Avoiding Artificial Sweeteners? This Study Will Surprise You…

Posted By Dr. Mercola | September 20 2011

By Dr. Mercola

For those of you who are aware of the health dangers posed by artificial sweeteners and dutifully avoid them, the featured study findings may come as a shocking surprise…

Researchers have found that the artificial sweetener sucralose (Splenda) is a widespread contaminant in waste water, surface water, and ground water. In a recent test, water samples from 19 U.S. drinking water treatment plants serving more than 28 million people were analyzed for sucralose. The sweetener was found to be present in:

• The source water of 15 out of 19 of drinking water treatment plants tested
• The finished water of 13 out of 17 plants, and
• In 8 out of 12 water distribution systems

The average amounts of sucralose in source water and finished water was 440 ng/L and 350 ng/L respectively.

According to the study:

“Further, in the subset of [drinking water treatment plants] with distribution system water sampled, the compound was found to persist regardless of the presence of residual chlorine or chloramines … The results of this study confirm that sucralose [is] an indicator compound … for the presence of other recalcitrant compounds in finished drinking water”.

Recalcitrant compounds are organic or synthetic compounds that resist being broken down by chemical processes, such as those employed by water treatment facilities. This is troublesome, particularly as sucralose can be quite detrimental to human health, and the contamination appears to be very widespread in US water supplies.

Sucralose Destroys Healthy Bacteria

Three years ago, an animal study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health reported that sucralose:

• Reduced the amount of good bacteria in the animals’ intestines by 50 percent
• Increased the pH level in the intestines
• Contributed to increases in body weight, and
• Affected P-glycoprotein (P-gp) levels in such a way that crucial health-related drugs could be rejected. In terms of human health, this P-gp effect could result in medications used in chemotherapy, AIDS treatment and treatments for heart conditions being shunted back into your intestines, rather than being absorbed
• Is absorbed by fat cells (contrary to previous claims)

The fact that Splenda can destroy up to 50 percent of your healthy intestinal bacteria is truly disturbing as these help maintain your body’s overall balance of friendly versus unfriendly micro-organisms, and support your overall immunity and general health. Many people are already deficient in healthy bacteria due to choosing highly processed foods, which is why a high-quality probiotic is one of the very few supplements I recommend for nearly everyone. And now we discover that this artificial sweetener also contaminates a majority of US municipal water supplies as well…

Splenda has NEVER Been Proven Safe for Human Consumption

Did you know that only two human trials on sucralose were completed and published prior to the FDA approving Splenda for human consumption? And these two trials included a total of 36 human subjects. Worse yet, the longest running trial lasted only four days, and looked at sucralose in relation to tooth decay, not human tolerance. As for determining the absorption of Splenda into the human body, a mere eight men were studied. Based on that singular human study, the FDA allowed the findings to be generalized as being representative of and regarded as “safe” for the entire human population!

This is a potentially devastating mistake, as some groups are far more susceptible to adverse effects than others, such as infants, the elderly, and the chronically ill.

You’ve probably heard the claims that the FDA has reviewed over 100 studies on Splenda and are satisfied that it’s a safe product, but what you don’t hear is that most of those studies were on animals, and that they actually revealed plenty of problems! For example, some of these studies revealed:

• 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
• 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 six percent death rate in the control group

It May be Made from Sugar, But it’s Nothing Like it…

Don’t let the name fool you. Sucralose is NOT some magical calorie-free sugar, despite Splenda’s famous slogan, “Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar.” It is in fact a chlorinated artificial sweetener cooked up in a factory, and scores of consumers have testified to its devastating effects. It does start off as a sugar molecule—to which three chlorine molecules are added. At the end of the patented process, the chemical composition of the sugar has been altered to the point that it’s actually closer to DDT and Agent Orange than sugar.

This type of “sugar” molecule does not occur anywhere in nature, and therefore your body cannot properly metabolize it. This is why Splenda is advertised as having “zero calories”—because your body cannot digest or metabolize it. Essentially, it passes right through you. Or at least that’s the claim. However, according to the available research, between 11-27 percent of sucralose is in fact absorbed into your digestive system, and according to the study mentioned above, it is also absorbed into your fat cells.

The question then becomes, just what kind of impact might a DDT- or Agent Orange-like molecule have on your health?

Furthermore, few people realize that only about one percent of that packet of Splenda is actually sucralose. The remaining 99 percent is maltodextrin—a type of sugar! Each packet actually has four calories, but because the amount of sugar is less than one gram, they get away with saying it has “no calories” due to a loophole in the labeling law.

Common Side Effects of Sucralose

to read more, (put down that Splenda!!!), go to:    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/09/20/why-are-millions-of-americans-getting-this-synthetic-sweetener-i