Sugar Substitutes - Sucralose Artificial Sweeteners To Save Calories

Sucralose is an artificial sweetener known by the trade name Splenda. In the European Union, it is also known under the E number (additive code) E955. It is 500–600 times as sweet as sucrose, making it roughly twice as sweet as saccharin and four times as sweet as aspartame. It is manufactured by the selective chlorination of sucrose, by which three of sucrose's hydroxyl groups are substituted with chlorine atoms to produce 1,6-dichloro-1,6-dideoxy-ß-D-fructo-furanosyl 4-chloro-4-deoxy-a-D-galactopyranoside. Unlike aspartame, it is stable under heat and over a broad range of pH conditions, and can be used in baking, or in products that require a longer shelf life.

History
Sucralose was discovered in 1976 by scientists from Tate & Lyle, working with researchers at Queen Elizabeth College (now part of King's College London). It was discovered by Leslie Hough and a young Indian chemist, Shashikant Phadnis. The duo were trying to make an insecticide. On a late-summer day, Phadnis was told to test the powder. Phadnis thought that Leslie asked him to taste it; so he did. He found the compound to be ridiculously sweet (the final formula was 600 times sweeter than sugar). They worked with Tate & Lyle for a year before settling down on the final formula. They did not find any use of the compound as an insecticide. [Burkhard Bilger, The New Yorker, May 22, 2006, p 40]

It was first approved for use in Canada (where it has sometimes been marketed as Splendar) in 1991. Subsequent approvals came in Australia in 1993, in New Zealand in 1996, in the United States in 1998, and in the European Union in 2004. As of 2006, it has been approved in over 60 countries, including Brazil, China, India and Japan.

Tate & Lyle manufactures sucralose at a plant in McIntosh, Alabama, with additional capacity under construction in Singapore. It is used in products such as candy, breakfast bars and soft drinks. Sucralose mixed with maltodextrin and dextrose (both made from corn) as a bulking agent is sold internationally by McNeil Nutritionals under the Splenda brand name. In the United States and Canada, this blend is increasingly found in restaurants in yellow packets, in contrast to the pink packets commonly used by saccharin sweeteners, and the blue packets used by those containing aspartame.

Packaging and storage
Most products that contain sucralose add bulking agents and additional sweetener to bring the product to the approximate volume and texture of an equivalent amount of sugar. This is because sucralose is nearly 600 times sweeter than sucrose (Table Sugar). Pure sucralose is sold in bulk, but not in quantities suitable for individual use. Pure dry sucralose undergoes some decomposition at elevated temperatures; in solution or when blended with maltodextrin, which is made from corn, it is slightly more stable.

Use in Branded Products
Sucralose can be found in more than 3,500 food and beverage products.

Thomas English Muffins (the Honey Wheat English Muffins) now feature sucralose in the ingredient list despite the fact it is not a dietary product.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi released new versions of their colas (Coke C2 and Pepsi EDGE) replacing half of the traditional high-fructose corn syrup with sucralose (C2 also uses aspartame and acesulfame potassium). In 2005, Coca-Cola released a new formulation of Diet Coke sweetened with sucralose, called Diet Coke with Splenda, which also has acesulfame potassium. Coca-Cola also released a new energy drink through the Tab namebrand which uses sucralose and acesulfame potassium; marketed as a "no carbohydrate/low calorie energy drink".
Pepsi-Cola has released an updated Pepsi ONE using sucralose instead of aspartame, although both formulations, new and old, also use acesulfame potassium, another intense sweetener.
Cadbury-Schweppes released 7UP Plus in the US in August 2004, a drink containing fruit juices and sucralose, and in May 2005, Diet 7 UP switched from aspartame to sucralose.
National Beverage Corp. uses sucralose in all of their Diet Shastas.
The Dannon Company (the US branch of Danone) has introduced a new range of their flavored yogurts and yogurt drinks, called "Light 'n Fit", and some of those are sweetened with sucralose, some with fruit juices, and some still with aspartame.
Jamba Juice, in 2004, released a category of 'smoothies' based on the use of Splenda to lower the amount of sugar used, thus lowering total caloric content as well as "carbs" (calories supplied by carbohydrates/sugars).
Universal Robina Corporation, the manufacturer of C2 Cool & Clean Tea, the green tea which unexpectedly took the Philippine beverage market by storm (nudging sodas and iced teas out of popularity), recently released the sugar-free version of their C2 beverages C2 Lite Cool & Clean Tea. In similar flavor variants, but this time, sugar-free and low-calorie, and containing sucralose.
Propel is a lightly flavored, non-carbonated beverage with added C, E, and B Vitamins. It is also sweetened with acesulfame potassium and sucralose.
Starbucks uses sucralose in their Frappuccino® Light Blended Coffee line.
Nestle uses sucralose in their Pure Life® flavoured water line (e.g., Raspberry Splash).
SoBe Lean contains Splenda® brand sucralose.
AriZona Diet Green Tea with Ginseng contains Splenda® brand sucralose.

Safety
Sucralose has been accepted by several national and international food safety regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives, The European Union's Scientific Committee on Food, Health Protection Branch of Health and Welfare Canada and Food Standards Australia-New Zealand (FSANZ).

"In determining the safety of sucralose, FDA reviewed data from more than 110 studies in humans and animals. Many of the studies were designed to identify possible toxic effects including carcinogenic, reproductive and neurological effects. No such effects were found, and FDA's approval is based on the finding that sucralose is safe for human consumption." (FDA Talk Paper T98-16)

"There is adequate evidence [for sucralose] that there are no concerns about mutagenicity (causing mutations, birth defects, etc.), carcinogenicity (causing cancer), development or reproductive toxicity (being toxic to one's offspring)." (Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Commission on sucralose, September 7, 2000)

Although the scientific evidence seems to indicate that sucralose is safe, some individuals and organizations remain skeptical that it poses no long-term health risk. Concerns have also been raised about the effect of sucralose on the thymus gland, a gland that is important to the immune system. A report from NICNAS cites two studies on rats, both of which found "a significant decrease in mean thymus weight" at a certain dose. In one of the studies, this dose was 3 mg sucralose per kg bodyweight for 28 days, the equivalent of a typical American man eating approximately 200 g of the substance every day for up to three years. The other study found this effect at 3 % sucralose in the diet for 10 weeks, the equivalent of more than 40 g, every single day, for up to thirty years. Thus sucralose is still considered to be safe, as it is 600 times sweeter than sugar, which means that a very small amount is ingested.

It is important to know that conclusive results can never be drawn for toxicology studies that are carried out on non-human animals. They can only be used as a rule of thumb, or a general guideline, due to the extreme differences between test animals and humans. A very good example of this is the toxicity of chocolate when fed to small animals, and Thalidomide which has no effect on pregnant rats' offspring but causes severe deformities in human fetuses.

There are now cases of food manufacturers adding sucralose as a sugar replacement to non-diet products where it would not normally be expected to be found, such as Thomas Honey Wheat English Muffins.

Natural Sugar Substitutes

Artificial Sugar Substitutes

Information Provided by Wikipedia

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