by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP

Few of us are really aware how many new Splenda® products are about to appear in supermarkets. We’ve been told this artificial sweetener is different than all the past failures -- Sweet'N Low®, NutraSweet®, etc. -- and that according to the claims, this Splenda is perfect: as sweet as sugar, but no calories; as sweet as sugar, but no surge in insulin; as sweet as sugar, but no side effects or long-term health damage.

The wave is coming because “low sugar” is the latest fad -- a welcome trend, given the health hazards of all the sugar in the average diet. But of the hundreds of new diet foods that will soon appear, most will use Splenda as a sugar substitute. This is important because for tens of millions of women, their diet soda or artificially-sweetened food is a keystone of what they think are healthy nutrition and food choices -- both for themselves and for their families.

On the other side of the argument are responsible experts who say that Splenda is unsafe -- the latest in a succession of artificial sweeteners that claim at first to be healthy, only later to be proven to be full of side effects. These authorities say that Splenda has more in common with DDT than with food.

What do we believe? We think that our regulatory system doesn’t do a good enough job ensuring our long-term safety. We’re concerned about the bigger picture, too -- the dependence on sweets in the American diet to make us feel good -- whether those sweets are satisfied by sugar or artificial sweeteners like Splenda. And we are especially sensitive to the women who can benefit from using artificial sweeteners as a bridge to a better life with healthier nutrition.

What should you think? We want you to be fully informed -- which isn’t what food marketers want! -- so you can make the best choices for yourself and for your family. So let’s make sure you are.

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