What is Splenda?

Splenda is a brand name product, comprised of sucralose, an articifical sweetener, and other chemical “bulking agents”. It is know by its chemical additive code, E955, within the European Union. It is about two times as sweet as saccaharin (another chemical sweetener) and four fold as sweet as aspartame. It is produced by adding chlorine atoms to sucrose. This chemical bond ensures that Splenda is extremely stable in high heat conditions, making it great for baking and for use in products requiring a long shelf life, such as frozen foods.

Dangers of Splenda / The Splenda Controversy

Although Splenda has been touted by its manufacturers as the magic silver bullet for dieters and low-carb lifestyle fans, its safety and potential for long term side effects have come into question.

The FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) seemingly approved Splenda and sucralose for use as a food additive to large scale manufacturers, however there’s been a great deal of debate questioning just thorough their testing methods were. For example, the FDA has never formerly announced whether their tests were performed on humans and/or animals. Their tests, along with those of Splenda’s own manufacturer, revealed signs of shruken thymus glands, atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus, increased cercal weight, lowered red blood cell count … and the list goes on. In one small scale test of Splenda on diabetics, the FDA found a significant increase in glycosylated hemoglobin, which could potentially lessen the subject’s control over the diabetic condition. In short, the long-term dangers of Splenda are entirely unknown, and there are zero studies currently underway to determine same.

More about the potential dangers of Splenda »