"
This fascinating article got me thinking. You know how people are always trying to scare me and my family off of Splenda. Believe me, they do! Thing is we know it is BS because we have had copious quantities of Splenda over almost 20 years and my boys grew up on Splenda. They don't exhibit any weight problems at all - in fact, they have the body fat % of athletes! At my eldest son's age (27), Ian and I were already beginning to have to watch our weight but the boys are still fine. Granted they work out and are very muscular so that definitely does help. None of us have health problems that we can attribute to Splenda.
Now I almost have proof positive that Splenda is inert and passes safely through the body. Even if it sticks around in the body for a short while, nothing is going to react with it and it will pass out of the body as a result. Now, not to say Splenda is perfect. Far from it! I really don't like maltodextrin too much and here is the article I wrote recently about it.
The scientists have discovered that sucralose is turning up in nature. This has them worried and they've been concerned that the Chlorine component of sucralose will break down, separate and cause big trouble in the environment. Thing is, they threw everything at sucralose and could NOT break it down at all. This is good news! It means it is totally inert, indestructible to heat and useless to the body - so it passes safely through and into the environment, where it seems it is not doing any mischief either.
Quote: "The resilience of sucralose may be a good thing in some ways. The researchers note that its resistance to degradation keeps it from breaking down into highly toxic chlorinated compounds."
Some people complain that the flora in the tummy is upset by Splenda. Actually it simply does not contribute to providing food for the flora as sugar does. Sugar creates yeast and other things eat the yeast. Now there is Nevella, a Splenda product with more powerful probiotics than yogurt!
So much for the scaremongers! This is still probably one of the best and safest artificial sweeteners on the market! Here is one of my older more interesting articles about Splenda safety from my point of view.
Go ahead and use your own preferred sweeteners in my recipes. Splenda Granular offers almost no volume or texture in my recipes.
Here is the article from Discovery News by Tim Wall: June 23, 2011
"Sucralose, the artificial sweetener in Splenda, is one tough molecule.
The chemical passes right through the body, then through sewage treatment systems and out into surface and ground waters looking the same as it did when it was stirred into a cup of coffee.
No one knows how the ever-greater amounts of sucralose release into the environment affect the ecosystem. But research published in Environmental Engineering Science shows that the artificial sweetener is indeed making it through traditional water filtering systems.
The study’s authors, Arizona State University researchers Cesar Torres and Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, recently studied the path sucralose follows from humans to rivers and other bodies of water.
“Sucralose is a chlorinated sugar. Some of my work focuses on bioremediation of chlorinated organics,” says Krajmalnik-Brown in an ASU press release. “I know that many are toxic and they are more difficult to biodegrade than the non-chlorinated counterparts. Because of this, I became interested in sucralose and its fate in the environment.”
Samples of wastewater were taken from seven wastewater-processing plants in Arizona. For at least 48 days, the water was run through both anaerobic and aerobic biological batch reactors, systems designed to use natural processes to break down wastes. None of the samples showed a significant decrease in the amount of sucralose present.
Another set of experiments looked at the effects of chlorine, ozone, and ultraviolet light on the sucralose. Those three methods are used in the final stages of wastewater treatment, but none proved effective at breaking down sucralose.
The resilience of sucralose may be a good thing in some ways. The researchers note that its resistance to degradation keeps it from breaking down into highly toxic chlorinated compounds.
Sucralose could even be used to label water sources and trace wastewater as it flows into the environment.
Sucralose is already in more than 4000 products and the number of new products containing it increased by 14 percent in 2010. As the artificial sweetener continues to grow in popularity, we may want to keep an eye on where it ends up. It may well be there for a long time."