ambushed

I was at Sam's Club today buying a two-pack of the large size pourable Splenda granular stuff. While I was waiting in line at the register, the woman behind me, bold as brass, started in: "I don't know you, but why are you buying that Splenda?! It has chlorine in it!"

I calmly replied that salt has chlorine in it, too.

She insisted that it was very dangerous and that I shouldn't be buying it. "You should look it up on the internet!"

I told her I write a monthly column on low carb cooking, and that I was well aware of everything that was said on the internet about Splenda. It didn't matter what I said -- I could've said I personally conducted independent research on the effects of Splenda and this woman would've blown me off. She didn't care to learn any facts that might contradict hers, and so I didn't even bother to try.

But still -- the nerve of some people! Who does she think she is? I did ask her, "Do you eat margarine? You know, that's only one molecule away from plastic." I was being sarcastic, sort of, but she immediately said, "Oh, no, no! That's horrible stuff."

I really had hoped that the "so does salt" response would be enough to make nuts like that woman pause for a moment and rethink their positions, but apparently I need even stronger ammunition. All's I know is, Splenda is essentially inert, and I don't have a problem with it. I know some people who do have problems with it. I've read all the "Oh my God!" emails over on Mercola's site, but I also know that the plural of "anecdote" is not "data". Splenda has been in use for decades now, and it has garnered only a tiny fraction of the horror stories that aspartame has racked up. At least Splenda is stable, and doesn't break down into deadly toxins when subjected to moderately high heat, the way aspartame does -- kinda makes you want your diet sodas trucked to you in a refrigerated container, doesn't it?

Coincidentally, Dana Carpender was on the Defense of Splenda kick recently, too. I love her, she's so blunt and fiesty. Here's a choice quote:

For the record: I have read the FDA test papers for Splenda, and it is absolutely true that sucralose - the sweetener in Splenda - caused thymus shrinkage and kidney swelling in lab rats - in doses that in a 150-pound human being would be the equivalent of over ten thousand teaspoons of Splenda per day. In doses that were the equivalent of just a couple of thousand teaspoons a day, the problems didn't happen. Since it's a really big day when I get as much as 20 teaspoons of Splenda in a day, I'm not sweating it. Always remember, the first rule of toxicology is "Dose is everything."

I am not eating this stuff with a spoon. In the blueberry cake I made yesterday, there was 3/4ths of a cup of Splenda, and so far it's looking like it's going to work out to somewhere between 12 and 16 servings. I think we're all safe as far as that dose goes. I will again echo Dana and say, if you're asking me if Splenda is safe, that it's safer than sugar. In an ideal world I'd get all my sugar from fruits and vegetables, but I happen to like blueberry cake and muffins and such like from time to time. So shoot me.

But don't take away my Splenda.