Sucralose Dangers and Hazards



Posted: Friday, September 24, 2010

by Ben Mester
Plan B Publishing

Artificial sweeteners are being shown to be dangerous more and more as time goes on, and sucralose dangers might be more than you would think. For those who are unaware, sucralose is the main ingredient in Splenda, one of the most popular artificial sweeteners on the market today. In general, all artificial sweeteners are bad for you, and at the very least put an extra strain on the body. When a chemical is calorie free, it means the body can't process it as a food. The only calorie free food that is naturally occurring is fiber, which is nothing more than indigestible plant matter. Fiber is good for you though, because as a natural product your body can still utilize it in positive ways. Artificial sweeteners like sucralose aren't natural and come with unknown dangers.

Your body doesn't process artificial sweeteners as food, but instead essentially processes them as toxins. In the long run, this can cause you plenty of problems, especially in a culture where food is already so full of non-food substances and toxins. Our bodies are constantly being bombarded with dangers like preservatives, pollution, radiation, alcohol, pesticides, nitrates, sulfates, and more. Adding even another constant chemical into the mix like artificial sweeteners puts just that much more strain on the organs which have to process these toxins and rid them from the body.

But lets get back to sucralose. Are there dangers that are specific to sucralose? The answer is yes. Because of the chemical composition, sucralose comes with a few potential dangers. Sucralose is made by a five step process of taking regular sucrose, which is ordinary sugar, and chlorinating it. Sucrose has the chemical composition C12H22O11, which is pretty similar to glucose and fructose. The chemical composition of sucralose is C12H19Cl3O8. Chlorine is the main element added to turn sugar into sucralose. Studies have shown that the body has an especially difficult time detoxifying organic substances that have been chlorinated.

Here are some of the possible specific sucralose dangers. In general chlorinating an organic compound is very toxic. In the case of sucralose, it may have the following dangers:

1. Prenatal Complications. Pregnant women, and women who are breastfeeding are advised not to take sucralose. In general, organic compounds that have been chlorinated such as sucralose, have been related to birth defects and other prenatal conditions. Though evidence is definitely speculative about whether or not sucralose is as dangerous as its other counterparts in the arena of chlorinated organic compounds, I think it's better to be safe than sorry, especially for persons of greater risk like expecting mothers and mothers who are currently breastfeeding.

2. Immune System Impairment. Chlorinated organic compounds have also been shown to cause impairment to the immune system. Once more, sucralose might not be as dangerous as other chlorinated organic compounds, but like I said before, better be safe than sorry.

3. Elevated Toxicity. As we already discussed, the body has an extra difficult time removing chlorinated organic toxins from the body. Not only that, but Splenda has only been shown by the FDA to be 98% pure. That means that 2% is some other kind of chemical. And who knows whether or not the other 2% are safe chemicals or whether they're other harmful chemicals used in the making of sucralose. If they're the latter, then toxicity is sure to follow.

Thanks for reading about some of the possible sucralose dangers and other things about artificial sweeteners. For more about sucralose, check out another of my articles on sucralose and breastfeeding mothers.
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