Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

     I love Splenda. Last year, when I lost 40 pounds, Splenda rescued me with sugary-tasting goodies and kept me on track. I still use it - it is by far the tastiest zero-calorie sweetener on the market. I put Splenda in my tea, I eat it with sweet potatoes and cinnamon, and it's in a lot of the lo-cal groceries I buy now.
     Now Coke is coming out with a new Diet Coke with Splenda. The article in the AJC goes on to say how Lyle & Tate, the sole manufacturer of sucralose (the primary ingredient in Splenda) can't keep up with demand and is building a new plant in Singapore and expanding their current plant in Alabama. I'm really excited about this development, but....
     I can't help waiting for the other show to drop. If it comes out 20 years from now that sucralose causes cancer or scurvy or mutations or *something*, I'm screwed. I mean, the stuff's only existed for 14 years, and has only been in the U.S. for 6. Who knows what the long-term effects are? The implications are almost enough to make me start exercising again and switch back to sugar. Naahhh.

3 comments:

Ben said...

I did read somewhere that competitors are now spreading rumors about side-effects of Splenda, since they can't beat it fairly.

Anonymous said...

I don't understand why they can't beat Splenda. They're all the same to me. I just prefer yellow to light blue or pink (even worse). It's less feminine. If they started marketing sweetener in naked lady packages, I'd probably start using that.

- Brian S

ORF said...

There was an article about it and its questionable side effects in the NYTimes magazine about three weeks ago. They mentioned this website: http://www.truthaboutsplenda.com/
The article reduced Splenda down to chlorine. I wonder if my pool boy knows about this...

Sorry if this causes you distress, but look at it this way: it's well nigh impossible to avoid carcinogens. They are everywhere. We will all die of cancer. It will be the new black.