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Let’s face it: if you’re trying to eat a healthy diet, sugar and sweets typically get the boot. Thankfully we have artificial sweeteners that are hundreds of times sweeter than the real deal, but minus all the calories. But artificial sweeteners often get a bad rap. And sucralose, most commonly sold as Splenda, is no exception. Perhaps your mother told you it would cause cancer. Maybe your brother said he read somewhere that Splenda (sucralose) will make your stomach stick out. Or maybe you’re afraid that sucralose’s chemical component, chlorine, is going to damage your organs somehow.
Well, I want to help set the record straight. I dug through mountains of information (some credible, others not so much) to help separate fact from fiction. You might be surprised to learn that I couldn’t find one piece of credible evidence in a peer-reviewed medical journal stating that Splenda (sucralose) is bad for you.
So, let’s get to it. Let’s find out what sucralose is, how it works, why it and other artificial sweeteners have so many naysayers and why the evidence against sucralose doesn’t really have a leg to stand on. But, in the end, you can decide for yourself.

What is this stuff?
To make sucralose, you start with sucrose (table sugar), selectively remove three hydrogen-oxygen molecules, then replace them with three chlorine molecules. Most commonly sold as Splenda, sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar and currently approved for use in more than 80 countries. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved sucralose in 1998 after reviewing more than 110 animal and human safety studies conducted over 20 years. Because of the structure of the sucralose molecule, it is not absorbed by the body (can’t pass through the intestinal wall) and therefore is calorie free, will not raise your blood sugar, and as a bonus, won’t give you cavities.
For the record, because sucralose is so much sweeter than sugar, Splenda is bulked up with maltodextrin, a starchy powder, which also helps it to measure more like sugar. In fact, Splenda is 99 percent maltodextrin and only 1 percent sucralose. So no, Splenda is not a natural product, as is stated on their website. It is a calorie-free sweetener that is made from a process that starts with sugar.
Is it safe?
The current critics of artificial sweeteners, and there are many, say artificial sweeteners can cause everything from sleep disturbances and sexual dysfunction, to Lupus, diabetes and cancer. Back in the 70s, Sweet ‘N’ Low took a big hit when a study linked saccharin to bladder cancer in lab rats. However, according to the National Cancer Institute and other health agencies, no sound scientific evidence exists that saccharin or any other artificial sweetener approved for use in the United States today cause cancer or other serious health problems.
But if you surf the ‘net for “sucralose,” the hits regarding the hazards of this artificial sweetener are endless. If you look closer, you might start questioning the source of the information. One website, www.truthaboutsplenda.com, for example, shows a little girl staring at a plate of cookies with a terrified look on her face under the banner, “Do you know what your children are eating?” However, when reading the fine print at the bottom of the screen, you will find that the website was created by The Sugar Association (which represents beat and cane sugar farmers of America).

Another site featuring Dr. Janet Starr Hull, who wrote, Splenda: Is It Safe Or Not?, touts the “harmful effects” of the chemical component in sucralose, chlorine. But, Hull earned a bachelor’s in geology, she has no medical degree, she is not a registered dietician, but she does have a “PhD” in holistic nutrition (from a non-accredited correspondence school that suddenly closed in 2010 without refunding millions paid by current students who are now suing the college). From her website, she is selling two books, hair analysis tests, a detoxification kit and nutrition counseling. All that aside, I took notes on the most common of these “toxic side effects” and went looking for data to support the websites claims.

How can I find credible information?
To find what is considered to be credible research, it is important to look at studies published (on paper, not just online) in peer-reviewed medical journals because you know the study was done by a credible MD or PhD, that the testing methods and data collection were properly executed, and an adequate amount of subjects were included to make the study’s findings statistically significant and valid. The peers who review are also MDs or PhDs, not someone who posted an opinion online. A great place to find these studies is www.pubmed.gov, a service of the Unites States National Library of Med-icine, which provides free access to MEDLINE, the NLM database of a wide variety of science journal articles. Here is what studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals showed about sucralose.

One study conducted on rats and published in Food and Chemical Toxicology in November 2010 found that sucralose did not harm or effect any of the rats’ genetics. Genetic changes, when they do occur, can lead to cancer. A previous study published in the same journal, compared sucralose and its two main metabolites (the substances it breaks down to when metabolized in the body) to a known neurotoxic artificial sweetener, 6-CG. The study found no changes in the central nervous system (CNS) of the mice and monkeys taking sucralose and its metabolites, but did find CNS damage from subjects taking the 6-CG. Another study found that repeated exposure to sucralose in newborn baby rats (comparable to 1 to 4 week old humans) did not result in any damage to their brains or their behavior as adults.
The most “damning” study, which comes from Duke University, reported that in rats, Splenda increased body weight, decreased beneficial intestinal bacteria and might interfere with the absorption of nutrients and drugs. But when this study was examined in depth by a panel of credible medical experts, the results (published in peer-reviewed journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology) were “deficient in several critical areas” and that “the study conclusions are not supported by the data presented.”
The only animal study I found showing any harmful effects of sucralose was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology in 2000. For this study, rats were fed 1, 2.5 and 5 percent of their daily food consumption in sucralose for 4 or 8 weeks. There were no toxicologically significant effects observed at the 1 percent or 2.5 percent dietary levels. However, the rats administered 5 percent sucralose, showed decreases in food consumption, weight gain, and tissue changes in their spleen and thymus.
Before you get all worked up about these results, let’s think about this in human consumption amounts. Splenda, according to the package, has 0 calories per serving (1 tsp) based on a 2,000 calorie diet. For our purposes, let’s say it has 1 calorie per teaspoon. If a person eats a 2,000 calorie diet, he or she would have to consume 2 cups of sucralose a day – and don’t forget that Splenda is only 1 percent sucralose – so you would need to consume around 200 cups of Splenda per day for 4 to 8 weeks to match the rats in this study. That’s a lot of Splenda!
According to the FDA, research shows sucralose to be well tolerated and “showed no indication that adverse effects on human health would occur from frequent or long-term exposure at the maximum anticipated levels of intake.” A repeated dose study of sucralose tolerance in human subjects published in Food and Chemical Toxicology in 2000, showed that human blood chemistry, urinalysis and EKG tracings were unaffected by sucralose administration for up to 12 weeks. A 13-week tolerance study published in this same article found no changes in the subjects’ vision or eye structure.
Another study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in December 2003, ran a multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study on subjects with type 2 diabetes who were given doses of sucralose approximately three times the estimated maximum daily intake. The results showed “no clinically meaningful differences between the groups in any safety measure” and that sucralose was “as well tolerated.” I did find one case study in the journal Headache published in 2006 of one female subject who had migraine headaches triggered by sucralose.

But isn’t chlorine bad?
Remember, each sucralose molecule has three molecules of chlorine attached to it in a form called chloride. First of all, because the sucralose molecule cannot pass through the intestinal walls, it is never absorbed into the blood stream, and therefore no chlorine makes it into your system. But, if you are still concerned about chlorine, let me put your mind at rest.
Chlorine is essential for humans to live, you would literally die without it. According to the book, Clinical Methods, published on the National Center for Biotechnology Information website, chloride (the same form as found in sucralose) is in your blood and in the fluid surrounding all of the cells in your body. Chloride carries an electrical charge in the body, like sodium and potassium, which is why they are called “electrolytes.” This electrical charge allows your nerve cells to work, allows muscles to contract (including your beating heart), and helps regulate, along with sodium and potassium, your body’s fluids and pH balance. Stomach acid is made of hydrogen and chlorine (hydrochloric acid), which we need for proper digestion. And, unless you have certain kidney diseases, chloride does not build up in the body, it is filtered out of the blood by the kidneys and excreted in urine. If you need even more convincing, I’m willing to bet that you put chlorine on your food at almost every meal. Table salt is a combination of sodium and chlorine called sodium chloride.

So folks, what have we learned?
First, don’t believe everything you read. Research the claims using credible data. Second, sucralose is a safe artificial sweetener. It will not give you cancer, won’t affect your vision, change your genetics or damage your central nervous system. It doesn’t harm your intestines, cause gas or bloating. Medical literature shows that, like most things, when used in moderation, sucralose is a safe and well tolerated artificial sweetener.
If you don’t tolerate it for whatever reason, like the lady with the migraines, don’t eat it. As far as weight loss is concerned, Splenda can help in terms of cutting out calories from sweets, but it is not the answer. If you eat a healthy diet and exercise, you will shed pounds (surprise!). Plus, you can safely save a few calories by drinking diet beverages or putting that yellow packet in your coffee or tea. MS&F