I am looking for information regarding Splenda. A friend of mine today mentioned that Splenda is toxic to your liver and that I shouldn't be using it. I asked her why Doctors would recommend Splenda for their diabetic patients if it was considered "toxic" to your liver and her answer was that those Doctors do not care about the liver, all they are worried about is diabetes. First of all, my friend lost credibility when she made that statement, but it kind of got me to wondering about Splenda after all. Has anyone seen any studies that support this claim? I'm not so much worried about using it myself, but there have been times when my children have been given splenda. I just need to know for my children's sake.

Thanks in advance!

Splenda went through a lot of tests before it was approved to be sold. I may be standing alone in this estimation, but I do trust the government to check these things out for us.
But it couldn't possibly be as bad for us as sugar!

I hope it's not bad.

BUt, I wouldn't surprised if a study came out saying that it is. It's happened to both saccharin and aspartame, but those studies never give the real details. Like the fact that both those products can be toxic if you consume the amount equivalent to about 100 diet sodas a day.

The sugar industry has a alot of power and they try to buy results all the time to keep us away from sugar free and keep us eating their stuff.

Splenda is a chemically altered actual sugar. It tastes sweet on the tongue, but the body does not recognize it. It has been used in Canada for thirty years and no ill effects were reported.

Also, this article says:

Sucralose (Splenda)

Also a relative newcomer, Splenda's been around since 1976, but received FDA approval only in 1998. It has no calories and is 600 times sweeter than table sugar.

Rumors: Some believe there has not been adequate testing, and others say Splenda causes cancer, genetic changes, birth defects and immune system complications.

Research: More than 100 animal and human studies were evaluated over a period of two decades. "The results indicate that sucralose is completely safe," says Jacobson.

Bottom line: Looks like this is the one to use.

Here's a link to the whole article, which compares different artificial sweeteners:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/a...9/il/il04a.html

I bet your friend read it at Mercola.com.
Mercola is a fruit loop doctor that has all kinds of conspiracy and pseudoscience articles on his site.
He used to have an article there that claimed drinking hot beverages will cause esophageal cancer.

I found some negative articles about it when I looked splenda up. My husband and I talked about it and decided for our family we felt like honey, molasses, date sugar or fruit juices are better choices for sweetener when are children are going to be eating the foods. My youngest son DID have a reaction to splenda which is what made us look up the information in the first place. But then again, he isn't a rat so maybe the studies just don't apply to him.

Jenn

Elsah, may I ask what kind of reaction your son had??

He broke out with a rash/hives and had diahriah. Since he doesn't talk I am not sure if he actually felt bad or not.

Jenn

I think its neutral for most people. If you use the Internet for your information you'll find a lot of people using a lot of junk science, hoaxes and urban legends about artificial sweeteners.

Hi Elsah, Just wanted to say that you might want to consider whatever the splenda was in as a possible culprit for your sons hives. If it was just pop, then it's even possible it could be the citric acid. There's so many possibilities that you should check every avenue. Take it from someone who carrys 2 epipens everywhere she goes, allergies can be deceiving. I've been fooled on what it was when eating foods with different grains only to find out it's not the grains at all that I'm allergic to but what's not supposed to be in them in the first place (grain mites). They have a similar make up to dust mites and cause allergic reactions to people who are dust mite allergic when ingested. Believe me, it's a step of faith to eat grains when you never know if you're going to react. Just my 2 cents worth and Good luck with him, Annie

Thanks annie, I probably do need proper food allergy testing. All of my kids and me have things we react to. The only one that was properly diagnosed was my son with his dairy allergy. It's just so scary to see a baby get a reaction like that. I'm in no big hurry to give it to him again to test the theory though. I should however find out if it was the splenda or not. I have seen him react that way several times but everything had splenda in it so I just assumed that is what it was. That sucks about the grain mites. That's not really one of those ingredients you can identify on the ingredient label. If only we knew half the things we unknowingly put into our mouths!!!!!