Splenda… All Natural? Really?!

We are forever searching for the fountain of youth.  In fact, I spent quite a lot of time this weekend reading a new book – Project Longevity – which I will, of course, blog about shortly.  Here’s the thing.  We take resveratrol pills, get injected with botox and juvederm, go for facials and mud treatments, consume massive amounts of medications when we get diagnosed with diseases, and feed our kids antidepressants when they are angry and depressed.  So, let me ask all of you a question… Why are we slowly poisoning ourselves with the artificial sweeteners that the food industry is touting to be the answer to our sugar fix?

These nasty little chemicals that I wouldn’t feed my enemies make you look old and pasty, make your diabetes worse, make your children angry and uptight, might be the leading cause of many diseases, and – are you ready for this? – studies are showing links to Alzheimer’s, dementia, and brain tumors.

The world starts to get nervous with aspartame and along comes Splenda.  Now, they are touting, this chemical – that contains chlorine – is all natural.  Since some of you have asked, here are my thoughts on Splenda (sucralose) and how it is made:

• “Sucrose is tritylated with trityl chloride in the presence of dimethylformamide and 4-methylmorpholine, and the tritylated sucrose is then acetylated with acetic anhydride.
• The resulting sucrose molecule TRISPA is chlorinated with hydrogen chlorine in the presence of tolulene.
• The resulting 4-PAS is heated in the presence of methyl isobutyl ketone and acetic acid.
• The resulting 6-PAS is chlorinated with thionyl chloride in the presence of toluene and benzyltriethylammonium chloride.
• The resulting TOSPA is treated with methanol in the presence of sodium methoxide to produce sucralose.”  (Note that methanol, wood alcohol aka paint remover,  is one of the questionable ingredients in aspartame.)”

Does anyone know what on earth this means? The answer is no, don’t feel bad.  Even the inventors of Splenda admit that the body absorbs 15% of sucralose but they cannot guarantee us (out of this fifteen percent) what amount of the chlorine stays in the body and what percent gets flushed out.  I say get rid of all of those artificial sweeteners and learn how to enjoy a cup of java black.  I have even become so petrified of the additives in many brands of stevia that I am using honey in everything or nothing at all.  Yes, I am putting honey in my coffee these days.  It actually has a nice flavor.

Again, let me remind you of one of my most favorite sayings.  If it doesn’t come from the Earth and it didn’t have a mother, don’t eat (or drink) it.