorine, thionyl chloride, and methanol in the presence of dimethylformamide, 4-methylmorpholine, toluene, methyl isobutyl ketone, acetic acid, benzyltriethlyammonium
chloride, and sodium methoxide, making it unlike anything found in nature.

With what? 

Gross! 

And I was putting THAT in my body all those years!

3. If you read the fine print on the Splenda web site, it states that "although sucralose has a structure like sugar and a sugar-like taste, it is not natural."

BIG RED FLAG right there, people!

4. The name sucralose is misleading. The suffix -ose is used to name sugars, not additives. Sucralose sounds very close to sucrose, table sugar, and can be confusing for consumers. A more accurate name for the structure of sucralose was purposed. The name would have been trichlorogalactosucrose, but the FDA did not believe that it was necessary to use this so sucralose was allowed.

5. The presence of chlorine is thought to be the most dangerous component of sucralose. Chlorine is considered a carcinogen and has been used in poisonous gas, disinfectants, pesticides, and plastics. The digestion and absorption of sucralose is not clear due to a lack of long-term studies on humans. The majority of studies were done on animals for short lengths of time. The alleged symptoms associated with sucralose are gastrointestinal problems (bloating, gas, diarrhea, nausea), skin irritations (rash, hives, redness, itching, swelling), wheezing, cough, runny nose, chest pains, palpitations,anxiety, anger, moods swings, depression, and itchy eyes. The only way to be sure of the safety of sucralose is to have long-term studies on humans done.

6. Splenda is a product that contains the artificial sweetener sucralose, but that is not all that it contains. Sucralose does have calories, but because it is 600 times sweeter than sugar, very small amounts are needed to achieve the desired sweetness so you most likely won't consume enough to get any calories. The other two ingredients in Splenda are dextrose and maltodextrin, which are used to increase bulk and are carbohydrates that do have calories. One cup of Splenda contains 96 calories and 32 grams of carbohydrates, which is often unnoticed due to the label claiming that it's a no calorie sweetener. Because this is found in so many products and can be used in cooking, it can be possible to consume 1 cup or more each day. For people with diabetes, this is a significant amount of carbohydrates, and for people who are watching their weight, this can be a problem. Consuming an additional 100 calories a day can result in a weight gain of 10 lbs. per year!

7. A good rule of thumb: Only eat food that your great grandmother would have recognized as food. Splenda is a new, manufactured, edible sugar-like substance created in laboratories. It is not food.

8. Although it is marketed as "made from sugar," it is not sugar.

Sucralose is made by chemically altering the structure of sugar molecules by adding chlorine atoms in place of hydroxyl groups. Sucralose is therefore chlorinated sugar; a chlorocarbon.

A WHAT???

9. Chlorocarbons are poisonous; they're used in bleach, disinfectants, insecticide, poison gas, and hydrocholric acid. Because it technically started as sugar, sucralose can be marketed as "made from sugar."

10. If you look at the research (which is primarily extrapolated form animal studies) you will see that in fact 15% of sucralose is absorbed into your digestive system and ultimately is stored in your body. To reach a number such as 15% means some people absorb more and some people absorb less. In one human study, one of the eight participants did not excrete any sucralose even after 3 days. Clearly his body was absorbing and metabolizing this chemical.

Not good my friends, not good. 

So if you have the big bag of yellow poisonous chlorocarbons....do yourself a HUGE favor...dump i t, flush it, do science experiments with it.

But don't put it in your body.


Try Stevia instead......your body will thank you later