Sometimes I find inspiration, and sometimes it finds me.  I was recently contacted to endorse a product that flavours and sweetens water.  Product names such as natural lemon and natural peach seem legit and at first everything was just, well, peachy! Then I stumbled upon that nasty little “sweetened with sucralose” line that makes me cringe! There is nothing natural about sucralose, otherwise known as Splenda. Use your brain on this one:

Artificial sweetener = Substance messed with using chemicals = Not fit for human consumption!

The creation of sucralose involves substituting 3 hydroxyl groups (hydrogen + oxygen) on the sugar molecule with 3 chlorine atoms. Have you ever felt the need to drink chlorine? Alternatively, sucralose can be made from ingredients that don’t even include sugar! Sucralose was intentionally and improperly named with the suffix -ose, a move that serves to fool you into believing it is natural (such as fructose, sucrose, and glucose).  The reason sucralose contains no calories is because the molecule has been changed so much that the body doesn’t even recognize it as food!  Manufacturers claim that this alien molecule passes through the body unchanged.   Animal researchers have found that it does not, in fact, just pass through the body.  And, some of it breaks down into a molecule known as 1,6-dichlorofructose (just think chlorine + fruit sugar). There have only been a handful of human studies on sucralose, and no long-term studies at all. Better yet, there have been no long-term independant studies.  This means that most studies have been controlled by the manufacturers, who desperately do not want to show that sucralose is harmful to the body! Before sucralose was even approved for human consumption, animal studies indicated potential toxicity! It’s aspartame all over again.

Adverse effects reported in pre-approval research include:  Shrunken thymus glands (by up to 40%!)(E056), enlarged liver and kidneys (E057 and E161), atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus (E051, E056, E0151), increased cecal weight (E151), reduced growth rate (E057), decreased red blood cell count (E055), extension of the pregnancy period and aborted pregnancy (E134), decreased fetal body weights and placental weights (E032), and diarrhea.

I believe most of these adverse effects are due to the body expelling this toxic substance. (Note: liver and kidney enlargement and atrophy of cells in the lymphatic organs,the spleen and thymus)  Diarrhea is obvious…the body is saying “GET OUT!” The body knows when it is in a good enough state to produce a body, and since it is trying so hard to rid itself of this toxic substance, it will have less energy to grow a baby!  If you’re having trouble conceiving, I suggest you get yourself to a holistic practitioner straight away, and get your body healthy before heading to a fertility expert.

There are many alternatives to drinking poisonous diet drinks that will keep your waistline slim.  Water is the most hydrating and slimming thing I know! But what if you don’t like drinking water, you ask?  Well, do you like being alive? Then I’m sorry to say you’re going to have to suck it up and drink up!

But seriously, try these tricks to jazz up your water:

• A squeeze of lemon, lime, orange, or grapefruit.
• Cut up some cucumber and marinate it in a big jug of water.  So yummy!
• Got a blender?  You can obtain natural peach, kiwi, mixed berry, etc. just by throwing some fruit into the blender with your water.
• On the run?  Throw any of the above into a water bottle and you’re good to go!

Personally, I am not willing to be a guinea pig and wait 10 or 15 years to see what this toxic substance does to my body! I’ve already felt the effects of aspartame, so I’m on a chemical-free diet these days.  Are you?

Sources:

Food and Drug Administration “Final Rule” for Sucralose, 21 CFR Part 172, Docket No. 87F-0086.

Hull JS. Splenda – Is it Safe or Not? The Pickle Press, New York: 2004.

Lord, GH, Newberne PM. Renal Mineralization – A Ubiquitous Lesion in Chronis Rat Studies. Food Chem Toxicology 1990 June; 28:449-455.

Labare MP, Alexander M. Microbial Cometabolism of Sucralose, a Chlorinated Disaccharide, in Environmental Samples. Applied Microbial Biotechnology. 1994 Oct;42:173-178.

Hunter BT. Sucralose. Consumers’ Research Magazine, Oct 1990,Vol. 73, Issue 10, p.8-10.

Maudlin RK. FDA Approves Sucralose for Expanded Use. Modern Medicine, Oct 1999, Vol. 67, Issue 10, p57.

Sucralose – A New Artificial Sweetener. Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics, 07/03/98, Vol. 40, Issue 1030, p.67.

Q&A: Is Newly FDA Approved Sweetener Sucralose Good For You? Executive Health’s Good Health Report, Nov. 1998, Vol. 35, Issue 2, p.6.

Gain B. FDA Approves J&J Sweetener. Chemical Week, 04/15/98, Vol. 160, Issue 14, p.27.