![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/261\/2012\/04\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n3-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>It sounded\u00a0 so good — a more \u201cnatural\u201d sweetener that is actually made from sugar.\u00a0 However, after wading through many technical documents, I had to conclude it\u2019s not \u201cnatural\u201d at all.\u00a0 Sugar is a hydrocarbon built around 12 carbon atoms. Splenda starts with sugar, all right, but some of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms are replaced with chlorine atoms.\u00a0 Where do you find chlorine?\u00a0 In things like bleach and pesticides.\u00a0 In fact, sucralose had its beginning in a search for a more efficient pesticide.\u00a0 It was accidentally discovered in the lab that the product was sweet — and the rest is history.<\/p>\nA quote I found from Dr. James Bowen, a physician and biochemist, says, “Splenda\/sucralose is simply chlorinated sugar; a chlorocarbon. Common chlorocarbons include carbon tetrachloride, trichlorethelene and methylene chloride, all deadly. Chlorine is nature’s Doberman attack dog, a highly excitable, ferocious atomic element employed as a biocide in bleach, disinfectants, insecticide, WWI poison gas and hydrochloric acid.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWait up,\u201d some of the sites said.\u00a0 \u201cTable salt is sodium chloride — so we do consume chlorine naturally in our food.\u201d True, but the difference is in the carbon base of the sugar.\u00a0 Salt isn\u2019t a carbon.\u00a0 It\u2019s the combination itself that causes the problem, according to the scientific papers I studied.\u00a0 The carbon atoms bind with the chlorine and they are absorbed together in the cells.\u00a0 Not where we want poison! Also salt contains chloride <\/em>which is the safe and usable form — not chlorine.<\/p>\nSo what can sucralose actually DO to us? \u00a0 Some of the alleged symptoms that have been reported are gastrointestinal problems (bloating, gas, diarrhea, vomiting), skin irritations like hives and rashes, wheezing, cough, runny nose, chest pains, palpitations, anxiety, mood swings, depression and itchy eyes. Yikes!<\/p>\n
Besides these, according to Dr. Bowen, pre-approval tests showed these results with animal testing:<\/p>\n
Shrunken thymus glands (up to 40% shrinkage)<\/p>\n
Enlarged liver and kidneys.<\/p>\n
Atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus<\/p>\n
Reduced growth rate<\/p>\n
Decreased red blood cell count<\/p>\n
Hyperplasia of the pelvis<\/p>\n
Aborted pregnancy (Maternal & Fetal Toxicity)<\/p>\n
Decreased fetal body weights and placental weights<\/p>\n
Increased glycosylation of hemoglobin (HbA1c) for diabetics<\/p>\n
So, if these things were shown BEFORE the FDA gave its okay, why are we eating it?\u00a0 The same reason that we ate saccherine and aspartame.\u00a0 In fact, sucralose is following an identical pattern: \u00a0pre-approval studies that showed potential problems, denial of reports of adverse reactions, and approval before long term studies are done.<\/p>\n
In order to be fair, I checked into what the FDA and Splenda manufacturers had to say.\u00a0 They reviewed 100 tests that they say showed Splenda to be safe.\u00a0 That was encouraging, but who performed these tests?\u00a0 I read many allegations that they were done by the manufacturers or \u201cthird parties\u201d that were hired by the manufacturers.\u00a0 Trustworthy?\u00a0 Hmm.\u00a0 Also, since no long-term testing was done we have no way of knowing what the effects of long-term use will be.<\/p>\n
Summing it up, here are some concerns about sucralose:<\/p>\n
Pre-approval research turned up indications of toxicity.<\/p>\n
There are no independent controlled human studies on sucralose.<\/p>\n
There are no long-term human studies of its effects and no long history of safe use.<\/p>\n
There is no monitoring of health effects.<\/p>\n
I have to give this disclaimer: I\u2019m not a chemist, and reading the scientific papers is a challenge for me.\u00a0 Also, there is always lots of anti-hype toward any new product.\u00a0 Taken all together, though, I am personally giving this sugar substitute two-thumbs down.\u00a0 There are safer, natural, better alternatives, so I will just use one of those.<\/p>\n
But you can do your own research and decide for yourself.\u00a0 That is always wise. You can\u2019t blindly depend on a government agency to protect you and you shouldn\u2019t automatically believe everything you read on the Internet.\u00a0 Your health is YOUR business.\u00a0 You should make it your business to protect it!<\/p>\n
Eating to live and living for Christ,<\/p>\n
Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s on the table — but that doesn\u2019t make it food. Doing research on sucralose,\u00a0 found in the popular artificial sweetener, Splenda, brought disappointing, not to say frightening, results. It sounded\u00a0 so good — a more \u201cnatural\u201d sweetener that is actually made from sugar.\u00a0 However, after wading through many technical documents, I had to conclude…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,9],"tags":[414,411,412,413],"class_list":["post-1422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clinical-studies","category-eating-plan","tag-chlorine","tag-splenda","tag-sucralose","tag-sugar-alternative"],"yoast_head":"\n
Insecticide on the Table? - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Insecticide on the Table? - Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s on the table — but that doesn\u2019t make it food. Doing research on sucralose,\u00a0 found in the popular artificial sweetener, Splenda, brought disappointing, not to say frightening, results. It sounded\u00a0 so good — a more \u201cnatural\u201d sweetener that is actually made from sugar.\u00a0 However, after wading through many technical documents, I had to conclude…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-12T07:36:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-14T10:49:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/04\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n3-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sbrown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Insecticide on the Table? - Beyond Gorgeous","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Insecticide on the Table? - Beyond Gorgeous","og_description":"It\u2019s on the table — but that doesn\u2019t make it food. Doing research on sucralose,\u00a0 found in the popular artificial sweetener, Splenda, brought disappointing, not to say frightening, results. It sounded\u00a0 so good — a more \u201cnatural\u201d sweetener that is actually made from sugar.\u00a0 However, after wading through many technical documents, I had to conclude…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html","og_site_name":"Beyond Gorgeous","article_published_time":"2013-03-12T07:36:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-14T10:49:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/04\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n3-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"sbrown","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html","name":"Insecticide on the Table? - Beyond Gorgeous","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/04\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n3-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2013-03-12T07:36:34+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-14T10:49:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#\/schema\/person\/710ec516b61bcd3c78925c0c31c5afe6"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/04\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n3-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/04\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n3-150x150.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/insecticide-on-the-table.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Insecticide on the Table?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/","name":"Beyond Gorgeous","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Susan Jordan Brown","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/#\/schema\/person\/710ec516b61bcd3c78925c0c31c5afe6","name":"sbrown","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/author\/sbrown"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2157,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422\/revisions\/2157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2012\/04\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n3.jpg\")
<\/a>It sounded\u00a0 so good — a more \u201cnatural\u201d sweetener that is actually made from sugar.\u00a0 However, after wading through many technical documents, I had to conclude it\u2019s not \u201cnatural\u201d at all.\u00a0 Sugar is a hydrocarbon built around 12 carbon atoms. Splenda starts with sugar, all right, but some of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms are replaced with chlorine atoms.\u00a0 Where do you find chlorine?\u00a0 In things like bleach and pesticides.\u00a0 In fact, sucralose had its beginning in a search for a more efficient pesticide.\u00a0 It was accidentally discovered in the lab that the product was sweet — and the rest is history.<\/p>\n