WTF is Splenda?

Natural?

Every morning I’m usually the first one the in the office. This means I’m the first to unlock the doors, the first to turn on the lights and always the first one to make coffee. Here’s the problem – I’m too lazy cheap to buy milk/cream and sugar so my first cup always contains this strange chemical concoction known as Splenda. Sure I could probably go across the street and steal some cream and sugar, but that would involve…. going across the street.

So this morning I did a little bit of research to try and figure out what exactly I’ve been putting into my body. Here’s a quote from the official Splenda site that features videos of parents happy about giving it to their kids:

Mom looks so pleased

SPLENDA® is the brand name for the ingredient sucralose. It is made through a patented, multi-step process that starts with sugar and converts it to a no calorie, non-carbohydrate sweetener. The process selectively replaces three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms. Chlorine is present naturally in many of the foods and beverages that we eat and drink every day ranging from lettuce, mushrooms and table salt. In the case of sucralose, its addition converts sucrose to sucralose, which is essentially inert. The result is an exceptionally stable sweetener that tastes like sugar, but without sugar’s calories. After consumption, sucralose passes through the body without being broken down for energy, so it has no calories, and the body does not recognize it as a carbohydrate.

Sounds confusing and chemically acceptable right? (pfft, like I would know) Then I stumbled upon another site known as The Truth About Splenda.

Go Duke!

Quoting a study done at Duke University, this is what they have to say:

Splenda is not natural; it is a chlorinated artificial sweetener. There have been no long-term human studies on the safety of Splenda; however, issues have been raised about Splenda in a new study from Duke University.

According to the study, Splenda “suppresses beneficial bacteria and directly affects the expression of the transporter P-gp and cytochrome P-450 isozymes that are known to interfere with the bioavailability of drugs and nutrients. Furthermore, these effects occur at Splenda doses that contain sucralose levels that are approved by the FDA for use in the food supply.”

Evidence indicates that a 12-wk administration of Splenda exerted numerous adverse effects, including (1) reduction in beneficial fecal microflora, (2) increased fecal pH, and (3) enhanced expression levels of P-gp, CYP3A4, and CYP2D1, which are known to limit the bioavailability of orally administered drugs.

So basically Splenda is not what they say they are. To save you the headache of looking up exactly what those smart kids over at Duke are talking about, I’ll summarize it as simply as I can… Consuming too much Splenda will decrease the amount of helpful acids in your digestive system and could potentially limit the effects of any orally administered drugs in the future.

So contrary to many beliefs, Splenda probably isn’t as natural as they say they are. In fact, over consumption might not even give you super powers. I don’t think I’ll be using Splenda anymore.