Never had that problem because I think Splenda tastes gross anyway, even before paleo.

People who worry about the impact of Splenda's chlorine on gut flora might benefit from examining their showering/bathing habits--if they live somewhere with chlorinated water. And the mechanism surprised me: it's not drinking the water, but breathing chlorine vapor. Chlorine absorbed this way is delivered directly to the blood stream (no first pass through the early stages of digestion), which delivers it pretty quickly to the lining of the gut where it may affect gut flora. That's the theory, anyhow.

As for me, I avoid Splenda for the same reason as all other artificial sweeteners: I worry that they reinforce my desire for things that taste unnaturally sweet, making it more difficult to control sweet cravings. About two weeks into paleo, I noticed a marked diminishing of my desire for sweets, to the degree that I could easily satisfy it with a piece of almost any type of sweet fruit--even berries, which I previously always wanted sweetened. I attribute my improved sweetness sensitivity to the elimination of refined sugars and artificial sweeteners. I also became more salt-sensitive.

As an aside, I was irritated by the opening sentence of the linked abstract: "Splenda is comprised of [stuff]" No, "Spenda is composed of [stuff]." Things either comprise stuff, or are composed of stuff, but are not comprised of stuff. Pedantic of me? Perhaps. But it is an academic abstract, after all.

I'd rather see a study done with only sucralose, not Splenda, which contains additional fillers.

I've never liked the taste of artificial sweeteners. I satisfy my sweet tooth with fresh fruit, organic fruit yogurt, and the occasional confection. Once in a while, I'll make a paleo dessert type food using purified stevia extract, but I always add a bit of maple syrup to improve the taste. Stevia by itself just doesn't cut it for me.

I gave up all artificial sweeteners for my New Year's resolution and frankly, it was the best decision I ever made. This study only makes me feel that more strongly.

Oh man.

This is not good news for my sweet tooth. I actually use the stuff pretty often as I have a bad reaction to all sugar alcohols, even erythritol which is supposed to be GI distress free.

Anyone have solutions except resigning oneself to a lifetime of frustrated sweet expectations? I use huge amounts of cinnamon to simulate 'sweetness', but sometimes ten teaspoons of cinnamon just doesn't cut it in a recipe.

Watching a couple of Blaylock's talks on excitotoxins made sure I'd never touch the stuff again; not that it was a frequent occurrence before. I prefer a few drops of vanilla stevia for any sweetening I might desire. Thanks for the link to the study on splenda, interesting stuff.

Dr Russell Blaylock Nutrition and Behavior

EXCITOTOXINS: The Taste That Kills

Interesting. I only use splenda.

I've come to the realization that everything is going to cause something. Call me crazy, but I'll take altered gut-flora over the known side effects of pure sugar-- rotten teeth, weight gain, and diabetes.

Mathy answers again:

I used to eat Splenda at a rate of up to 12 packets per day, which is 12g of product.

Then I weighed 125kg.

So my peak intake was 96mg/kg, putting me in the lowest dose group of the rats here.

I later replaced half of it with Stevia. Now I rarely use either because I broke my compulsion to sweeten things. But it's a good reason to add some probiotics every so often if you are using Splenda.

I am wondering about Nectresss which gets it's sweetness from Monk Fruit Extract, the natural sweetener made from the goodness of real fruit. Monk Fruit Extract is an exciting new 100% natural sweetening ingredient that is about 150X sweeter than sugar, and contributes zero calories per serving to NECTRESSE™ Natural No Calorie Sweetener. Is this like Stevia - natural and not a gut buster?

My addiction to Splenda has gotten so bad that I have to sell my body on the streets to maintain my supply.

I use Stevia... From the plant, or from the store shelf only if it's organic. It's sweet and delicious without a "weird" flavor!

I'm a sweet toothed monster, Love sweet stuff, since eating more of a paleo style diet I've gotten used to enjoying fruits (esp pineapple) and agave syrup, and raw honey, so yummy. In my coffee or tea I always use stevia, it is all natural and has a sweetening effect.

I'm trying to break the Splenda addiction... I accidentally bought a box of Splenda "with added fiber" a few weeks ago and it seems even more unnatural that way. I keep telling myself when I'm done with that box I'm going to quit, but I'm thinking about going cold turkey starting right now haha.

Yup, was at costco the other day, and out of curiosity picked up a back of "100% Whey Protein", I don't know how these mofos get away with this $#!+, but the ingredient list contained not only splenda, but also artificial flavoring, and soy protein! Bunch of sneaky liars!

If you don't read the ingredients and only go by the label, you're the sucker and you pay with your health.

I loved some of the less sweet brands of no-added-sugar ice cream sweetened with Splenda but gave them up because they consistently gave me the runs.

Xylitol seems like a good alternative.

This study was funded by the sugar industry which hates Splenda - while one could argue that the study was flawed because it did not identify what ingredient in Splenda was responsible and instead targeted Splenda sweetener directly. Irregardless the findings are legitimate. The rats who were fed Splenda suffered a reduction of gut flora - although on thinking about it - I don't remember reading about a control group which would have made the study even more accurate. After taking a round of antibiotics for an infection and never replenishing my gut flora and having suffered a series of strange infections that doctors have tried to provide more antibiotics to cure - I have started looking into gut flora. What is known is that it exists and that it is important to have flora for a healthy gut but what is not known is what types of bacteria are healthy to have - etc. they're still discovering what bacteria are present in our guts. I'm off Splenda and doig what I can to restore healthy bacteria to my gut.

I love it when people start going all chemistry when talking about Splenda/Sucralose I understand that those theories are all based on years of science, but it would be nice to see tangible proof. Next time someone takes their little sub atomic ship down someones gut, maybe they can put a dash cam on there and post the video of those chlorine atoms. I just know that when I consume Splenda or Sucralose my gut swells up, the ER has thought I have kidney stones, I gain weight, I break out and I need ten times as much flavoring to taste anything. That is just the beginning. I don't care how many covalent bonds someone talks about, something is flawed with the science in my body. I wish it wouldn't have taken 5 years to figure it out, but glad I did. Symptoms started again until I found it in my toothpaste and hair gel (Sucralose). Now I feel great again.