Sucralose

Sucralose is a high-intensity sweetener.  It is made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar. Manufacturers use a patented multi-step process that selectively replaces three hydrogen-oxygen groups on the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms. This means the sweetener keeps the sugar taste without the sugars’ calories and carbohydrates. It passes through the body without being metabolized or broken down. Sucralose is approximately six hundred times sweeter than sugar, and as a result, only small amounts are necessary in a product.  This is why you find a product with sugar that is heavier than it's sugar-free counterpart with sucralose.

In 1998, the FDA approved sucralose for use in 15 food and beverage categories, the broadest initial approval ever given to a food additive. The FDA has never required any warning label or information statements on products containing sucralose.

SUCRALOSE IN OTHER COUNTRIES

In 1990, the safety of sucralose was confirmed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. JECFA is an international body of experts who evaluation the safety of food additives and is relied upon by the regulatory agencies of many smaller countries.  So far, sucralose has been approved for use in more than 40 countries worldwide. Canada in 1991, Australia and Mexico in 1993. Regulatory agencies have also approved the use of sucralose in Brazil, China, Japan, in various Latin American, Asian, Caribbean, and Middle Eastern countries.

SAFETY STUDIES SHOW THAT SUCRALOSE IS SAFE

Safety studies show that sucralose is a safe and essentially inert ingredient. These studies have drawn the following conclusions about sucralose:

• Sucralose has no known side effects
• It is not toxic: There have been no adverse effects seen in test animals, even in amounts equivalent in sweetness to 40+ pounds of sugar per day for life.
• No bioaccumulation
• Not carcinogenic
• Not genotoxic (Does not cause genetic mutations.)
• No effects on fetal or neonatal development
• Not neurotoxic (No evidence of effects on the central nervous system.)
• No effect on carbohydrate metabolism
• No calories or carbohydrates (Sucralose is not hydrolyzed or broken down for energy)
• No effects on short- or long-term blood glucose or on serum insulin levels.

Sucralose is suitable for people with diabetes and may be used as part of an overall healthy diet designed to meet their unique dietary needs

USE OF SUCRALOSE BY PEOPLE WITH DIABETES

The FDA has approved the use of sucralose by everyone, including people with diabetes. The body does not recognized sucralose as a carbohydrate even though it is made from sugar. The body does not broke it down for energy and it provides no calories. Studies in humans with and without diabetes have shown no effect of sucralose on insulin levels, fasting or postprandial blood glucose levels, or long-term blood glucose control.

ABSORPTION, DISTRIBUTION, METABOLISM, AND ELIMINATION OF SUCRALOSE

Studies have shown that about 15% of the sucralose eaten is passively absorbed through the small intestine. Most ingested sucralose passes through the digestive system unchanged and without causing any gastrointestinal side effects.

Sucralose that is absorbed goes to nearly all tissues. Studies have shown that there is no active transport of sucralose across the blood-brain barrier, across the placental barrier, or from the mammary glands into milk.

Because sucralose is not perceived by the body as a carbohydrate, it is not broken down by the body. In humans, about 2% is biotransformed into toxicologically insignificant components that are rapidly excreted in urine and most is excreted unchanged in feces, without gastrointestinal effects.

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