Splenda
#199957 - 07/27/05 10:47 AM
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JLR
Reged: 07/25/05
Posts: 5
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Is Splenda OK? What about suger in white bread? I have to watch my sugar.
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All artificial sweeteners are GI tract irritants, and therefore must be avoided.
The only sugar substitute that's safe is Stevia, an all-natural plant extract, available at your local health food store in a variety of forms (powder, liquid, sometimes tiny tablets). Be sure to buy the kind that doesn't contain extra fiber - you want plain stevia.
Good luck!
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I was in a relative's home that used Splenda for everything, and my stomach sure noticed a difference! It may be made from sugar, but IBS folks should avoid the stuff!
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God is Faithful!
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I was just about stable a few months ago, but I was starting to worry about my weight, and I thought I'd be Miss Smarty-pants and start using Splenda... ack!! First came the searing stomach pain, then cramps, then D... just as bad as sorbitol, maltitol, aspartame, or any of the others. When Heather says to avoid them, she knows what she's talking about! Wicked awful stuff. 
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Over the winter I usually enjoy oatmeal for my breakfast. Well, I was also craving it for snacks for a while there and decided to buy the instant stuff... thinking I was being "good", I bought the stuff that said it was "low-sugar". My stomach would cramp up every time I ate it and I couldn't figure out why... I usually do fine with the regular instant kind, so I looked up the ingredients. Splenda is listed... only in the ingredients! No where on the box was it mentioned! That's false advertising if you ask me! 
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~ Rachel (IBS-C)
If life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!
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By the way, aspartame is an ingredient in this Digestive
Advantage IBS. I'm having second thoughts about taking it,
especially with some people saying, it's by no means
a long term miracle cure. -Bob
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<img src="http://www.math.mtu.edu/~rwkolkka/BritPicA.jpg">
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I was already... not exactly suspicious, but definitely not thinking DA is a "miracle cure"... because it ISN'T. It's a probiotic and fiber, if I'm remembering correctly. Even if I'm NOT remembering correctly, I do know it consists of 2 things that you can easily buy separately, that Heather's been recommending all along. Now that I know it has aspartame in it, I definitely wouldn't recommend it at all!
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That's not the same thing as aspartame. Sucrose is just sugar I'm pretty sure.
Unless they changed the ingredients. My old supply Of DA lists sucrose, not aspartame.
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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On the Drugstore.com site for DA, they list aspartame and mannitol as ingredients....wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole!
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Melissa
Friendship is thicker than blood. ~Rent
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I just googled it and it does list Di-pac, Mannitol, Ganeden Lactobacillus, Cultures, Lysine, Stearic Acid, Flavor, FD&C Blue 1, Aspartame. So it contains Mannitol as well as Aspartame. Goes to show you how little this company who is suppose to be helping IBS patients knows about IBS!
Hello!!! That's as stupid as Beano putting Artificially sweetner in their product. Just dumb. Isn't it their business to know about the effects of the ingredients on the population they are treating?
BTW, if you go to Digestive Advantage website, they show a picture of a woman eating a slice of pizza...cheese and all! 
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Of course they're going to show something like that... it's advertising. They want you to believe that if you use their product, you'll be "cured". Which is crap, of course.
I'm glad I know now that they've changed the ingredients. From now on, when I see one of those inevitable 3748936593 posts about Digestive Advantage, I'll be sure to slam it. I'm sure they changed it because so many people are still on the ridiculous low-carb/low-sugar bandwagon, but you're right - it just proves how little they know about IBS.
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to get you to buy their lactose tablets along with the IBS formula!
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Wow!, and to think I was just about to eat two of them this morning. By the way, what exactly is mannitol, and I gather it is a trigger?
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<img src="http://www.math.mtu.edu/~rwkolkka/BritPicA.jpg">
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It's another artificial sweetener. The -tol sweeteners - sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol - are sugar alcohols, very popular right now with the low-carb craze, and they're especially bad for people with IBS. Products containing maltitol, for example, are often packaged with a warning that they may cause diarrhea and cramping... and that's for people who don't have IBS, so it's 10 times worse for us!
And yeah, that's another one I know from personal experience, too.
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Why?
#202055 - 08/03/05 09:08 AM
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Linz
Reged: 09/01/03
Posts: 8242
Loc: England
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Just avoid artificial sweeteners - they are so bad for you even if you don't have IBS!
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Dear Hearts-you know, everyone seems to have horror stories about Splenda-but I've been drinking diet coke with Splenda and it doesn't seem to affect me.You know-concentration may have a lot to do with it:the amount of Splenda present in the soda may not be high enough to cause a problem.Taking it straight like sugar out of a box may take us over the line,as it were.Anyone want to comment on this?
Sincerely,
Andrew L.
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hmm.. i've been using TONS of splenda every day for the past 2 yrs. I only just started having IBS symptoms, and I've cut out dairy, most IF, and coffee.. but I haven't tried giving up splenda. I just don't know if I can. I love the stuff! I even named my cat after it. If I switched to using sugar for everything I use splenda for, I'd be taking in so many excess empty calories, and I don't want to do that! ugh...
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Kim
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splenda is a chemical and it will cause a whole list of different sicknesses/pains in the long run with continued/extended use. SPLENDA SICKNESS if you want to see more.
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VEGAN ASHLEY~IBS/C
www.myspace.com/dutchflowers
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but can in the long run and so who would purposely ingest those things? My very unhealthy eating BIL was hooked on nutra sweet and didn't want the cals of sugar but then he started having symptoms similar to nutra sweet overload. His hands and feet were tingly and he had to be tested for MS, scared the family with thinking he could have MS and then did research on nutra sweet. Even he has given it up. It is sort of like continuing to smoke since you might gain weight when you quit. anything that has you "hooked" is bad news IMO. (oh wait I am addicted to chocolate again I think!)
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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Denial
#215643 - 09/25/05 02:33 AM
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atomic rose
Reged: 06/01/04
Posts: 7013
Loc: Maine (IBS-A stable since July '05!)
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Well, ok, not exactly denial, but as LM said in the post just above yours, a lot of products don't have immediate negative effects, but cause damage in the long run. At the very least, you're setting yourself up for a whopper of an attack when your body suddenly decides that it can't take it anymore (like my body did when I refused to give up coffee for so many years).
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Re: Denial
#215676 - 09/25/05 09:26 AM
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jen1013
Reged: 05/06/05
Posts: 1322
Loc: the wabe
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This kind of thing just kills me. Little Minnie had a terrific post about this that I wish everyone would read and take to heart (although note I am too lazy to find it and link to it). It cracks me up that someone who is extremely unstable and constantly having attacks will insist that dairy doesn't bother them. Duh, you're HAVING ATTACKS. Obviously SOMETHING is bothering you -- so why not cut out the trigger foods???
side note: I don't know if AndrewL is stable and am not making comments about him personally. But I really seriously doubt that anyone who truly has IBS can do artificial sweeteners long-term w/o any kind of ramifications. I was never able to do artificial sweeteners even before IBS -- not because of GI irritants, but because they gave me migraines. Aspartame was the worst.
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jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
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Re: Splenda
#215716 - 09/25/05 12:09 PM
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Sand
Reged: 12/13/04
Posts: 4490
Loc: West Orange, NJ (IBS-D)
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I think you may be right. If you're having one diet soda a day with Splenda, you're probably ingesting very little of it. If you substitute Splenda for all your sugar and you end up eating a lot of it, things might change.
For me what's worrisome about artificial sweeteners is that most of their volume passes through the digestive system without being absorbed. I think that's what can cause problems for IBS - my gut is not going to be happy about having an inert foreign substance meandering through. If you're only ingesting a tiny bit of Splenda, that's not much inert substance to be handled by your gut.
I'd say if someone is stable and using an articial sweetener is important, then Splenda in moderation is worth a (cautious) try. Even if other artificial sweeteners are a problem, Splenda may not be - the different sweeteners have different chemical make-ups.
Having said that, I don't use artificial sweeteners and don't plan to. I also, however, don't have one of the medical conditions that makes sugar a forbidden substance. If I did, I imagine I'd give Splenda a try.
I also don't use stevia. It is my understanding that stevia has not been subjected to rigorous scientific studies to determine whether it is safe. For me, it's as much of a crap-shoot as Splenda.
There's an interesting article on Splenda here. Among other things, it touches on the fact that we simply do not know what the effect will be of using Splenda in more and more everyday foods.
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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Jen;
I was out of school for 2 years because I had such savage alternating cycles of diherra and constipation and there are times my gut spasms are so bad I almost pass out.So trust me-I HAVE IBS.Trust me.I adhere VERY closely to the dietary guidelines with the exception of the soda Splenda ONLY,I don't have Splenda straight.That being said-we are all different,the condition is still not well understood( that's why doctors call it a SYNDROME and don't give it a specific affliction term) and Splenda is a very different kind of chemical compound then has been used before.It simply may be that at low concentrations,it has no ill effects.If it makes you feel better-Nutrasweet KILLS me.
And I'd appreciate you not doubt my sincerity or accuracy about my condition again because I'm lucky enough (so far) to find an exception to the Rules.Maybe you'll get lucky and I'll pass out from it catching up with me and have to drop out of school again-will that put your doubts at ease?
Sincerely,
Andrew L.
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Andrew
#215752 - 09/25/05 03:39 PM
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jen1013
Reged: 05/06/05
Posts: 1322
Loc: the wabe
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Yikes! Andrew, this is exactly why I said:
Quote:
side note: I don't know if AndrewL is stable and am not making comments about him personally.
I had no intention of offending you and I apologize if I did. Yes, I did say that I doubt people w/ IBS can do artificial sweeteners long-term. I stick to that -- I do feel that way. I guess the reason why I inserted the "truly" in there was because I feel like IBS is really a "catch-all" at this point, and at some point down the road when medicine catches up, a lot of us are going to find that we had some other kind of problem all along. I was also thinking of Heather's story where a co-worker of hers was waving her coffee and doughnut around and talking about how bad her IBS was! It was definitely not intended to reflect upon you personally -- I don't know your medical history, but I'm not doubting your sincerity about your IBS diagnosis, or anything else for that matter.
Again, I'm sorry for giving you the wrong impression. That certainly wasn't my intention. If you can really tolerate Splenda, that's terrific. But, as you yourself admitted, it is early days yet. I certainly hope you can -- I am a recovering Cherry Coke addict and would kill to be able to drink it again. From what other people have said, if you're stable, you can often get away with stuff like this if you keep it to small doses. If that works for you, all the more power to you.
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jen
"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC
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How weird... then why don't I have complications when I consume artificial sweetners?
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Check out my gallery! http://niomie.deviantart.com/
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I bet you are fine with dairy too huh?
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IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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