So, I’m asking for some more information on Splenda or sucralose. I’ve Googled, but all that I can come up with are some, “Splenda is eeeeevil!” sites. All I really (think that I) know is that it’s made from sugar molecules where some of the -OH groups have been replaced with chlorine. Of course, it still looks enough like a sugar molecule to fool your taste receptors. Also, rather than other artificial sweeteners which are sometime thousands of times sweeter than sucrose or other natural sugars, it’s basically a one-to-one ratio of sweetness compared to sugar.
When I tried some Dasani water over the weekend, I really liked it, but also I had some, shall we say, gastric issues. I don’t know if this is due to the Splenda or not. I know that some of the “fake fats” like Olestra are chirally rearranged molecules that are still digestibe by some bacteria leading to these gastric issues. So, what’s the Straight Dope on Splenda and gastric issues? Also, can it help cause tooth decay like regular sugar?
Finally, what’s probably the most difficult question regarding Splenda: I’m a competitive cyclist and I might occassionally use the Splenda in the same way that I would use water occassionally. What are the possible effects from this? Mainly, if I’m rehydrating after a race I’m also probably going to be trying to eat some recovery food or other sugary drinks. Will Splenda be transported by membrane transporters like GLUT1? Basically, will I possibly be competitively interfering with my needed calorie/food uptake with “worthless” Splenda molecules? Or will it just stay in my GI tract until it gets passed out?
Without going into nutty claims about Splenda being a mind control device, is there anything else that I should know about Splenda?
I don’t have any scientific evidence for you, but I can say that after using Splenda alot for 3+ years, I have never experienced gastric difficulties after consuming it. I don’t think it’s a sugar alcohol - like Malitol or Lacitol - so it doesn’t give you the same problems as those will.
Some products marked as “sweetened with Splenda” are indeed sweetened with Splenda - AS WELL AS a good amount of sugar alcohols, which will give you those tummy problems.
I’m sure you will want some more unbiased evidence, but here is a site by Splenda specifically for healthcare and manufacturing professionals.
Oh, and according to this page on the Splenda site:
Splenda is sweeter then sugar and ‘cut’ with other things to make it a 1:1 ratio in some of their packaging. If you get the splenda packets however you will see it contains a lot less ‘stuff’ then a pack of sugar.
I have used it many times w/o any gastric upset, it may be some sugar alcohol as pointed out above that has caused problems.
I don’t cycle, but do hike and have made my own ‘sports’ drinks. To sweeten them I will 1st use some stevia (natural no cal sweetner), but just using that leaves a funny taste, so I only 1/2 sweeten it with stevia. Then I will add some splenda and sometimes a carb based sweetener such as honey. I would guess the ratio would be 60 stevia/20 splenda/20 honey.
Thanks. That website hit most everything that I was looking for. I was curious but forgot to ask about the body’s insulin reaction to sucralose, but that website had it. I think that I’ll go on using the Splenda water then.
I assume you are referring to the flavored Dasani? Regular Dasani is just…water.
And sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar. To make Splenda, it’s cut with a huge amount of filler, like dextrose and maltodextrin.
The 1-to-1 ratio refers to the sweetness per volume, if you’re using the baking kind. That way, a half-cup of Splenda sweetens the same as a half-cup of sugar. But while a half-cup of sugar contains maybe 100 grams of sucrose, a half-cup of Splenda Granular might contain half a gram of sucralose.
The stuff in the packets is still cut with filler, but not as much. A packet of Splenda is supposed to be as sweet as two teaspoons of sugar, but only contains about half as much material as a regular sugar packet (and only a few percent of that is sucralose).
I can’t answer this for certain, but I’d like to suggest that if you’re engaging in heavy exercise, be cautious with it. Part of the value in sports drinks, to my understanding, is not just that they supply water and electrolytes but that the osmotic potential is such that they are absorbed more quickly into the body. If you drink some sort of Splenda-sweetened product, it won’t have the same osmotic potential as one sweetened with sugar, since only a tiny quantity of Splenda is needed for equivalent sweetness. It might not rehydrate you as well.
This could all be my own misinterpretations of things, though, so if anyone has more direct knowledge, please enlighten me.
No, I’m not using it as a sports drink, I was just wondering if it was possibly interfering with my use of a real sports drink. I use Accelerade, and although I don’t find the taste absolutely horrific so that I want to cut off my own tongue and throw up like most people do, I still like to wash it down with a bit of water. Also, having the water on hand on the bike is useful if it’s hot and you decide to dump it all over yourself. Apparently because there should only be around 1/600th as much Splenda as sugar, I should be okay dumping sweetend Dasani all over myself.