Sucralose in the mix

[apples4]

Hi -

I wanted to get your input (good or bad) on the sugar that is used in the product, Sucralose. I have heard mixed opinions about it and is what is holding me back.

Thanks

[Linda Hinkle]

Here is something that Audrey Somerfield wrote about just this subject (She's on Body By Vi scientific advisory board):

"There is a lot of hype, and myth about sucralose being touted on the internet.

It is the worlds most widely used sweetner, and has more global approvals than any other sweetner on the market today. It has been approved by the WHO, and by Ministries of He...alth around the world.

A serving of shake is 26 grams (or 26,000 mg). We have .003mg per serving of sucralose, or .0000001% of the wieght of the product is sucralose.

People that are allergic to artificial sweeteners tend to be allergic to aspartame, which has phenylalanine compounds. We don’t use aspartame for this, and other reasons.

We use sucralose for taste, and also to keep our products diabetic friendly. It is unfortunate that there is so much confusion and misinformation about sweeteners. Sweeteners have received bad press, primarily because of aspartame, which degrades when heated (it is safe when cold) and tastes bad. Sucralose has been found safe both in hot and cold applications, and has had over 110 peer reviewed studies completed. This is why Sucralose has been approved by over 80 countries globally. I like to say that many people feel the FDA approved drugs too easily (i.e. Vioxx, Phen Phen), so that if you trust other countries more (several globally are more stringent), then looking abroad is a good benchmark as well. We use a very small 0.03 grams per serving, which is about 1/3 of the amount in a diet cola.

We know that several people would prefer we use Stevia or Xylitol because they are natural. Xylitol is a natural sugar alcohol. Unfortunately it causes diarrhea in approximately 20% of the population! To get the same amount of sweetness in Neuro, we would need about 1 tablespoon, which can be toxic or fatal to a 40 pound dog. It also has not been approved globally.

Stevia is a sweetner derived from a plant. It has only recently been approved in the U.S., and is still in process of being reviewed globally. There have been some concerns on liver toxicity, and so there may be more studies needed. The manufacturers of Stevia have recently published some safety data, and many countries are now re-looking it as a sweetener. It does impart a licorice type flavor, that some people do not like. We have been trying to work with stevia in some new formulations, but are struggling to make them taste good.

I've been asked a lot about agave recently. Agave is nothing more than high fructose syrup...about 90% fructose. Fructose has many properties but one bad one is that it increases appetite and this is exactly opposite of what we want in a weight management product.
We do strive to make our formulas as natural as possible, while balancing taste, texture, safety, efficacy and stability. We are looking at some promising natural sweetners coming on the market (there is one from Japan that is very promising). Our hope is that we will be able to replace sucralose to alleviate those concerns, but for now have not found a suitable substitute that tastes as good, has as much research, and has global approval.

In terms of things being 'safer' because they are natural, is not always true. Consider mushrooms. Many are medicinal and healing, but some are plain toxic. So natural is great, but we really need to ask about safety and dosage too. I would love to see studies done with stevia, or xylitol, or agave that doses them consistently, in the same levels that sucralose had to go through to be approved. I've not seen any studies on what the affect would be if we mimicked the same clinials. Stevia has recently been approved in the U.S. for use in foods (Coca -Cola is using it). Some physicians are concerned about it being consumed in massive quantities, since it did not need to go through as rigorous a testing plan as sucralose. So in the scientific world the concern is that the risks of high amounts of consumption of stevia is not known. We are working with it though, and if we can get the shake to taste as good, we will consider moving to using it.

I hope that helps
Audrey"


Not sure if you know this but there is also a 30 day money back guarantee

[DebraFerrie]

That is a good reply from Audrey.
And for anyone who still has doubt if they want to drink it, ask yourself what else you consume ?
I mean, I see sucralose now in oatmeal at the stores, in hot cocoa mixes, in lots of things so you may already being consuming it without knowing.
Stevia is natural but I cannot stand the taste and some people get stomach aches from it I think.

As for health issues with sucralose, I believe there really aren't any major ones documented. Certainly not as bad as aspartame and think how many people order a diet coke without thinking.
Or a McDonalds burger with God Knows What in it!

Our challenge helps people commit to a better way of living..it can be about losing weight by drinking our shakes but it's also our supplements, our protein cookies, fat burners, omegas, healthy energy drinks, etc.....

I also heard, that they are looking into alternative sweetners so a change could be right around the corner.

[Bobbi Anna]

Sucralose is in soooo many things.
If you chew sugarless gum, for example, there's sucralose in it.

[AnneP]

An article in Health magazine last month said that studies are starting to show that real sugar is probably actually worse for you than *any* of the artificial sweeteners, probably because neither are "good for you," but since so little of an artificial sweetener is needed to sweeten foods as compared to the amount of sugar needed, that sugar is actually probably worse. That, and artificial sweeteners don't impact blood sugar, so they can be consumed by diabetics.

ETA: As far as the original post, my sister is a Registered Dietitician and has been for over 20 years and she looked over the ingredients in the shakes for me and okayed it before I started. I have no particular health issues, but just wanted her input. She said it looked fine to her.

[Linda Hinkle]

My daughter is a Registered Dietitician too and found nothing wrong with the shakes either, I had her check them out before I started using as well

[DeeAmber]

This has been debated so long. I loved the taste of ViSalus shakes, but my body didn't agree with the ingredients. Just a personal experience.

Here's what it comes down to: Our bodies are meant to consume and digest things in their natural form. If it's chemically/scientifically altered in some shape or form, it's just really not what your body was designed to handle. I won't go too much into my cancer theory, but I want to share an article with you: The Lethal Science Of Splenda - A Poisonous Chlorocarbon

This should clear up a lot for you. I don't get emotional about thing. I look at factual evidence and scientific proof and the Doctor in that article nailed it.

I love the ViSalus concept, but maybe they'll offer an alternative sometime soon. Many of us rallied for this a year back when I was part of ViSalus but it fell on deaf ears and we received the same "There's only a .0001 portion of a packet/teaspoon in each shake and you'd have to drink it a whole year for it to add up to XYZ.." It just became redundant.

[AnneP]

Sorry, DeeAmber, you know I adore you, but this article is a crock. Where are the scientific studies? I don't see even one cited. That's more than a little unusual for an article of this type. And the original website www.rense.com makes the Y2K survivalists look like ordinary individuals.

My father was a chemist, my sister is a Registered Dietitian, my physician is a DO, and my friend is an MD. All have told me that the "war on artificial sweeteners" has little to no scientific evidence to back up any of it's claims, and is likely the work of "big sugar" protecting its own. Neither they, nor I, have anything to gain by saying this - I used to promote Vi, but no longer do so, because I went to management with my other DS company.

So, we all have our personal preferences about what we put in our bodies, but the science just doesn't back up the fear mongering that can be found all over the web, but almost nowhere in the real world of science when it comes to artificial sweeteners.

In any event, I know almost no one (I do have one friend) that doesn't ingest anything that is not naturally occurring in nature, so to some extent, it's a pointless discussion anyway, from that particular angle.

If someone doesn't like to ingest anything that is not naturally occurring in nature, that is certainly their prerogative, but I'm getting pretty tired of people trying to push their own agenda onto others. Show me the scientific studies, and I'd be happy to pass them onto my sister, doctor and friend, but I haven't seen any yet.

[RozPearcy]

To the OP, this is how I look at things...maybe it's similar to you, maybe not? But just another opinion that might ring true with you.

I'm a very real person, I look at results. You can find all kinds of things on the internet of course and many may come from quality people, quality studies. But the key is how do you know? So this is what I look at...Let's say you have someone who is 40 lbs or more overweight. They are on diabetes medication, they are having issues because of the diabetes, they are on several other medications that IF THEY JUST CAN LOSE THE WEIGHT they can get off the meds!

How bad are these meds on our bodies? Most of them if not all only mask the symptoms, they don't cure them. So our liver and a few other organs are having to process all these meds so we can just keep existing, not LIVING.

So when I look at people that are in that situation, or perhaps they don't have diabetes but are eating crap and feeling like crap and are overweight or like me just under the overweight mark...what is worse? To keep on going like you are going or to have a shake that really does work and tastes great that has the tiniest amount of sucralose in it?

I personally needed something without much sugar in it. I was addicted to sugar. Literally I would multiple times a day have 6-8 shortbread cookies with a can of Dr. Pepper to spike up my blood sugar because I got hypoglycemic, then of course not too long after it would bottom out again and I would repeat that terrible process. How bad is that action on my pancreas?? Terrible lol! That is some of what leads to diabetes.

SOOOO lol, you can see what I'm getting at. By taking 2 shakes a day and just simply trying to make "better bad choices" with my other snacks and meals I went from nearly 160 lbs and getting so close to a size 12 to now being 125, a lean 125 because I do crossfit and have a lower body fat percentage so there's a lot more muscle there adding weight to the scale.

The other thing to look at, is if you are concerned about eating 100% natural, then it will be REALLY hard to eat, pretty much if you eat raw you'll be ok lol. Most of what we eat has other chemicals in it. So my thoughts are if you (not saying you but anyone really including me) are going to pick on one ingredient, you need to face them all and make a decision. Even your make up, your lipstick/lipgloss. You eat that every day! Lots of chemicals in there. So it's something to consider. Why be picky with one thing if you may not be picky with others in that category?

It's just a choice to make, is it better than what you are doing now? Look long term, if you continue with what you are doing now, will you reach your goals? If you get on the challenge will you reach your goals? If you are really concerned about the sucralose, then definately look into other options. You just want to make sure whatever option you choose it will deliver on the results you are looking for

For me it was simple, I just needed to get the weight off, and I have a passion to help others do the same. It's just about getting the weight off in a healthy way. It was not a choice for me to just start eating right and exercising. That is the best way to do it I agree, but it was not realistic in the state I was in, my mindset. If it was that easy then everyone would do it. I just needed something simple and that would work. Now my mind is transformed to eat cleaner, to exercise and and treat my body right because of this challenge.

I know it's not for everyone and that is ok but it certainly was for me! You never know unless you at least try I hope my testimonial helped!

[DebraFerrie]

Originally Posted by AnneP

Sorry, DeeAmber, you know I adore you, but this article is a crock. Where are the scientific studies? I don't see even one cited. That's more than a little unusual for an article of this type. And the original website www.rense.com makes the Y2K survivalists look like ordinary individuals.

My father was a chemist, my sister is a Registered Dietitian, my physician is a DO, and my friend is an MD. All have told me that the "war on artificial sweeteners" has little to no scientific evidence to back up any of it's claims, and is likely the work of "big sugar" protecting its own. Neither they, nor I, have anything to gain by saying this - I used to promote Vi, but no longer do so, because I went to management with my other DS company.

So, we all have our personal preferences about what we put in our bodies, but the science just doesn't back up the fear mongering that can be found all over the web, but almost nowhere in the real world of science when it comes to artificial sweeteners.

In any event, I know almost no one (I do have one friend) that doesn't ingest anything that is not naturally occurring in nature, so to some extent, it's a pointless discussion anyway, from that particular angle.

If someone doesn't like to ingest anything that is not naturally occurring in nature, that is certainly their prerogative, but I'm getting pretty tired of people trying to push their own agenda onto others. Show me the scientific studies, and I'd be happy to pass them onto my sister, doctor and friend, but I haven't seen any yet.

I haven't read anything that 100% states it's proven bad and haven't read of any studies that state it's safe and to me, it was what held me back when I was with Vi .I quit diet soda ...didn't want to put more artificial stuff in me...

I do know, though, that being overweight is pretty bad in many ways.so if it's helping people, that's a GREAT thing!