Splenda’s Dangers: One Man’s Personal Story That You Should Know

November 10, 2003

http://mercola.com/2003/nov/8/splenda_dangers.htm

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Nearly three years ago I posted an article describing the dangers of Splenda,

which is the brand name for sucralose. It appears that more and more people are

finally realizing the hazards that this “healthy” sweetener poses.

Splenda is far from healthy and I do not recommend using it in any form. Why not

use Splenda? Well, research in animals has shown that sucralose can cause many

problems such as:

Shrunken thymus glands (up to 40 percent shrinkage)

Enlarged liver and kidneys

Atrophy of lymph follicles in the spleen and thymus

Increased cecal weight

Reduced growth rate

Decreased red blood cell count

Hyperplasia of the pelvis

Extension of the pregnancy period

Aborted pregnancy

Decreased fetal body weights and placental weights

Diarrhea

But perhaps the most revealing and powerful way to learn the dangerous truth

about Splenda is to read someone’s personal experience with it. Nearly every

month we receive a report from someone who has had an adverse reaction to

Splenda, and after you read through the story below you can see many others

posted on our site.

The following story provides a revealing testimony to the havoc Splenda can

wreak on your physical and mental well-being.

Contributed by Steve G. [last name withheld]

I just want to thank you guys, as without your Web site I'd be in the mental

ward right now! I'm a big coffee drinker, but my family has a history of

diabetes so I decided I should cut out the sugar I add to my coffee.

Well, I switched to using Splenda in my coffee about two months ago. Now I’m no

wimp, and I’m not a health nut or anything like that! I’m a former football

player, a vice president with a major banking institution and kind of a tough

guy. Let me put it this way--the last time I cried was when the Green Bay

Packers won the Superbowl!

So, anyway, I was using Splenda and I started getting withdrawn, had trouble

focusing, and started to have problems with frustration. Gradually, I became

more and more depressed. I thought it was stress or my job, something like that.

Well, last Thursday I completely fell apart! My girlfriend came over and found

me crying uncontrollably for no reason, and all I could say was, " I'll be OK. "

She couldn’t get me to move, she couldn’t talk me down and I could not tell her

what was wrong!

She was shocked as I had never done anything even remotely like this before and

so she made me go to the hospital. The doctors there we so concerned about my

condition they wanted to check me into the mental-health ward.

Being the way I am I refused but agreed to come back the next day and see a

psychiatrist, which I did and he put me on a huge dose of Effexor. That night I

was on the Web and for some unknown reason I did a search for Splenda and found

the www.mercola.com Web site.

When I read your information on Splenda I was shocked--I simply had no clue! I

am now 99.9 percent convinced that my mental health issues were a direct result

of using Splenda. I even had the stomach cramps and chest pains that other

people have mentioned after using Splenda, but I dismissed them as panic attacks

and stress.

So the next morning I got up and had some more Splenda and, low and behold, I

started feeling the symptoms of a deepening depression again! It was clearly due

to the Splenda, so I tossed it out.

I just want to say thank you. I would love to help get this product off the

market! By the way, I missed work because of my ordeal, so I had to tell my boss

about my problems and now I have to explain to him that I’m not nuts or having a

break down--how embarrassing!

Thanks again!

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