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Sucralose (trichlorogalactosucrose, or better known as Splenda) is an artificial sweetener from native sucrose that was approved by the FDA on April 1, 1998 (April Fool's Day). This observation of a potential causal relationship between sucralose and migraines may be important for physicians to remember this can be a possible trigger during dietary history taking. Identifying further triggers for migraine headaches, in this case sucralose, may help alleviate some of the cost burden (through expensive medical therapy or missed work opportunity) as well as provide relief to migraineurs.

Enter sucralose and (adverse effects or toxicity) into PubMeds's query box. If anyone has a better search strategy, please let me know.

Sucralose: lack of effects on sperm glycolysis and reproduction in the rat.

Here's an excerpt from a long abstract:

Increased kidney weights, possibly associated with increased water intake, were observed primarily among animals receiving 3% sucralose (no renal histopathology has been detected). Decreased thymus weights occurred in F(1) males and in both F(1) and F(2) females at the 3% level.

It's unfortunate we can't (at least I can't) get into the meat of the research. I suspect that if I could I'd find a lot of flaws with these studies. This is not untypical in an environment where research isn't done to find the truth but is, instead, done to achieve the desired results and obtain grant money.

It would be interesting to learn more about how one gets a migraine from a compound that isn't digested. Feeding a lab animal sucralose in quantities that don't relate to real world human consumption is also an issue. Bottom line, if there was any real relationship between sucralose and increased weights in vital organs the FDA would pull it immediately. This, along with aspartame and olestra are the most tested food ingredients in history.

As a comparison, I've seen a clinical study published in the New England Journal of Medicine where a large group of people who were convinced that aspartame was responsible for giving them headaches were brought together for a test. Half the group was given a large amount of aspartame and half were given a placebo. The results showed that 35 percent of the subjects had headaches after taking aspartame, compared with 45 percent who had headaches after taking the placebo.

In one study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, subjects who believed they were allergic to aspartame received up to 2,000 milligrams of aspartame, the amount contained in about 12 cans of diet soft drink. Not one of the subjects had an allergic reaction after receiving aspartame.

Results of a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study published in a later issue of the JACI, demonstrate that aspartame is no more likely than the placebo to cause urticaria (hives) or angioedema (swelling).

FWIW