Splendra - Diabetes Message Board

avia · 01-09-2003, 04:13 PM

Has anyone had any ill effects from using this sweetener? I hear it taste very good but was wondering what are the long term effects from using it?

01-10-2003, 09:14 AM

Splenda is the only sweetener that does not cause any extra problems--Like aspertame is supposed. I was listening to a MD on TV the other day he recommended only to use Splenda . It is a bit more expensive but can be used in cooking and baking.

Fergie · 01-13-2003, 05:03 PM

I have been using Splenda for 2 1/2 years, since I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes and it is the only sweetner that I like. Splenda doesn not have the after taste that the others have, at least for me. I have not had any adverse reactions from Splenda.

khursun · 12-10-2004, 04:37 PM

Color me confused. Very

I certainly expected to like Splenda but a few weeks ago had a severe reaction whenever I consumed Ice Cream sweetened with Splenda. I experienced very noticeable stomach distress and symptoms similar to a strong laxative -- complete intentinal flush in a few hours. I do not experience anything like this with ice cream with any other sweeteners.

I had been using Splenda with my daily coffee, but after the Ice Cream fiasco, I began to worry. I noticed my fasting BS levels had crept up to the 150+ range, so I decided to avoid Splenda even as a coffee sweetener. I switched to using saccharin and noticed my fasting BS levels seem to be dropping to a more normal range.

To add to my confusion, I have been carefully avoiding NutraSweet (Aspartame), but noticed my fasting BS levels drop 20-30 points after days where I consumed a diet soda.

This is nothing more than one person's strange experience, certainly nothing scientific. It has prompted me to spend a lot of google time searching for commentary on Splenda, artificial sweeteners, diabetes, Glucophage, etc, which is how I found this thread and decided to add my weird story to the confusion.

I take Glucophage 500mg twice daily and Glucotrol 10mg once daily.

Glucophage is described as a medicine designed to block glucose in the digestive system, at least that is my interpretation of what the manufacturer's literature says.

These artificial sweeteners stimulate a sweetness sensation because of their chemical similarity to sugar, while the digestive system is unable to extract nutritive value. Since Glucophage works by blocking glucose, it may have altered effectiveness in the presence of sugar surrogates such as Splenda (sucrolose). I cannot guess whether Glucophage is being diverted, blocked, catalyzed, or augmented in the presence of Splenda, but perhaps something unhealthy is going on.

Color me naive.

Certainly if Splenda were in any way unhealthy, manufacturers would not use it in popular consumer items such as Ice Cream.

Would they?

Janni · 12-10-2004, 08:00 PM

To answer the last question first - there have been a lot of unhealthy things in foods - and drug recalls of course - so I tend not to place much faith in "new" things until they have been around for a while and haven't killed anybody

I had the runs after trying Splenda in ice cream, and later in a baked product, so I'm not going to use it, and have asked close friends and family to tell me it they are putting in anything they are cooking, so I won't accidently eat it. I cramps and runs from whatever they put in those "low fat" ice creams too. I always hated the taste of saccherine and have been doing OK on aspertame (generic Nutrasweet) in my diet sodas, in coffee, on grapefruit. People are very different in their taste perceptions of and tolerance for these products. I would have been thrilled if Splenda agreed with me - could have baked more things etc. Oh well.