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I was asked to write this by one of my dearest friends in the fitness industry. I am constantly getting after him for using products that contain this ingredient. He wanted to understand and have something he could share with others, so here it is. (I normally try to make my writing short but this required something a little longer)
The History: How sucralose came to be is a graduate student misunderstood, to “test” a chlorinated sugar, as a request to “taste” a chlorinated sugar. This is chlorinated sugar. It is not rocket science to understand how toxic chlorine is to the body. In my book “Willing to Change, Can You Beat Your Genetics?”, I talk about why even chlorinated water should be avoided, not just drinking it, but also bathing in it. The main thing you should know about chlorine is it weakens immune function, setting you up for cancer and all kinds of health challenges, and lets not talk about the people who currently have cancer or have had it.
OSHA States: Any animal that eats or drinks chlorine is at risk of cancer. Chlorine is a carcinogen and if your child were to get into it, there are emergency procedures. Besides, the most important fact of all, chlorinated sucrose is found nowhere in nature!!!!! Even the manufactures of Splenda/sucralose made this statement: “No artificial sweetener made in the laboratory is going to be neither natural to the body nor safer than unprocessed sugar.” Now lets talk about some of the other hidden ingredients in sucralose.
Did you know if a product has ingredients that are proven carcinogens, but is less than 2% of its total makeup, that they don’t have to list it on the label!!! 98% of sucralose is chlorinated sugar but here is what makes up the 2%:
Acetone, Acetic acid, Acetyl alcohol, Annmium chloride, Benzene, Chlorinated sulfates, Ethyl alcohol, Isobutyl ketones, Formaldehyde, Hydrogen chloride, Lithium chloride, Methanol(wood alcohol), Sodium methoxide, Sulfuryl chloride, Trityl chloride, Toluene, and Thionyl chloride. You might want to google some of these ingredients, you will be more horrified.
The manufacture only claims that there is a minute amount of this, but no one knows for sure. What about the people that take this product in large amounts on a daily basis? What about all the body building supplements alone that people take in large amounts on a daily basis, or the guy that drinks a 12 pack of soda with this in it? How much of these carcinogens are they taking in?!!
The manufacture claims that it is not all absorbed in the intestines, but what about the other organs that it passes through? The liver, for example, would definitely recognize it as a toxin, not to mention the massive amount of insulin response that this product creates.
The manufacture claims no absorption, the FDA claims 11-27% absorption, and the equivalent to our FDA in Japan claims 40% absorption. What is the truth?!!
Here is what they found when they fed Splenda/sucralose to research animals:
Unexplained Death, Shrunken Thymus gland, Enlarged liver and kidneys, Atrophy of the lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus, Reduced growth rate, Decreased white blood cell count, Hyperplasia of the pelvis, Extension of the pregnancy period, Aborted pregnancy, Decreased fetal body weight and placental weight, Chronic diarrhea, and Maternal gastrointestinal disturbance. That is quite a list!!
The web site lists a variety of consumer complaints from Sucralose/Splenda consumption, such as: Gastrointestinal problems, Migraines, Seizures, Dizziness, Blurred vision, Allergic reactions, Blood sugar increases, Weight gain.
Dr. Mercola had this to say: “Splenda Has NEVER Been Proven Safe for Human Consumption
As of 2006, only six human trials have been published on Splenda. Of these six trials, only two of the trials were completed and published before the FDA approved sucralose for human consumption, and the two published trials had a grand total of 36 total human subjects.
36 people sure doesn’t sound like many, but wait, it gets worse: only 23 total were actually given sucralose for testing, and here is the real kicker — The longest trial at this time had lasted only four days, and looked at sucralose in relation to tooth decay, not human tolerance.
Even more shocking, the absorption of Splenda into the human body was studied on a grand total of six men! Based on that one human , the FDA allowed the findings to be generalized as being representative of the entire human population. Including women, children, the elderly, and those with any chronic illness — none of whom were ever examined.
The FDA claims they reviewed over 100 studies conducted on Splenda. What they don’t tell you is that most of the studies were on animals. And, those animal studies reveal plenty of problems, such as:
Decreased red blood cells — sign of anemia — at levels above 1,500 mg/kg/day
Increased male infertility by interfering with sperm production and vitality, as well as brain lesions at higher doses
Enlarged and calcified kidneys (McNeil stated this is often seen with poorly absorbed substances and was of no toxicological significance. The FDA Final Rule agreed that these are findings that are common in aged female rats and are not significant.)
Spontaneous abortions in nearly half the rabbit population given sucralose, compared to zero aborted pregnancies in the control group
A 23 percent death rate in rabbits, compared to a 6 percent death rate in the control group.”
A new study shows that your fat absorbs it! This is quite different from what was previously thought. This is ultimately what is stored in your body and would contribute to the body hanging on to fat to protect it’s self from this toxin. I will write at a later time the new research that shows that your toxic load determines your ability to burn fat.
Splenda/sucralose and Weight:
According to the patent information, Splenda/sucralose is marketed as being 600 times sweeter than sugar, but it’s sweetness can vary up to 4,000 times sweeter.
I have taught for years that the brain cannot tell the difference between a non-caloric sweetener and real sugar. If it tastes something 600 times sweeter it responds with 600 times the insulin. Any time the body releases insulin you have fat storage. With some artificial sweeteners there isn’t an insulin response because the brain is confused, with others it is not. A new study was done where rats were given yogurt with an artificial sweetener, and this is what they found: They consumed more calories (and didn’t make up for it by cutting back later), gained more weight, and put on more body fat. New research shows that it ruins the body’s ability to count calories, and they stimulate your appetite. What I found when I was researching for this article is there has been very little research done on artificial sweeteners to see what really happens. Every one is different and our bodies will respond differently.
As a practitioner, my concern here is the insulin response. I have had people test their blood sugar after eating this and some have insulin response. The question I have is if it is 600-4,000 times sweeter, is the insulin response that great also? Something to think about. Also when you look at the research that was done by the manufacture on insulin response, it is very vauge. Also if you buy Splenda in the bag to cook with here are the ingredients taken right off of Amazons nutritional facts for it: Ingredients Maltodextrin, Sucralose!! First ingredient is maltodextrin, hmmm. That is a huge insulin responding sugar.
Maltodextrin is a very low cost ingredient derived from corn. In fact, maltodextrin’s rating on the glycemic scale is right up there with maltose which is glucose glucose. That means it can cause a large insulin response. Definatley something a diabetic would not want or someone with cancer. Let me explain.
Healthy cells have 2 receptor sites for insulin, where cancer cells have 16. It’s simple to understand that the more insulin responding things that you intake will feed any cancer going on. With out insulin, cancer has a difficult time surviving. I know people that will not eat berries, which are a low glycemic fruit with minimal insulin response, and loaded with antioxidants and other things that fight cancer, but will consume splenda/sucralose. They just don’t understand what they are doing to their body. Any one that has or has had cancer should avoid things with a high insulin response like splenda/sucralose, as well as people that are insulin resistant or type 2 diabetic.
There is so much research to support how toxic splenda/sucralose, as well as other artificial sweeteners are. I barely made a dent on all the information that is out there to support not consuming this. There are some great natural sweeteners out there. My favorite that has a low insulin response is Lo haun. I just found a protein powder that uses this as well as they get their whey from grass fed animals. No hormones. Lo haun can be found in most health food stores and has no funky after taste like artificial sweeteners. Stevia and xylitol are good also. Learn to read labels and protect your self!!
Below is a picture of a friend of mine that removed artificial sweeteners from her diet for 28 days. you can clearly see the difference. She had no clue that it was affecting her like that. Something to think about.
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