Sucralose?

[esam915]

Are there any serious issues with consuming sucralose with the amounts that are contained in 2-3 scoops of whey per day or a serving of Scivation Xtend on lifting days? I have a history of minor digestive issues (which were alleviated by probiotics and digestive enzymes) and was a little concerned when I came across this article: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...04.2013.842523.

Basically, I am concerned with two things. One, with building up potentially toxic residues of chlorine compounds in my stomach from chronic intake of sucralose. I am more concerned, however, with the potential for sucralose to significantly reduce the number of beneficial gut flora.

Any suggestions on how to proceed? I guess I can also apply these questions and concerns to the other popular sweetener, acesulfame potassium.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

None of these issues have been shown to occur in humans at plausible intakes of the sweetener. It's really a non issue, particularly for the reasons you're concerned about.

The only real issue I see with sweeteners is reinforcement of the food-reward pathway with respect to sweet/highly palatable foods.

[esam915]

Thanks for the answer, Jordan. Glad to see you're back on the forums.

I've become pretty sensitive to sweet things in the past couple of years as I've eliminated much of the processed sugar from my diet, so I think the food-reward pathway is a non-issue for me as long as I don't go crazy on the stuff. Glad to hear that I can give Xtend a try without worry.

[esam915]

I had asked specifically about sucralose, but what about Ace-K? Still the same answer, I'm assuming.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Yep, same with Ace-K

[esam915]

Any legitimacy to the claim that the stuff gives headaches? I've read anecdotes but it seems like people read about the rumored risks and then they happen to have a headache afterward.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Any legitimacy to the claim that the stuff gives headaches? I've read anecdotes but it seems like people read about the rumored risks and then they happen to have a headache afterward.

Based on current data, no. Here's some commentary from the journal Headache by Dr. Grotz in 2008 on the topic:

..there are only 3 published case reports arising from the hundreds of millions of exposures to products containing sucralose during more than 15 years these products have been available. In addition, in each of these single patient observations, there are potential confounders of taste or ingestion of other food products, which should give pause to any researcher or clinician trying to draw conclu- sions from such data.

There are abundant data demonstrating the safety of sucralose. In assessing the overall safety profile of sucralose, one cannot ignore the extensive data showing that sucralose is well tolerated and safe for use in amounts hundreds of times greater than maximum estimated intakes. Clinical studies similarly show that sucralose is as well tol- erated as placebo.