Can Splenda really cause...?

katieacor

Recently I tried MIO flavored drops. Thought they were terrific! I see that they contain sucralose and heard that this is a natural sugar. Since I liked it so much I searched the sugar isle at the grocery store and found that Splenda is sucralose and maltodextrin, so I purchased a box. I have added it to my tea and coffee for the last 3 days. Since then I have a tight feeling in my chest, swelling in my lower legs (2+ pitting edema on my shins!) and have been exhausted. I had exercised more than my normal routine over the weekend and thought that I had just overdid it. But could Splenda be the culprit?

tsh0ck

it's possible. there are plenty of "DON'T USE ANYTHING WITH CHEMICALS!!!111ONE!" people out there. for the majority of the population, splenda and the like won't have any adverse effects. but some people's bodies do respond differently.

i would say switch off of it and do everything else the same. see if it leaves. if it does, go back on for a little bit. see if it comes back. if so, you've probably found your culprit.

seebeachrun

Splenda causes me gastrointestinal distress within an hour or two of ingesting it. It's bad stuff. That said, I now use generic equal in my coffee with no noticeable side effects.

By chance, have you increased your intake of tea and/or coffee recently? Or changed brands? The symptoms you relate are similar to those for high blood pressure which can be caused by caffeine.

Jedi_Jewel

By chance, have you increased your intake of tea and/or coffee recently? Or changed brands? The symptoms you relate are similar to those for high blood pressure which can be caused by caffeine.

Good call.

rmhand

A friend of my experienced similar symptoms. After about 2 weeks he had a rash on his stomach, after brief google search it came up Splenda. He stopped using it and all his issues disappeared.

xButterflyEffectx

Try stevia

lg3703

I've read the reason Splenda is zero calories is because they've taken the sugar molecules and altered them so dramatically, your body doesn't know what to do with it! Lol.. I guess if it could process it, it WOULD be caloric. IDK... I'm an organic girl, myself. Lots if water and a treat of local honey or agave in my tea =]

myfitnessnmhoy

I honestly don't understand the obsession with everything having to be sweet. Personally, it just makes me hungrier.

And once you back off the sweetener for a month or so, you find that there are subtle, beautiful, and complex flavors out there that you've been totally missing out on my dumping sugar or substitutes into your drinks and onto your food.

Explore FLAVOR, not sweet.

Yetta729

Splenda caused yeast infection for me ... for months I could not get rid of it ... then I stopped Splenda and I was in the clear ... to make sure that Splenda actually caused the YI I started using it again, did not even take a week for the YI to return ... Stopped using Splenda, been off it since then and never had any problems again

PeaceCorpsKat

There are some pretty heated opinions on either side of this debate on MFP. There are the "Clean food" aholics who refuse to touch additives. They think artificial sweetners are the devil. And conversly there are people who will defend the fake sugars to thier dying breath.

My Doctor said that Spenda is a sugar molocule that is treated with cholorine that makes it impossible for the body to absorb or use it. For a lot of people it like eating wheat or lactose when they are intolerant. It's really, really bad for them. It absolutely causes Diarrhea, however some people are more sensitive to that than others.

Truth of matter is there is no major scientific study saying the stuff is going to kill you (and think about it, who would fund that study?). However, as a reasonable consumer I don't think you can trust the studies that call them "safe." And the simplest of logic would tell us taking out fake sugars and unneccesary sugar additives all together would be highly beneficial.

manasunshine

my doctor once told me zero calorie sweetners sold on the shelves are bad for health in the long run. theyre not good if you use them regularly. occasionally is okay but not preffered. since then i stopped.sorry i dont know the science behind it

montana_girl

it's possible. there are plenty of "DON'T USE ANYTHING WITH CHEMICALS!!!111ONE!" people out there. for the majority of the population, splenda and the like won't have any adverse effects. but some people's bodies do respond differently.

i would say switch off of it and do everything else the same. see if it leaves. if it does, go back on for a little bit. see if it comes back. if so, you've probably found your culprit.

^^This!

Everyone reacts differently (or not at all) to certain foods/chemicals. Personally, I have major problems with aspartame (too much gives me chronic migraines) but I have never had any problem with Splenda.

Do what the poster suggested and see if that is the culprit, if it is, then dump it.

Hope you get to feeling better!! :flowerforyou:

christenwypy

I heard recently that the fake sugars like splenda and sweet and low actually make you gain weight and increase your blood sugar over time. I forget all the science but it somehow tricks your body because it tastes like sugar. And anything that is overprocessed is harder for our bodies to process. So real sugar might be safer. That being said, I use Stevia mostly when I have a choice. It is a plant. Now who is to say that a few years from now people won't find that Stevia ia bad too? But for now I feel like it should be okay because it is an herb that just happens to be sweet. I do sometimes eat or drink fake sweetened things though because I don't want the calories and I am out and about with limited choices. But I have to say when I read your symptoms I have experienced them as well and now I wonder if it could be the same thing. Let us know if it stops after you stop splenda!

eklopez14

Try stevia

chris5389

DON'T USE ANY CHEMICALS! ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS CAUSE CANCER!

becoming_a_new_me

Maltodextrin is a corn complex carbohydrate. If you have any allergies to corn products, it can cause this type of problem. Sucralose by itself is not necessarily bad unless in excessive quantities - as with all things in life.

dedarlin

STEVIA if you have the option!

jpsgrl

I heard recently that the fake sugars like splenda and sweet and low actually make you gain weight and increase your blood sugar over time. I forget all the science but it somehow tricks your body because it tastes like sugar. And anything that is overprocessed is harder for our bodies to process. So real sugar might be safer. That being said, I use Stevia mostly when I have a choice. It is a plant. Now who is to say that a few years from now people won't find that Stevia ia bad too? But for now I feel like it should be okay because it is an herb that just happens to be sweet. I do sometimes eat or drink fake sweetened things though because I don't want the calories and I am out and about with limited choices. But I have to say when I read your symptoms I have experienced them as well and now I wonder if it could be the same thing. Let us know if it stops after you stop splenda!

I was a Splenda addict and have noticed a significant change in my body composition (mostly belly fat) from getting rid of the Splenda and using only Agave Nectar or Truvia.

katieacor

By chance, have you increased your intake of tea and/or coffee recently? Or changed brands? The symptoms you relate are similar to those for high blood pressure which can be caused by caffeine.
[/quote]

I agree this was a great thought, but it's funny I have really starting drinking much less coffee and tea lately. And that's a blessing in itself! I think everyone's advice has been terrific. I will stop using the Splenda and just use real sugar for when I want a cup of joe! Maybe I will try stevia ???

I find it CRAZY that there are so many wide and varied side effects out there for Splenda. Thanks again Everyone!

tsh0ck

DON'T USE ANY CHEMICALS! ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS CAUSE CANCER!

see? told ya.

zombie_meg

I just started using Truvia. I like it. Nothing weird has happened, yet.

myfitnessnmhoy

it's possible. there are plenty of "DON'T USE ANYTHING WITH CHEMICALS!!!111ONE!" people out there.

I guess I'm one of them, but only when the use seems unnecessary.

I used to use cinnamon gum (and still occasionally do) as a tide-me-over. I grabbed a 3-pack and I still have some left, but I didn't notice when I bought it that it was "low calorie" and it uses sucralose. The label proudly declares "30% fewer calories than sugared gum. Calorie content of this size stick has been reduced from 5 to 31/2 calories!!!"

I'm not necessarily afraid of the big bad sucralose (especially in the miniscule quantities found in gum), and I'm too adverse to waste to throw the gum out and buy a new pack, but I'm eating sucralose which has been introduced to save a CALORIE AND A HALF???

I've burned more than that just typing this post!

If you absolutely must have something sweet, the long-term effects of eating too many calories in sugars are well-known. High glycemic index means it converts to fat readily, and being very heavy has known effects on long-term health. Constant input of it can (in certain sensitive individuals) have long-term effects like triggering diabetes. So using artificial or engineered sweeteners can be less impactful than refined sugars. Then again, who knows? Controlled studies do not make a complete picture.

I'm anti-chemical in that I don't want to be the proving ground for something that can't have decades-long broadly-based studies because it emerged from the lab just a few years ago. How many of these things have been taken off the market post-introduction because they affected a certain percentage of the population in a negative way (or, in the case of others like saccharin, because of poorly-done overblown studies causing a scare where there really was no scientifically-supported risk)?

So if you do choose to be among my volunteer army of guinea pigs and royal food tasters, let me be the first to offer my heartfelt "thank you". If, after 20 years, you and the other regular users of a new product are still alive to continue to extoll its virtues, maybe I'll give it a try.

In the meantime, I'll continue to use sweeteners that have clearly-identified and well-studied risks, and take those risks into account in my usage of same.

myfitnessnmhoy

I agree this was a great thought, but it's funny I have really starting drinking much less coffee and tea lately. And that's a blessing in itself! I think everyone's advice has been terrific. I will stop using the Splenda and just use real sugar for when I want a cup of joe! Maybe I will try stevia ???

Use the sugar, count the calories. Seriously - a teaspoon of sugar has, what, 16 calories? Park 50 feet further from the building and call it a break-even.

Better yet, get better-quality coffee or tea and enjoy the subtle and complex flavors of an unsweetened hot beverage. Learn to love flavor and not sweet, and you'll find the rest of your diet starts correcting itself all on its own.

hellraisedfire

I agree this was a great thought, but it's funny I have really starting drinking much less coffee and tea lately. And that's a blessing in itself! I think everyone's advice has been terrific. I will stop using the Splenda and just use real sugar for when I want a cup of joe! Maybe I will try stevia ???

Use the sugar, count the calories. Seriously - a teaspoon of sugar has, what, 16 calories? Park 50 feet further from the building and call it a break-even.

Better yet, get better-quality coffee or tea and enjoy the subtle and complex flavors of an unsweetened hot beverage. Learn to love flavor and not sweet, and you'll find the rest of your diet starts correcting itself all on its own.

I love this! I never flavor coffee or tea. There's so many different coffees from the DR or Nicaragua or Costa Rica and they taste so different and fantastic in their own ways! and tea. don't even get me started on tea. I got this raspberry green/black tea that was so sweet on it's own it was scary!

tsh0ck

I agree this was a great thought, but it's funny I have really starting drinking much less coffee and tea lately. And that's a blessing in itself! I think everyone's advice has been terrific. I will stop using the Splenda and just use real sugar for when I want a cup of joe! Maybe I will try stevia ???

Use the sugar, count the calories. Seriously - a teaspoon of sugar has, what, 16 calories? Park 50 feet further from the building and call it a break-even.

Better yet, get better-quality coffee or tea and enjoy the subtle and complex flavors of an unsweetened hot beverage. Learn to love flavor and not sweet, and you'll find the rest of your diet starts correcting itself all on its own.

I love this! I never flavor coffee or tea. There's so many different coffees from the DR or Nicaragua or Costa Rica and they taste so different and fantastic in their own ways! and tea. don't even get me started on tea. I got this raspberry green/black tea that was so sweet on it's own it was scary!

just noting, in the DR they use sugar cane in their coffee most all the time. spent time there and the coffee, even for a caffeine junky, is SUPER strong. it's fabulous, but they definitely still sweeten it.

(and after nearly a decade in Texas, even the though of non-sweetened tea makes me shudder. ha!)

almartinez2

I have been having unexplained high blood pressure lately and I noticed that sucralose is in my light yogurt that I eat. I felt like I was gonna die the other day. My BP was 140/100. Luckily, I'm ok now. I'm going back to regular sugar, stevia, or none at all.