Seems the Food and Drug Administration is (FDA) continuing along its path of skewed health claims.
The agency said it will allow a dental caries health claim for sucralose, a sugar-derivative used in gum, soft drinks and other food products. Dental caries is the single most common chronic disease of childhood and a disease for which the general population is at risk.
The FDA was also asked by petition to consider the weight loss potential from increased use of sucralose; however, the agency strictly confined its review to dental caries, saying the amounts consumed wouldn't be large enough to cause a noticeable change in weight.
Future Plans for Sucralose
The sweetener will be added to an existing list of sweeteners authorized to make health claims. The following was offered by the FDA as an illustrative "model health claim" for product-labeling:
"Frequent eating of foods high in sugars and starches as between-meal snacks can promote tooth decay. Sucralose, the sweetening ingredient used to sweeten this food, unlike sugars, does not promote tooth decay."
American Dental Association May 13, 2005
Federal Register May 13, 2005
Did you ever wonder how the FDA could allow a "health" claim for a potentially toxic artificial sweetener like Splenda, yet prosecute companies that promote natural sweeteners like Stevia?
Well the answer is printed on paper with a primary green color, and that paper is what greases many of the decisions that come out of the FDA. You see, their primary source of funding is from the drug companies who pay the fees to get their drugs approved.
What many people, including health care professionals, fail to appreciate is that Splenda is not just sucralose the artificial sweetener -- it is also sugar, dextrose and maltodextrin.
While it has substantially fewer calories than sugar (about 70 percent), it absolutely does NOT have zero calories like the label claims. But a loophole in the law allows them to blast the claim that the sweetener has zero calories when nothing could be further from the truth.
It seems reprehensibly irresponsible to approve a product that is loaded with sugar for a dental health claim, but then again, the FDA approved Vioxx and that killed 60,000 people.
Related Articles:
The Secret Dangers of Splenda (Sucralose), an Artificial Sweetener The Meteoric Rise of Splenda Cranberries Can Prevent Tooth Decay
The Secret Dangers of Splenda (Sucralose), an Artificial Sweetener
The Meteoric Rise of Splenda
Cranberries Can Prevent Tooth Decay
Return to Table of Contents #669