Claim: The artificial sweetener Splenda was inadequately tested and is unsafe for human consumption.
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Sugar substitute
text: gum, baked goods, and other foods. Unlike other artificial sweeteners, it is stable when heated and can therefore be used in baked and fried goods. Discovered in 1976, the FDA approved sucralose for use in 1998. Most of the controversy surrounding Splenda, a sucralose sweetener, is focused not on safety but on its marketing. It has been marketed with the slogan, "Splenda is made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar." Sucralose is prepared from either of two sugars, sucrose or raffinose. With either base sugar, processing replaces three oxygen-hydrogen groups in the sugar molecule with three chlorine atoms. The

title: Russell Blaylock
text: the widely used artificial sweetener aspartame is toxic and may be the cause of multiple sclerosis. He has additionally cautioned against heavy use of the artificial sweetener Splenda (sucralose). These positions are not supported by scientific consensus or regulatory bodies, as extensive studies support the safety of aspartame, sucralose, and MSG. Blaylock has called the American medical system 'collectivist' and has suggested that health-care reform efforts under President Obama are masterminded by extragovernmental groups that wish to impose euthanasia. He blamed the purported collectivism of American medicine for the retirement of his friend Miguel Faria. According to Blaylock, the former

title: Splenda
text: body weight, and increased levels of P-glycoprotein (P-gp). These effects have not been reported in humans. In response, McNeil Nutritionals, along with an expert panel that included scientists from Duke University, Rutgers University, New York Medical College, Harvard School of Public Health, and Columbia University reported in "Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology" that the Duke study was "not scientifically rigorous and is deficient in several critical areas that preclude reliable interpretation of the study results". The other ingredients in Splenda—dextrose and maltodextrin—are listed as generally recognized as safe because of their long history of safe consumption. Sucralose may not be completely

title: Splenda
text: biologically inert, and a study showed that cooking with sucralose at high temperatures could cause it to degrade into potentially toxic compounds. However, only a very small amount (approximately 2–8% of sucralose consumed) is metabolized by the body, on average, and the amount of sucralose present in Splenda is slight. In 2006, Merisant, the maker of Equal, filed suit against McNeil Nutritionals in U.S. District Court, Philadelphia, alleging that Splenda's tagline; "made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar" is misleading. McNeil argued during the trial that it had never deceived consumers or set out to deceive them, since the

title: Diet Coke
text: aspartame, and acesulfame potassium. The most commonly distributed version of Diet Coke (and the majority of beverages that contain artificial sweeteners) relies on aspartame, which has been suggested to pose health concerns. Aspartame is one of the most intensively scrutinized food additives. Coca-Cola has now released Diet Coke sweetened with sucralose (under the brand name Splenda), although it is not as common. The sodium benzoate was found to break down mitochondrial DNA in living yeast cells. Research published in 2007 for the British government's Food Standards Agency suggests that sodium benzoate (E211) is linked to hyperactive behavior and decreased intelligence

title: American Council on Science and Health
text: Council] money... to help us get new sweetener booklet out." McNeil Specialty Products (now McNeil Nutritionals) owns the US marketing rights to Splenda, the branded name of the artificial sweetener sucralose; the Calorie Control Council is an industry trade association for producers of artificial sweeteners, fat substitutes, and low-calorie foods. The same memo instructs that staffers give "special attention" to "Mr. McDermott at Searle about meat money." One notable critic was Ralph Nader who said, "ACSH is a consumer front organization for its business backers. It has seized the language and style of the existing consumer organizations, but its real

title: Diet drink
text: FDA was petitioned to ban saccharin, too, as a carcinogen, but a moratorium was placed on the ban until studies were conducted. The ban was lifted in 1991, but by that time, virtually all diet soft drink production had shifted to using aspartame. Perhaps the most notable holdout is Tab, which also uses some aspartame in its formula. Recently, two other sweeteners have been used with increasing frequency: sucralose (marketed as Splenda) and acesulfame potassium ("Sunett" or "Ace K"). The K in "Ace K" represents the chemical symbol for potassium. Acesulfame potassium is usually combined with aspartame, sucralose, or saccharin

title: Sugar substitute
text: "Truth About Splenda" website was created in 2005 by The Sugar Association, an organization representing sugar beet and sugar cane farmers in the United States, to provide its view of sucralose. In December 2004, five separate false-advertising claims were filed by the Sugar Association against Splenda manufacturers Merisant and McNeil Nutritionals for claims made about Splenda related to the slogan, "Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar". French courts ordered the slogan to no longer be used in France, while in the U.S. the case came to an undisclosed settlement during the trial. There are few safety concerns pertaining

title: Splenda
text: Since its approval by the United States government in 1998 and introduction there in 1999, sucralose has overtaken Equal in the $1.5-billion artificial sweetener market, holding a 62% market share. According to market research firm IRI, Splenda sales were $212 million in 2006 in the U.S. while Equal's totaled $48.7 million. According to a 2012 article in "The New Zealand Herald" it is "the category leader in table-top sweetener in the US". The energy content of a single-serving (1 g packet) of Splenda is 3.36 kcal, which is 31% of a single-serving (2.8 g packet) of granulated sugar (10.8 kcal).

title: Diet Coke
text: Diet Coke from fountain dispensers still contains some saccharin to extend shelf life. In 2005, under pressure from retailer Walmart (which was impressed with the popularity of Splenda sweetener), the company released a new formulation called "Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda". Sucralose and acesulfame potassium replace aspartame in this version. Early sales were weaker than anticipated; however, Coca-Cola did little advertising for the brand, investing money and advertising in Coca-Cola Zero instead. By late 2009, some distributors had stopped supplying Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda. In 2018, in an effort to be more appealing to millennials, Diet Coke began offering

title: Diet Pepsi
text: acidity regulator (sodium citrate), preservative (sodium benzoate), citric acid, contains a source of phenylalanine". The initial formulation of Diet Pepsi was sweetened with the artificial sweetener saccharin, although concerns over saccharin emerged in the 1970s, prompting a shift to an alternative sweetener, aspartame, which was marketed as the brand NutraSweet, in 1983. Aspartame has been the subject of controversy, most notably in 1996 following a "60 Minutes" report on concerns alleging that aspartame might be linked to the development of brain tumors in humans. Critics of aspartame have expressed concerns that numerous health risks may be associated with its consumption;

title: Equal (sweetener)
text: on the small packages used for tablets. Do note that the tablets are kosher, so the lactose is presumably from a non-dairy source. Despite ongoing controversy as to whether aspartame is harmful, aspartame-based products have gained regulatory approvals permitting sale in more than 100 countries. Merisant's NutraSweet company states that aspartame is now used in more than 5,000 products and consumed by some 250 million people worldwide. These include The Coca-Cola Company and Pepsico. In 2006-2007, Merisant and McNeil Nutritionals were involved in a protracted legal battle over marketing for Splenda. (Main article: Sucralose.) On January 9, 2009, Merisant filed

title: Food additive
text: States and Britain in 1969, saccharin, the only remaining legal artificial sweetener at the time, was found to cause cancer in rats. Widespread public outcry in the United States, partly communicated to Congress by postage-paid postcards supplied in the packaging of sweetened soft drinks, led to the retention of saccharin, despite its violation of the Delaney clause. However, in 2000, saccharin was found to be carcinogenic in rats due only to their unique urine chemistry. Periodically, concerns have been expressed about a linkage between additives and hyperactivity, however "no clear evidence of ADHD was provided". In 2007, Food Standards Australia

title: Splenda
text: sweeteners, sucralose is heat stable up to 450 °F (232 °C), so Splenda can be used as a replacement for table sugar in cooking and baking, and there are Splenda products packaged specifically for this purpose. In product testing by "Cook's Illustrated", the major drawback to cooking with Splenda was found to be that it does not produce the browning or caramelization the way table sugar does. However, "Cook's Illustrated" also found that desserts baked with Splenda were "lacking the artificial flavors that just about every other sugar substitute brings with it". Splenda usually contains 95% dextrose (D-glucose) and maltodextrin

title: Splenda
text: (by volume) which the body readily metabolizes, combined with a small amount of mostly indigestible sucralose. Sucralose is made by replacing three select hydrogen-oxygen groups on sucrose (table sugar) molecules with three chlorine atoms. The tightly bound chlorine atoms create a molecular structure that is stable under intense conditions. Sucralose itself is recognized as safe to ingest as a diabetic sugar substitute, but the sugars or other carbohydrates used as bulking agents in Splenda products should be evaluated individually. The recommended amount of sucralose that can be consumed on a daily basis over a person's lifetime without any adverse effects

title: Sucralose
text: its synthetic derivatives for industrial use, Phadnis was told to "test" a chlorinated sugar compound. Phadnis thought Hough asked him to "taste" it, so he did. He found the compound to be exceptionally sweet. Tate & Lyle patented the substance in 1976; as of 2008, the only remaining patents concern specific manufacturing processes. A Duke University animal study funded by the Sugar Association found evidence that doses of Splenda (containing ~1% sucralose and ~99% maltodextrin by weight) between 100 and 1000 mg/kg BW/day, containing sucralose at 1.1 to 11 mg/kg BW/day, fed to rats reduced fecal microflora, increased the pH

title: Diet food
text: based around the possibility that the sugar substitutes used to replace sugar are themselves harmful. Artificial sweeteners have been the subject of intense scrutiny for decades, but according to the National Cancer Institute and other health agencies, there is no sound scientific evidence that any of the artificial sweeteners approved for use in the U.S. cause cancer or other serious health problems. Numerous research studies confirm that artificial sweeteners are generally safe in limited quantities, even for pregnant women. In many low-fat and fat-free foods the fat is replaced with sugar, flour, or other full-food-energy ingredients, and the reduction in

title: Sugar substitute
text: humans because of critical interspecies differences in urine composition." In 2001, the United States repealed the warning label requirement, while the threat of an FDA ban had already been lifted in 1991. Most other countries also permit saccharin, but restrict the levels of use, while other countries have outright banned it. The EPA has officially removed saccharin and its salts from their list of hazardous constituents and commercial chemical products. In a 14 December 2010 release, the EPA stated that saccharin is no longer considered a potential hazard to human health. Stevia has been widely used as a natural sweetener

title: Splenda
text: Splenda Splenda is the commercial name and registered trademark of a sucralose-based artificial sweetener owned by the American company Heartland Food Products Group and manufactured by the British company Tate & Lyle. It is available in both granular and dissolvable tablet forms. Sucralose was discovered by Tate & Lyle and researchers at Queen Elizabeth College, University of London, in 1976. Tate & Lyle subsequently developed sucralose-based Splenda products in partnership with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil Nutritionals, LLC. The Splenda brand was transferred to Heartland Food Products Group after their purchase of the line with investor Centerbridge Partners in 2015.

title: Splenda
text: which cites an association-sponsored study. Splenda Splenda is the commercial name and registered trademark of a sucralose-based artificial sweetener owned by the American company Heartland Food Products Group and manufactured by the British company Tate & Lyle. It is available in both granular and dissolvable tablet forms. Sucralose was discovered by Tate & Lyle and researchers at Queen Elizabeth College, University of London, in 1976. Tate & Lyle subsequently developed sucralose-based Splenda products in partnership with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil Nutritionals, LLC. The Splenda brand was transferred to Heartland Food Products Group after their purchase of the line with