Splenda vs. Stevia

January 21, 2009 | 10693 CommentsSplenda+vs.+Stevia2009-01-21+03%3A45%3A11Mike+Roussell

Last week I wrote about Grocery Store scams and how food companies try to dress up their productsby using health buzz words like ‘omega-3s’. In that post I mentioned some new products that I like such as Splenda with Fiber. The mention of me using splenda took the show and we had a great discussion about splenda and if it was better or worse than stevia.

Here are some highlights:

Paula asked

I’ve heard that only natural sweeteners should be used such as agave syrup, maple syrup, and stevia. I personally use Stevia, as a little goes a long way!

Markus responded

I use stevia, too, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves that it is “natural”. It may come from a plant, but so does high fructose corn syrup. All of these nonsugar sweeteners—stevia, sucralose, xylitol, erythritol, etc—are highly processed.

I also chimed in that I think people get hooked on how ’stevia’ comes from a plant and is natural. Natural is such an overused word. It is important not to make the from plants = good assumption.

I also added

Stevia is fine. Agave syrup is good too. My wife will sometimes use maple syrup in her coffee so they are all good options. At some level it comes not to calories (if you are concerned about controlling them) and preference. If you like stevia then use that.

alisdair said that

I have started using Xylitol. It’s a totally natural replacement for sugar – looks like sugar tastes like sugar but is naturally made. Works for me and I feel better about eating it.

Xylitol is a fine. Just be careful not to use too much. I have written about sugar alcohols previously.

Jill question the make up of splenda wondering if the cholorine molecules made it harmful (lots of people worry about this).

Josef had a great post in response

…it has had some of its -OH (hydroxyl) groups replaced with Cl (google the structure of sucrose and sucralose). The body does not really absorb this altered molecule and the vast majority passes through. For the stuff that is absorbed there have been multi-generation studies done with VERY high doses without adverse affects.

Its water soluble (polar) so by definition it does not accumulate in your fat stores either. Fat is non-polar. Think of polar and non-polar as oil and water.

John Lauber said

I also found Stevia w/fiber (like above) at my local ShopRite.

That’s pretty cool. I’ll keep my eye out for that next time I go shopping.

Jill made a great point in that even if you don’t use the packets you may be getting more artificial sweetners than you think.

I don’t use actual packets of any sweetener or stevia or agave at all— BUT, and we all do it, there is the daily Metabolic drive or other brand (anywhere from a half scoop to 2 1/2 scoops per day), there’s the Kroger brand Carb Masters yogurt with splenda, there’s a very occational Diet Rite made with splenda, and now your saying to check out the carb one katsup

This article was written by Mike Roussell. Mike Roussell is a nationally renowned nutritionist and the president of the Naked Nutrition Network. He is currently a doctoral candidate in nutrition at Pennsylvania State University. Learn More About Mike Click Here

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10693 ResponsesSplenda+vs.+Stevia2009-01-21+03%3A45%3A11Mike+Roussell to “Splenda vs. Stevia”

Kristina on January 25th, 2009 5:52 pm

People need to know that aspartame and sucralose (splenda) are really dangerous chemicals. Sucralose is an organochlorine, in the same chemical family as many pesticides including DDT! There’s a lot of data on splenda’s deleterious effects on mercola.com and in his fabulous book sweet deception, which is also now a movie for those of you who don’t read much.
If you can stand the taste of stevia I hope you will stick with it and not risk all the dabgeous side-effects that come with sucralose.
Markus on July 6th, 2009 1:59 pm

When reading something written by Mercola, it pays to remember that he is a commercial alarmist of the first order. That does not mean that he completely fabricates the issues he writes about on his site, but he usually exaggerates the supposed dangers involved with them, and he usually has a book or therapeutic technique or alternative food product for sale that purportedly offers a unique solution to those ‘problematic’ issues. I’ve read his book on sweeteners, and it is a jumbled collection of misleading statistics, irrelevant claims, erroneous conclusions, and scaremongering opinions. There are some nuggets of truth in the book, but you have to read through a lot of biased material to find them.
Rich on August 5th, 2009 11:14 am

Best bet is to cut way back on any sweetener. That way we can actually taste the real food the sweetener is in. Personal favorite is stevia – small amounts. And consider this, we can use apple sauce (organic unsweetened) as a great sweetener. And certainly the healthiest.

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