What is splenda

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Splenda has become one of the most popular artificial sweeteners, having sold more than billion yellow packets since its launch in The company claims that using Splenda instead of sugar can help people with diabetes manage their blood sugar levels.

But what does the science say? This article discusses the pros and cons of using Splenda, particularly for people who have diabetes. Read on for answers to commonly asked questions about Splenda and how the sweetener may affect your health. Splenda is made from the FDA-approved artificial sweetener sucralose.

Table sugar sucrose and sucralose have similar chemical structures. Sugar is made from the sugar cane plant, and sucralose is made in a laboratory. When you eat sugar, your body breaks most of it down into glucose. This explains why Splenda is considered a zero-calorie sweetener, even though each packet contains 3.

Splenda is times sweeter than table sugar, so a little goes a long way. You can purchase Splenda in individual packets or in bulk, and it comes in both white and brown sugar baking forms. Splenda is heat stable, which means that it will not lose its sweetness when baked at high temperatures. This makes it a popular sugar substitute for baking.

Artificial sweeteners like sucralose are often referred to as non-nutritive sweeteners or low-calorie sweeteners because they contain little to no calories.

Many sugar-free and reduced-calorie foods and beverages contain Splenda. This allows manufacturers to sweeten their products without the added carbohydrate calories that come with sugar. If you're wondering if a product contains Splenda, read the ingredient list and look for the word sucralose. You can find Splenda in many foods and beverages, including:. The FDA approved sucralose as safe for human consumption in They reviewed over human and animal studies, looking for possible links between sucralose and cancer as well as reproductive and neurological issues.

No links were found. Since then, research has shown that sucralose can be healthier than sugar for some people, but it may also have some disadvantages for some people. Many studies suggest that people who use low-calorie sweeteners are able to lose weight more easily, maintain a healthier weight, and control their blood sugar levels better. For example, one trial found that people who drank beverages sweetened with sucralose lost more weight than people whose beverages contained sugar or another artificial sweetener.

Another analysis of more than 20 studies published in found that low-calorie sweeteners helped people lose weight and fat mass. They were also able to trim their waists down. It has been suggested that consuming artificial sweeteners triggers more sweet cravings. The theory is that artificial sweeteners, which are far sweeter than table sugar, overstimulate your sweet taste buds, causing you to overeat and gain weight.

One study set out to investigate this theory. Over people were recruited for a series of taste tests. They were asked to drink a variety of sweetened beverages, some of which contained sugar, while others contained low-calorie sweeteners. During the taste test, participants rated the sweetness of each beverage on a scale of 0 to Overall, sugar tasted much sweeter than the low-calorie sweeteners, but less low-calorie sweetener was needed for beverages to taste sweet.

The authors concluded that low-calorie sweeteners do not excite your sweet taste buds more than sugar, and using them does not lead to more sweet cravings. Everyone is different. Splenda may not trigger sweet cravings in some people. But for others, the only way to stop craving sweets may be to stop eating them completely. Sucralose has been studied closely to determine if consuming it could cause cancer. So far, there is no reason to believe that using sucralose in your diet increases your cancer risk.

After years of animal studies, they reported that Splenda is safe and does not cause cancer—in mice. Although the existing research shows that sucralose consumption does not cause cancer, more human studies are needed to be certain.

Evidence from many studies suggests that consuming artificial sweeteners—sucralose included—does not affect blood sugar levels.

These studies show that sucralose should be safer than sugar for people with diabetes. However, there is evidence that drinking diet sodas increases the risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity , along with high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and other symptoms of metabolic syndrome that could ultimately lead to diabetes.

In one study, individuals in a group each added 15 milligrams mg of Splenda—about one packet—per day to the food or beverage of their choice. After 14 days, those who ate Splenda had higher insulin resistance than people in another group who were not given Splenda at all.

If you have insulin resistance, it is more difficult for your body to take glucose blood sugar from your bloodstream and convert it into energy.

This leads to high blood sugar that, if untreated, could eventually lead to type 2 diabetes. Researchers stress that more studies are needed to identify the health effects that consuming sucralose over the long term could have. Research suggests that sucralose doesn't typically have a substantial effect on gut microbiota, which is the normal bacterial composition of the digestive system that is necessary to digest food and protect you from infections.

Splenda was approved for general use in and has not been removed from the list since then. 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. Human and rodent studies also indicate that sucralose might alter glucose and insulin levels in the blood.

More research is needed to confirm these findings, but this challenges the idea that the compound is inert. Recent research , published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health , suggests that Splenda may play a role in certain cancers. The researchers fed mice various levels of sucralose and noted any effects the sweetener had across their lifespan.

Overall, the team noted an increase in malignant cancers as their intake of sucralose increased. Specifically, the researchers found a higher incidence of leukemia in male mice associated with sucralose intake. Human studies will be necessary to establish the connection, if any, between cancer and sucralose.

Jacobsen, the president of CSPI noted that:. For this reason, Splenda may still be the option of choice for people looking to consume soft drinks and sugary beverages without the calories and increase in blood glucose levels.

However, water, unsweetened tea, and carbonated water with a splash of fruit juice are all healthy options that can replace sugary beverages or beverages sweetened with artificial sweeteners such as Splenda. Another sweetener that has gained popularity recently is stevia. Stevia-based products are not based on sugar at all, but rather from the plant Stevia rebaudiana.

Known simply as yerba dulce in its native South America, stevia is being explored as a relatively new sweetener option. The sweetness in stevia comes from natural compounds called steviol glycosides, which are extracted from the plant to create various sweeteners.

Like Splenda, steviol glycosides are non-nutritive sweeteners, meaning they provide no dietary calories. These stevia extracts are times sweeter than table sugar. It is important to note that, although the entire stevia leaf itself is traditionally used, this is not considered GRAS. Import of the whole leaf or crude extracts to the U. Those with type 2 diabetes or who want to lose weight may consider Splenda and stevia as options, as both provide a sweet sensation without the increased calories or sugar.

Sucralose is times as sweet as sugar, and stevia is times as sweet, so less Splenda is needed initially to satisfy the palette. Over time, however, high-intensity sweeteners change how the brain responds to sweet tastes and can increase overall sweet cravings.

For stevia, the number of servings per day is nine. When you eat a sugary treat, your body produces the hormone insulin to help stabilize the sugar in your blood. That makes sugar-free sweeteners popular among people with diabetes, who need to monitor blood sugar levels closely.

But exactly how sucralose affects blood sugar and insulin levels is an open question. Some studies hint that using a lot of sugar or artificial sweeteners just makes you crave more sugary foods and drinks. Artificial sweeteners seem like a perfect way to satisfy a sweet tooth without the calories. Learn more about vaccine availability. Advertising Policy. You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter.

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