Sucralose (trichlorogalactosucrose, a unique disaccharide, a key ingredient of Splenda) is an artificial sweetener from native sucrose that was approved by the FDA on April 1, 1998 (April Fool's Day). Popular brand name of sucralose-based sweetener is Splenda. Sucralose is relatively safe for diabetes, as it does not alter insulin levels and does not carry calories.
According to Wikipedia.com, some adverse side effects were seen at doses that significantly exceeded the estimated daily intake (EDI), which is 1.1 mg/kg/day. About 11-27% of sucralose is absorbed.
Sucralose Side Effects
Patel RM and co-workers from Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, GA, ported a potential association between sucralose and migraines. [1] Bigal ME and Krymchantowski AV from The Albert Einstein College of Medicine. NY, reported a patient with attacks of migraine consistently triggered by sucralose. She also suffers from menstrually related migraine that had been well-controlled for several months since she switched her contraceptive from fixed estrogen to triphasic contraceptive pills. Some attacks triggered by sucralose were preceded by aura, and she had never experienced migraine with aura before. Withdrawal of the compound was associated with complete resolution of the attacks. [2]
Goldsmith LA from McNeil Specialty Products Company published a paper titled, "Acute and subchronic toxicity of sucralose" in Food Chem Toxicol. in 2000 and he claimed that he observed no toxicologically significant effects at the 1.0% or 2.5% dietary levels of sucralose for 4 and 8 weeks in male and female mice. [4]
Now the questions are: What happens if an animal takes it daily for a year or longer? What would be the sucralose side effect, if any?
A 52 week-study of rats showed that sucralose was not carcinogenic. Sucralose did not adversely affect the survival or clinical condition of the rats, and there were no toxicologically significant findings. However, adverse side effects were noticed in the sucralose treated female groups especially at higher doses. The adverse findings included renal pelvic epithelial hyperplasia, renal pelvic mineralization and adrenal cortical haemorrhagic degeneration. While, cataracts were found in male rats at high doses. [3] If this is applicable to human, we should not overdose ourselves with sucralose.
According to Medicinenet.com [l], sucralose side effects include bloating, gas, diarrhea, nausea, skin irritations, wheezing, cough, runny nose, chest pains, palpitations, anxiety, anger, moods swings, depression, and itchy eyes. Further, surcralose may interfere drug absorption and microorganism populations in our gut.
Reference:
[1] Patel RM, Sarma R, Grimsley E. Popular sweetner sucralose as a migraine trigger. Headache. 2006 Sep;46(8):1303-4.
[2] Bigal ME, Krymchantowski AV. Migraine triggered by sucralose--a case report. Headache. 2006 Mar;46(3):515-7.
[3] Mann SW, Yuschak MM, Amyes SJ, Aughton P, Finn JP. A combined chronic toxicity / carcinogenicity study of sucralose in Sprague-Dawley rats. Food Chem Toxicol. 2000;38 Suppl 2:S71-89.
[4] Goldsmith LA. Acute and subchronic toxicity of sucralose. Food Chem Toxicol. 2000;38 Suppl 2:S53-69.