Posted on 01/31/2005 8:19:42 AM PST by ladtx
Press Release
| Source: Texas Consumer Association |
Texas Group Takes Aim at Splenda's Campaign of Misinformation
Monday January 31, 11:01 am ET
"With consumers across the country concerned about their health and trying to eat more natural foods, it is alarming that McNeil is engaged in an underhanded campaign to confuse consumers into believing Splenda is natural," commented Sandra Haverlah, president of the Texas Consumer Association.
The Texas Consumer Association asked the FTC to step in and mandate that McNeil provide consumers with accurate and truthful information about Splenda.
McNeil has no foundation for the claims it is making in its deceptive ads, since Splenda is not a natural derivative of sugar. What's more, it is not even necessary to use sugar to manufacture Splenda.
"McNeil's campaign is a sham," Haverlah asserted. "It's time for the FTC to investigate."
McNeil's deception, however, has begun to have a significant impact: Splenda has grabbed almost 40% of the U.S. consumer sweetener market, taking market share not just from artificial sweeteners, but also from natural sugar.
Splenda's success in the marketplace comes as Texas and the rest of the country grapple with a growing obesity crisis. Thirty-five percent of children in Texas are overweight or obese, according to the Texas Agriculture Commission, and childhood obesity in Texas has doubled over the past 20 years.
Haverlah said that many consumers are purchasing Splenda based on a belief that it is in some way "more natural" than -- and therefore preferable to -- other artificial sweeteners or food additives.
"Consumers should be given the truth about the products they buy and eat, and McNeil is trying to pull the wool over consumers' eyes," Haverlah continued. "This campaign of misinformation must be stopped."
Sandra Haverlah, President of Texas Consumer Association, sent the following letter, dated Jan. 31, to the Division of Advertising Practices, Bureau of Consumer Protection, at the Federal Trade Commission:
Consumers in Texas and across the country deserve to be told the truth about the food they eat and the products they buy. That's why it's so alarming that throughout the course of its marketing campaign, Johnson & Johnson company McNeil Nutritionals has been attempting to confuse consumers into believing that its artificial sweetener Splenda is a natural product by linking Splenda to sugar. It's up to the Federal Trade Commission to ensure that the information provided to us through advertising is accurate. The Texas Consumer Association therefore asks the FTC to fully investigate this misleading advertising campaign and stop McNeil from continuing its campaign of misinformation.
By continually using the word "sugar" in its advertisements and in its packaging, McNeil is attempting to link Splenda and sugar in consumers' minds. But McNeil has no foundation for its claims. Splenda isn't natural. On the contrary, it is a man-made artificial sweetener formed by a complex chemical reaction.
With obesity at an all-time high in the U.S. and the low-carbohydrate diet phenomenon remaining strong, Splenda has grabbed almost 40% of the U.S. consumer sweetener market share. An increasing number of consumers are purchasing Splenda based on their belief that it is in some way "more natural" -- and therefore more healthy -- than any other artificial sweetener or food additive.
Consumers need to understand that developing good, healthy eating habits will lead to weight loss. This is especially important for children, who are developing eating habits they will carry with them throughout life. Thirty- five percent of children in Texas are overweight or obese, according to the Texas Agriculture Commission. Childhood obesity in Texas has doubled over the past 20 years. These are startling statistics.
Luckily, Texas schools have started to take constructive steps toward helping students eat better. Like the latest edition of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, the state of Texas is recommending eating natural, whole grain foods, fruits and vegetables.
Given the state and national push for healthy, natural foods, it is greatly disturbing that McNeil would try to confuse and mislead consumers into believing that Splenda is natural. Even more troubling, many of Splenda's new advertisements focus on children and many of the new foods that include Splenda are juices, cereals, and snacks children tend to eat. In its recent letter to the FTC on this topic, Generation Green noted that these ads aim to encourage children to eat low-sugar products suggesting that "low sugar" and "with Splenda" means the product is healthier. The Texas Consumer Association shares Generation Green's concern that this misleading marketing campaign is hindering the ability of parents to make informed, health-guided decisions about the food they buy for their families.
It's time for McNeil to stop misleading the public. The Texas Consumer Association strongly urges the FTC to investigate this advertising campaign and instruct McNeil to tell the truth about Splenda.
I'm skeptical because it is a press release by a group that may have an agenda they are pursuing.
> I'm diabetic and have used Splenda for a while.
Ditto.
> It doesn't leave a bad after taste like Equal or any of the other sugar substitutes.
I *have* noticed a Splenda aftertaste. Not as pronounced as with the others, but it's there.
Does it cause cancer like the other ones do?
;)
It tastes like sugar.
I haven't paid much attention to the actual advertising, but my understanding is that splenda has the same molecular structure as natural sugar, with the exception that some of the carbon atoms are replaced by chlorine atoms, thus making it undigestable. Frankly, I don't care how they market it, so long as it behaves in the body the way they say it does.
It is a one-sided press release (aren't they all?) from folks with an obvious agenda. It is not even a new story.
I'm with you. I've been using Splenda for awhile (low carber here). I still use some equal and also sometimes sweet and low (sometimes all you can get).
But, I'm curious if the sugar industry has anything to do with this? I can't help but believe that it is best for kids to not learn early in life that everything must be sweet. I was sort of an earth mother type when my kids were little and they almost never ate sugary things, had fruit for dessert, and that sort of stuff, but no artificial sweetners since sacchrine was the only one. None of the three really eat alot of sugar today, as adults, and I think it's at least partly because they did not develope the taste for it like so many kids do today.
Having said that, it would seem that the next best thing would be to cut back on sugar through the use of safe low calorie sweetners. Goodness, kids today eat the amount of sugar a day that people used to eat in a year! It's crazy.
sundero
OTOH a group of Texas Consumers also filed a complaint with the FTC, asking them to require the Texas Consumer Association
to label itself correctly as a front for the Sugar Industry.
What exactly are the claims? Are they simply comparing Splenda to sugar? If so, I don't see the problem. It is supposed to be a substitute for sugar afterall.
From what I understand, Splenda is a chemically-modified molecular form of sucrose (sugar). Basically, what occurs is that you start with regular sugar, and through a certain chemical process 3 hydroxyl groups (COOH's) are replaced by 3 chlorine atoms (Cl's). Th resultant molecule is very much like 'natural' sugar in structure, but much less 'absorbable' in the body.
I use it, I like it. My educational background contains a good deal of organic chemistry. It's only my opinion, but I think it is the best sugar-substitute I know of out there.
My $0.02.........
Uh, NO, I buy it because it does tasted the closest I have ever tasted to sugar... not because I think its natural.
"...require the Texas Consumer Association
to label itself correctly as a front for the Sugar Industry."
How about....
The Sugarland Express
:o)
"If you have these symptoms, or anything approaching these symptoms, or even any other symptoms that you might construe as be actual symptoms of something, ask your doctor if this drug is right for your symptoms. Oh yeah, the potential side-effects of this drug are far worse than most people's symptoms, but you probably need this drug. If you have a liver, pancreas, kidneys, heart, brain, or any other necessary organ, you should think twice about taking this drug."
Instead, they go after something innocuous like whether an ad is effective in doing its job by selling more artificial sweetener.
I'm sensitive to sugar & lesser to sugar free products but have no problem with Splenda. It does not leave me with a bitter aftertaste either.
I'm diabetic also and my husband is very concerned about the amount of aspartame that I consume. I drink a lot of diet soda. He found that Diet Rite is the only soda out there that uses Splenda rather than aspartame and he is insisting that I drink it. It tastes terrible. I want my Diet Cherry Coke!
They said it caused cancer in rats but they fed them huge amounts at a time to prove it. Probably a lot of things you might eat in those huge amounts would cause some kind of problem in your body.
I do wish more productes (candy in particular) were made with splenda rather than maltitol. I know many people who have unplesant reactions to maltitol!
sundero
My wife is diabetic and we have both been involved with WeightWatchers for the past two years - and I might add, successfully involved.
The only negative thing that I could say about Splenda is that it doesn't behave like sugar in baked goods. I note too, that Splenda markets a half-sugar, half-splenda product that gets around this problem. Of course, if you're diabetic, you probably wouldn't be able to use that product.
Aftertaste? Don't think so. I was sitting at the breakfast table one morning before my wife got up. I saw the packets of Splenda on the table and wondered to myself how it tasted. I opened a pack and dumped it in my mouth. Exactly like sugar except for the texture.
I do remember the cyclamate thing, and yes, I believe it was the sugar industry. You could still get it elsewhere (Canada I believe) and I recall an Atkins recipe years ago for Illegal But Not Immoral Or Fattening Cheesecake using cyclamates if you could get them (or saccrhine if you couldn't).
sundero
I think the Splenda folks add a hydrogen atom to sugar.
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