Why Splenda is Safe

I finally looked it up on Wikipedia, and this is why sucralose, or otherwise known as Splenda, is safe.

Safety

Sucralose has been accepted by several national and international food safety regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives, The European Union's Scientific Committee on Food, Health Protection Branch of Health and Welfare Canada and Food Standards Australia-New Zealand (FSANZ).The acceptable daily intake for sucralose is 5 mg / kg of body weight per day.

"In determining the safety of sucralose, FDA reviewed data from more than 110 studies in humans and animals. Many of the studies were designed to identify possible toxic effects including carcinogenic, reproductive and neurological effects. No such effects were found, and FDA's approval is based on the finding that sucralose is safe for human consumption." (FDA Talk Paper T98-16)

There is evidence that Sucralose can cause cancer. "Sucralose was weakly mutagenic in a mouse lymphoma mutation assay" (from DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Food and Drug Administration, 21 CFR Part 172, Docket No. 87F-0086 http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/fr980403.html)

Concerns have also been raised about the effect of sucralose on the thymus gland, a gland that is important to the immune system. A report from NICNAS cites two studies on rats, both of which found "a significant decrease in mean thymus weight" at a certain dose.^[1] (These and other studies were considered by regulators before concluding that sucralose was safe.)

It should also be noted that the chlorine atoms are covalently bonded to the carbon atoms in the sucralose molecule, essentially making it a chlorocarbon. Many chlorocarbons are toxic; however, sucralose is unlike these chemicals because it is extremely poorly soluble in fat and does not store in fat like most chlorinated hydrocarbons. Sucralose does not break down or dechlorinate either.[1]

The bulk of sucralose ingested does not leave the GI tract and is directly excreted in the feces. The small amount that is absorbed from the GI tract is removed from the blood stream by the kidneys and excreted in the urine. Sucralose is digestible by a number of microorganisms and is broken down once released into the environment.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucralose

But according to this following website, in which the above graphic was taken, splenda is oh-so-not-safe-because-it-contains-chlorine and is written by some hippie named Shirley.. :) source: http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/nutraswt.htm

It just pisses me off how people don't understand science and can make claims that something is unsafe based on scientific animal-modeled studies in which dosages are often 100-1000 times more than normal human consumption. Not only that, but they take those results out of context, for food safety tests have completely separate guidelines than toxicity level tests. EVERYTHING we eat has a certain toxicity and is consequently studied, and I have full confidence in the FDA for determining that sucralose is perfectly safe. Sure, no long term studies have been made regarding it, because it's only been in research for less than a few decades. But if it were a drug that would save your alcoholic hippie friends from killing their livers, would you wait for long-term results (postponing a much needed thing for half a century) before you released the drug, just to make sure it's safe, despite conclusive animal models and short term clinical trials that determine its safety?

In response to the thymus gland shrinking, well.. it naturally does that after you reach a certain age, and in response to weight loss as well. So naturally, one can say.. splenda causes severe weight loss and thymus shrinkage over time. OH NO! ;) Well, of course the rats were losing weight, it's calorie-free! WHatever their normal diets were, the calorie content of those sugars were being offset by splenda so naturally this would occur in studies. Noone's telling you to eat Splenda all day. And the fact that these were all taken into consideration before the FDA approved Splenda means the circumstances in which the studies were performed were not directly comparable to typical human consumption. Duh.

What BSt :) Get over your natural foods kicks, people. Food chemistry's where it's at.