Splenda Sweetener
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Description
Splenda is a brand name artificial sweetener. It is used as a sugar substitute by people looking for low-calorie alternatives to their daily sweet treats.
Sweeteners like Splenda mimic the sweetness of sugar, without the calories.
The sweetness of Splenda is due to a compound called sucralose, a type of indigestible artificial sugar. This is made by replacing certain atoms in sugar with atoms of chlorine.
Sucralose is also combined with other digestible sweeteners like maltodextrin to make Splenda.
Splenda is approximately 600 times as sweet as sugar; this is why sweeteners such as Splenda are known as high-intensity sweeteners.
Since it was introduced in 1998, Splenda has become one of the most popular artificial sweeteners on the market.
Warnings
From its discovery until very recently, Splenda was regarded as safe to consume. This may not be entirely true, however.
Splenda has always been considered to be biologically inert, meaning it passes through the human body untouched. However, a recent article posted to the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health noted that some of the ingested sweetener is metabolized, meaning that it is not entirely inert.
There are other interactions that medical researchers are currently investigating; for instance, ingested sucralose has been linked to altered intestinal microbe levels in mice; and it is believed that cooking with sucralose may produce toxic compounds called chloropropanols.
From its discovery until very recently, Splenda was regarded as safe to consume. This may not be entirely true, however.
Splenda has always been considered to be biologically inert, meaning it passes through the human body untouched. However, a recent article posted to the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health noted that some of the ingested sweetener is metabolized, meaning that it is not entirely inert.
There are other interactions that medical researchers are currently investigating; for instance, ingested sucralose has been linked to altered intestinal microbe levels in mice; and it is believed that cooking with sucralose may produce toxic compounds called chloropropanols.