Splenda, a sweetener that could be found in nearly every coffee shop or fast food joint across the USA, but is it vegan?
For starters, it’s important to note that Splenda is not sugar, it is a sweetener. It might also be news that Splenda’s actual name is Sucralose.
We’re going to cover why Spenda is not vegan, and why you might want to stay away from it altogether.
Is Splenda Vegan? Not Vegan!
You won’t find animal products in Splenda, but what makes it not vegan is the fact that Splenda has been ruthlessly tested on animals!
In the year 2000, a report by Permagon Press, covered the amount of torment and suffering that Johnson & Johnson (owners of Splenda) imposed on animals.
We’ll give you a quick rundown:
- During the course of 20 years, a total of 12,800 animals were experimented on with Splenda
- Dogs, monkeys, rabbits, rats, and mice were part of the experiments
- During one of the tests, 32 beagles (a breed of dog) were locked in a metal cage for 1 year. During that time, their food was mixed with Sucralose. At the end of the experiment, the throats of the dogs were slit and consequently bled to death. Lastly, the organs of the dogs were dissected for examination.
- In another test, 12 monkeys under the age of 10 months were force-fed Sucralose. 5 of those monkeys died within 4 weeks due to brain damage, and the rest were euthanized due to partial brain damage.
- In another test, rabbits were given 1,200 the human dosage of Sucralose per day. The rabbits underwent severe intestinal disorders and dead.
Yes, it’s that grim. There are even more experiments I could mention, but I would rather save us all the heartache.
To put it plainly, Splenda/Sucralose is an evil product. Even if you are not a fellow vegan, this isn’t a product that you should support.
Is Splenda/Sucralose Safe?
Now that you know that J&J has murdered thousands of animals during the testing of Splenda, we have to ask ourselves whether or not it’s even safe for humans.
To answer this question, we should look at what happens when rats are given reasonable dosages of Sucralose:
- A group of rats were given Sucralose from the day they were born to their last day, and upon examination, many rats were found with blood cancer.
- A group of rats were given Sucralose, and upon examination of their stomach, the rats had a 50% reduction in beneficial gut bacteria. The reduction of beneficial gut bacteria affects the absorption of nutrients.
- Based on another study on rats, there was an increase in fat cells when consuming Splenda. In other words, it’s difficult for your body to digest it, and it can lead to weight gain.
- For our last point, heating Sucralose releases carcinogens that are harmful to breathe in. If you are using Splenda in your hot drinks, you are exposing yourself to carcinogens.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any clear tests on humans when it comes to the consumption of Splenda. It’s also important for me to mention that the FDA did approve Splenda back in the 90s.
Even so, as a fellow vegan, and as a human, I do not recommend Splenda. If you are looking for an alternative, we have a list of vegan sugars.
I actually stopped using sugar for a long time because I wasn’t sure what was acceptable and what wasn’t. Whole Foods actually sells sugar labeled ‘Vegan Sugar’ so that’s what I buy now. Thanks to my wonderful husband who found it. I’m not really sure if it’s actually vegan like it claims, but I feel safer using it than the regular stuff sold in stores.
I stopped using Splenda after reading about it somewhere. Scary stuff.
I been doing the same since I found it as well. I’ve only been a vegan for 5 months. Hopefully I’ll get the energy to find out for sure.
I know you mentioned that Splenda has been tested on animals, but just to add some further weight to that statement, I think it’s important to note the extent of what that animal testing involved. Splenda used the firm Huntingdon Life Science (HLS) for it’s animal testing, one of worst offenders and abusers in the animal testing industry. “An estimated 12,800 animals died in the process of testing the artificial sweetener Splenda, according to a published report in a recent scientific journal.” … and this includes their well known practice of torturing and killing baby beagle puppies.
For more info see:
http://www.shac.net/HLS/research_papers/sweetner_slaughter.html
and
http://www.shac.net/HLS/what_tests.html
(as a side note members of SHAC who famously protested against HLS have just been sentenced to many years in prison for trying to bring this company down)
From what I understand Splenda no longer uses HLS due to all the controversy but they still do animal testing elsewhere, and their parent company, Johnson & Johnson (also famous for it’s heinous abuse of animals) still contracts with HLS.
Hi Lisa Marie,
They also carry Vegan Chocolate Chips as well! I may be a bit naive, but I’d like to believe that if a product says vegan, then it actually is. Anyway, the bottom line for us is that we do the best we can without making ourselves totally insane.
Hi Allah E Truth,
Good luck with your vegan endeavors. We’ve been at it for almost two years. It gets MUCH easier after a while.
Hi FoodEater,
Thanks for providing the specifics. I had no idea it was so bad!
I have been struggling with this whole sugar deal and I just want to say thank you for posting so others can read we’re not alone.
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