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Sucralose -- Splenda -- Substitute for Sugar.  Is It Safe?

Artificial Sweeteners -- What's Out There?

Return To Main Page On Sucralose

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EHPP Nutrition Notes Newsletter Vol. 1 No. 3
Originally written: August 3, 2000

Most people enjoy sweets and some can't imagine living without some kind of sweetener. Iced tea or coffee without sweetener? Maybe you can have unsweetened coffee or tea, but look at how sweeteners are used in so many other places in our diet. Sometimes people want, or need, to save on calories or need to limit their sugar intake for medical reasons. With so many questions about artificial sweeteners and their safety, I thought I would try to review the artificial sweeteners we currently have available to us in the United States.

There are two general classes of sweeteners – nutritive and non-nutritive. Nutritive
sweeteners contain calories and provide energy, while non-nutritive sweeteners have no calories and provide no energy.

This article will focus primarily on the non-nutritive or artificial sweeteners, but first here is a short review of nutritive sweeteners.
- Sugar contains 4 calories/gram. Because of different densities, the number of calories in a teaspoon of the type of sugar varies.
- Sucrose, which most of us know as white granulated sugar, contains 16 calories/teaspoon.
- Honey, a sweetener some people prefer, contains 21 calories/teaspoon. Honey is no more or less nutritious than granulated table sugar; it just has a different flavor.
- Fructose is 1.5 times sweeter than sucrose. It can be found in a crystallized form (with cornstarch), or as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It is used a lot in processed foods because it is very stable. It contains 12 calories/teaspoon. It is no more or less nutritious than sucrose.
- Brown sugar is created when sugar crystals are flavored with molasses. It also is 16
calories/teaspoon.
- Sugar alcohol includes sorbitol, mannitol, and xylitol but does not contain ethanol (as
alcoholic beverages do). The name refers to its chemical structure. Sugar alcohol is found in sugarless gum, hard candy, jam, jelly, and in sugarless or “diabetic” candy. Sugar alcohol still has calories, about 2 calories/gram, but is absorbed slowly and incompletely requiring little or no insulin to be metabolized. Sugar alcohol does not cause cavities since the bacteria that promotes cavities don't like sugar alcohol. Eating foods with sorbitol and mannitol in excess can act as a laxative in some people. Remember there are still calories in foods with sugar alcohol.

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS

Artificial sweeteners are non-nutritive (zero calories per serving), high intensity sugar
substitutes that include aspartame, acesulfame-K, saccharin and sucralose. Alitame and cyclamate are also artificial sweeteners, but are not currently approved by the FDA for use in the United States.

Aspartame – aka Equal, Nutrasweet

Discovered in 1965, aspartame is one of the more common tabletop artificial sweeteners in the US today. It is made from a combination of the two amino acids aspartic acid and phenylalanine. During digestion, aspartame is broken down into these two individual amino acids. It is also broken down when exposed to heat, resulting in a loss of its sweet taste.

Aspartame is 160-220 times sweeter than sucrose. Like sugar, aspartame has 4
calories/gram, but since it is so sweet and such a small amount is needed for the sweetening effect, it is labeled as zero calories per serving. The FDA has set the accepted daily intake (ADI) at 50 mg/kg of body weight. One packet of the sweetener contains 37 mg of aspartame and 12 ounces of diet soda contains about 200 mg of aspartame. By this standard, a person who weighs 60 kg (~132 pounds) could consume 3000 mg of aspartame or 3 grams (a total of 12 calories) daily. This is the equivalent of 81 packets of Equal or 15 cans of diet soda (180 fluid ounces). Aspartame is found in products like Diet Coke, Dannon Light Yogurt, Swiss
Miss Fat Free Hot Cocoa Mix, and BreathSavers.

Foods that contain aspartame must carry a label warning consumers that the product contains phenylalanine for people who have phenylketonuria (PKU). If you have this disorder, you know it, since all infants in the US are screened for it at birth.

Since its initial approval by the FDA in 1981, the FDA has evaluated aspartame 26 times. Aspartame is approved for use in more than 100 nations including Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Despite many studies, there is no evidence to link aspartame with seizures, brain disorders, headaches, cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, birth defects, multiple sclerosis, “Desert Storm Syndrome” or any other disorder.

Acesulfame-K – aka acesulfame potassium, Sunette, Sweet One, Sweet ‘n Safe

Discovered in 1967, acesulfame-K is 150-200 times sweeter than sugar and is another
tabletop sweetener. Acesulfame-K is the result of the combination of acetoacetic acid and potassium to form a highly stable, crystalline sweetener. The chemical structure is similar to saccharin.

Acesulfame-K is usually used in combination with aspartame or other sweeteners because it enhances and sustains the sweet taste of foods and beverages and helps extend the shelf life of the food product it is in. It is heat stable so it can be used in baked products. It does not provide calories since the body does not metabolize it and it is excreted in the urine without being changed.

Acesulfame-K is found in about 4,000 foods, including chewing gum, desserts, alcoholic beverages, syrups, candies, sauces, and yogurt. In the US it is found in Hershey's Lite Syrup and Fat Free Dutch Chocolate Hot Cocoa, Trident gum and sugar free Jell-O. It is used in more than 90 countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Canada. It was approved for use by the FDA in 1988 and has been evaluated 8 times since. It has been found to be safe for all segments of the population and does not have to carry any warnings on the products it is in. The World Health Organization has also review and found acesulfame-K to be safe.

The ADI for acesulfame-K is 15 mg/kg. Again, for a 60 kg person that amounts to 900 mg of acesulfame-K every day. With the amount that is currently used in beverages, this would require about 2 gallons of beverage to be consumed each day. The amount of potassium in a packet of tabletop sweetener is about 10 mg. Most people get about 2,000-3,000 mg of potassium per day in the foods they eat.

Saccharin – aka Sweet’N Low, Sugar Twin

Saccharin was discovered at Johns Hopkins in 1879 and is estimated to be 200-700 times sweeter than sugar. It is calorie free because the body cannot break it down.

In 1977, after a study found it caused bladder cancer in rats all products that contained
saccharin were required to be labeled with the following statement: “Use of this product may be hazardous to your health. This product contains saccharin which has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals.” Studies have followed diabetics who have used saccharin for years and have yet to show an increase in the incidence of bladder cancer. On May 15, 2000 the U.S. government released a report on things known to cause cancer. When the list came out, it “de-listed” saccharin from the list of suspected carcinogens.

Even if you don't use the “pink packets,” you likely are still getting saccharin. It is found in non-food products such as Listerine, Crest Toothpaste, Robitussin cough syrup, and Carefree chewing gum. It is also in salad dressing, jam, jelly, preserves and baked goods.

Sucralose – a.k.a. Splenda

Discovered in 1976, sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sugar and does not contain
calories. It is the only low calorie sweetener that is made from sugar. It is heat stable and can be used in cooking and baking or anywhere one would use sugar without losing its sweetness. Even though sucralose is a sugar molecule, it has been changed so that the body does not recognize it as a sugar or carbohydrate and passes through the body unchanged and unmetabolized. Substituting the hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule with 3 chlorine atoms creates sucralose. Chlorine is something we consume every day in our water and other foods we eat.

Sucralose is currently used in more than 30 countries and the FDA approved it in 1998 as a tabletop sweetener. It has been studied for more than 20 years, and 110 published animal and human safety studies have concluded that sucralose is safe for everyone to consume. As a result, sucralose does not require any warning labels. Agencies in Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, China, and Mexico have also approved its use and safety. The ADI is 15 mg/kg body weight per day.

Alitame

A compound of two amino acids, D-alanine and L-aspartic acid, alitame is 2,000 times sweeter than sugar. A petition for approval was submitted in 1986 to the FDA for use in baked goods, beverages, and confections. It is not yet approved for use in the US, but is expected to soon be FDA approved.

Alitame has not been found to be carcinogenic or have any reproductive toxicity. Further studies are being conducted to determine an ADI. It is currently approved for use in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and China.

Cyclamate

Cyclamate was discovered in 1937 at the University of Illinois and has previously been used in the US. It was suggested that cyclamate was related to bladder tumors in rats was subsequently banned in the US in 1969. It is still used in Canada as a tabletop sweetener and more than 50 other countries. It is 30-60 times sweeter than sugar and heat stable.

There has never been any evidence that it has any ill effects in human beings. More than 75 studies since 1970 have not been able to show that cyclamate is carcinogenic. In the US, the FDA is currently reconsidering its ban. In 1982, the Cancer Assessment Committee of the FDA reviewed scientific evidence and determined that cyclamate is not carcinogenic. The National Academy of Sciences reaffirmed this in 1985.

FYI: The accepted daily intake - ADI - the FDA sets is for the amount one can safely consume each day in their lifetime. Most people will never come close to reaching the ADI.

Whether it is sugar or artificial sweeteners, sweet foods can be an enjoyable part of a healthy diet. Foods containing artificial sweeteners or high amounts of unnecessary sugar can displace foods that contain more healthful nutrients. Remember moderation is the key to all forms/types of foods and foods that contain artificial sweeteners are not necessarily calorie free; there may be other sources of calories.

Written by: Shelley Rael, MS, RD, LD 272-3989 or shelrael@unm.edu

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