Sucralose and Splenda: Safety Concerns

Splenda uses sucralose as it’s sweetener, although the packets are largely filler so that the same amount of Splenda and sugar are approximately just as sweet as each other.Initially, I wasn't sure how safe sucralose really is. Many say that it's completely safe, but is it true?Are there side effects?

Of course there are side effects.  There are side effects with everything.Additives, medicines, fat, sugar, and even fruits all have some kind of side effects.  Especially if you consume an exhorbitant amount of any of them.For example, certain vitamins and minerals in carrots can cause your skin to start to change color to orange if you eat too many carrots.  You won’t suddenly look like a carrot or an orange, but your skin will start to change color.

So, what are the side effects of sucralose and, by extension, Splenda?  Sucralose can cause immunological problems, lower the good bacteria in your intestines by up to 50%, and even cause DNA damage!sounds horid, right?  There's a catch, though.It would take a large number of packets of Splenda to cause these problems, though.One study shows that between 68 and 680 packets of Splenda per day can cause the lowering of your good bacteria for a 150 pound person.  So, if you limit yourself to around 10 packets per day, there’s virtually no danger of that.  For the more serious problems, though, the required amounts of Splenda are absolutely massive.  In order for Splenda to cause immunological problems, the same person weighing 150 pounds would have to ingest around 17,200 splenda packets per day for approximately a month.  Good luck with testing that one.  That is a whole lot of Splenda.DNA damage can actually occur if you have around 11,450 packets per day, but even that is just too ridiculous to imagine somebody doing unless it was on purpose!

But, what would happen if you had that much sugar instead?The general guidelines say that 40 grams of sugar per day should be your maximum.1 packet equals 1 gram, so 40 grams of sugar equals 40 packets of sugar.68 to 680 packets of sugar a day could lead to a whole world of problems, including lethargy, obesity, and diabetes.  But if you had 17,200 packets of sugar per day?  You would probably pass out and potentially go into cardiac arrest from ridiculously high blood sugar!Even if you don't die as a result, you'll surely develop diabetes in just a few days, which is probably a world record… one that I would recommend trying not to break.Table sugar doesn't seem to be any safer than Splenda, and in some ways, it seems worse.

But what about other artificial sweeteners like aspartame?  Well, I would do some research before trying any others, but since Splenda and sucralose is widely regarded as the safest of them, why would you go for anything less?