Surcalose (Splenda) vs Stevia (Truvia)

Recently Coca Cola came out with a new beverage called “Coke Life" (which I still haven't gotten a chance to try)
Which advertises having the now very popular stevia leaf extract in it.

Along with that I’ve been learning more and more that Aspartame really is a terrible thing.  I have one friend who already quit on diet sodas because of it.  So now I’ve been paying more attention to what kind of sweeteners are in the things I drink.  From high school I remember if it ends with ‘lose’ it’s some sort of sweetener, and there are a lot of them.

The main ones I’ve been researching recently are Sucralose and Stevia Leaf Extract:

Stevia Leaf Extract:

Stevia is one of the newest, most popular sweeteners on the market.  Its biggest point that it advertises is that it is all natural.  The scientific name for stevia leaf extract is Rebaudioside A (also known as Rebiana or Reb A).  It’s calorie free, much sweeter than sugar and doesn’t raise blood sugar.

Now here is where I find it a little iffy…

During the 1980’s and 1990’s companies had tried getting stevia approved by the FDA.  But studies had shown it could cause fertility and reproductive issues in animal testing so it didn’t get FDA approval.  It wasn’t until 2008 that the highly purified extract of stevia, Reb A, was approved by the FDA as generally regarded as safe.  What’s interesting is that the FDA never changed their previous ruling of stevia, but Reb A is considered different than whole-leaf stevia or other stevia extracts.

Sucralose:

Sucralose has been around for a little bit longer than stevia and we know it best from Splenda.  It was approved in the U.S. in 1998 and has also been approve in other countries around the world.  Almost 20 years and over 100 tests have been done in Sucralose proving that it does not cause carcinogenic, neurological or reproductive problems.  Yet recently there was an Italian study that has stirred up concerned.  This study, that hasn’t been published but it’s all over the internet, says that sucralose may cause leukemia in mice.  But checking the FDA site I did not find anything that acknowledges this study.

Conclusion

So like everything on the health market, there always seems to be two sides.  I think most people would agree that aspartame is the worst of them all.  But there is no perfect alternative.  Stevia seems great because its natural, but I think it’s too new to confidently say it’s the best.  I won’t be jumping on that bandwagon anytime soon.  But I am not saying Sucralose is the best, though I’m okay if it’s in my drink.

Resources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/12/splenda-health-risks-cspi-leukemia-artificial-sweeteners_n_3431024.html

http://www.livestrong.com/article/85719-dangers-sucralose/

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30195885/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/new-sweetener-not-so-sweet-your-diet/#.VOKhvCymLYk

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/is_stevia_safe