Someone please explain the anti-Splenda sentiment to me...

Team Yellow

Team Yellow!  Love it!  Use it!  Period.  :-)

So, Splenda is in the family of DDT? WOW. I'm sure that it caused all sorts of issues with the lab rats and mice. They shove so much of it down their throats to "see" what will happen, to the equivalent of us probably downing a bag a day, maybe two. Anybody's liver couldn't deal with that, but how many Splenda addicts do you see tipping up a bag of SPLENDA every couple hours? Although their body functions are close to ours, they are not the same. If you were trapped in a room and people kept shoving an outrageous amounts Splenda down your throat you would have liver problems too. A human liver is about the size of a football, larger, when it is engorged with blood, it is THE largest organ in our bodies. It is MADE to filter out toxins. Think about all the toxins that we eat, breath in, drink, and just naturally absorb through daily life. That is why our livers are there. Now, some people are unlucky to find that their livers do not function properly, so they cannot filter properly.Those people will develop problems from many things, and some products their livers just do not tolerate and cannot filter. Maybe artificial sweeteners are one. Yes, the FDA approves many things that cause health problems, but with the American view of, I am sick or diseased and I want medication to fix it now, they are in a push toapprove them. Yes, it does very often have to do with politics, but like I said the animals that thes drugs were tested on may not have had any problems, but humans do. We are the same, yet different. Lastly, I do believe at the end of the study, it was stated that the FDA approved it before it was properly tested on humans. DUH!!! That's why people are going off of what happened to the rats that were being shoved full of hte product. I have thought ever since I was a little girl that instead of shoving unreal amounts of a product down an animals throat, people with the problem, that are willing to be in a test group, should be given the drug AT A NORMAL dosage, and then document the findings. Not risk human lives on something they just poured down an animals throat. I'm with team SPLENDA!!!

I use about 20 packets a day.

Splenda is great, and so far no problems for me.

I used to use Splenda like it was going out of style until my liver enzymes elevated & I started researching causes.  (It won't increase them in everyone, but it definately can in some people.  Others see other side effects or none until it is too late.)

Splenda is not "evil", but many don't like it because of several reasons.  (You'll be able to pick out a few when considering all the following.)

Splenda was "discovered" by accident when chemists started seeing what would happen if they combined sugar with laboratory chemicals.  If you are familiar with chemistry, you know that every substance has a molecular "model".  They took sugar molecules and removed the carbon portion of the molecule.  If you remember your chemistry classes, this left a sort of "hole" on that side of the previously-was-sugar-molecule.  So to "fill that gap", they added in chlorine.  (Yes, that's not a typo - that says chlorine.)

Now the sugar molecule is not SUPPOSED to contain chlorine and it knows it so to speak, so they have to use other chemicals to "force" the bond to happen.  These ingredients make up less than 2% of the final product, so the FDA says that Splenda doesn't have to list what they are on the ingredients list on the package, but some of the items in Splenda that aren't listed are:
acetone
benzene
ethyl alcohol
formaldehyde
methanol
toluene
various chlorides

Now, if that doesn't concern you, consider this... the FDA initially refused to approve Splenda based on the horrific results of studies on lab animals fed Splenda.  (Several long-term negative side effects were noted such as liver inflammation, decreased red blood cell counts, etc, etc, etc.)  The FDA only approved Splenda after some back-door money/politics where research studies (that many suspect weren't even done) were submitted literally a day after Reagan was sworn in as present (which were submitted so close to the previously submitted studies that resulted in the FDA refusal to approve that many suspect the second set of studies submitted were ficticious).  Testimony from former FDA officials state that higher-ups seemed intent on "removing all obstacles" to Splenda's approval "no matter what" any studies/research showed.  Smells like big money behind the scenes stuff to me.  But hey, what do I know?

Now, if THAT still doesn't concern you, consider this... few HUMAN studies have been published on Splenda consumption, but some have.  The results weren't good.  One study in particular showed that over time, Splenda consumption actually increased Hba1c (glycosylated hemoglobin) levels.  This is a marker doctors use to assess glycemic control in diabetics.  In other words, longterm Splenda use can actually lessen a person's control of their diabetes.  Splenda has also been shown to decrease the level of good bacteria in the intestine by as much as 50%.  It has also been shown to increase the incidence of migraine headaches. 

In any event, I've switched to Stevia.  I love it. 

About Stevia...
1. It is a plant (from Africa) known as "sweet leaf". 
2. It has been used by humans for literally hundreds of years with ZERO side effects and/or adverse health effects.
3. Brand matters.  (The sweetest part of the plant are the leaves.  The stems, etc can leave a bitter after taste that sort of tastes like licorice.  Some of the cheaper brands use a some stem as "filler" in with the good stuff, aka leaves.  You want all leaves, all sweet - so you want the higher quality brands.  I swear by NuStevia - but others prefer other brands, so try a couple if you get one you don't like.) 
4.  It may be higher than Splenda or the others, but you use so much less that it will even out - trust me.  (I used to use 2 tablespoons of Splenda in my homemade cocoa or it didn't taste sweet ot me.  I use 1/4 teaspoon of this stuff.)
5.  While Splenda only gets to SAY it has zero calories because it's calories per serving are below 5, Stevia truly has ZERO calories.

I get what you're saying about "natural" not always being good.  Cyanide is natural.  It's in apple seeds for christ's sakes.  Natural does not = good for human consumption.   

But here was my choice:

1) a plant that humans have eaten with no trouble for literally hundreds of years, that has been studied and shown to have ZERO, that's absolutely NO, adverse effects on humans

OR

2) sugar that chemists have raped the carbon out of & replaced that with chemicals they use to paint houses and make Clorox with


That's not a big one for me. 

Good luck!

Wen

I don't think Splenda is necessarily evil, but I no longer use it, or any other artificial sweetener, for a couple of reasons. Aspartame is a guaranteed full-blown migraine trigger for me, which makes me wary of all the artificial sweeteners and not too trusting about their safety.

And I've noticed that when I consume artificial sweeteners, including Splenda, I crave more and more sweet things, and never seem to feel sated. I end up feeling out of control when I use artificial sweeteners. I feel better when I avoid them.

Since I've stopped using Splenda, it's like my sweet tooth has gone away and that's just fine with me. I'm a vegetarian who tries to eat clean as much as possible, and as close to the whole food as possible, so I try to avoid as many artificial ingredients as I can, not just sweeteners.

Caroline

 I just prefer the taste of truvia over splenda.

According to my surgeon the artifical sweetners can make us more hungry. The body is used to getting sweet stuff and it contains more calories, but when introducing the artifical sweetners with no calories the body knows its missing something then wants more to replace the lost calories. I'm paraphrasing here but that was the gist of it. I know WW preached that nutrasweet would make you hungier and its best to use splenda. My hubby got some book and it said that any of the chemical sweetners help to store belly fat and to switch to more natural - like stevia.

Personally I have lived on nutrasweet and splenda for 26 years - and really don't plan on ever stopping. Could it be to blame for weight issues i don't know, but being D - can't go the natural sugar route so just will have to fight that "demon" and keep moving on.