Sucralose is a widely used non-nutritive sweetener in food and beverages. The non-calorific property of sucralose resulted in the use of this sweetener to produce foods and beverages that are suitable for individuals, aiming to restrict calorie intake as well as for diabetic patients. The purpose of this review was (1) to provide an updated summary of the research investigating the safety of sucralose in one publication, including studies that have been the genesis of new questions on sucralose safety, and (2) to provide background on the regulatory process of testing and approval of food additives for health professionals. It addresses the safety of sucralose by reviewing studies that included chemical characterization and stability, toxicokinetics in animals and humans, assessment of genotoxicity, and animal and human feeding studies. The endpoints evaluated in the study are effects on growth, development, reproduction, neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, carcinogenicity and overall health status.
So far, the studies that assessed the long term exposure, reproduction & development, neurotoxicity and cancer development repeatedly demonstrated no safety concerns for sucralose. The detailed studies included in the current review, studying the metabolic fate of sucralose post its consumption, suggested that there was no retention or build-up in long term exposure and it had very little absorption from the gastrointestinal tract. The gavage studies that assessed the palatability and its related effects eg. reduced food consumption, body weight gain, lowered organ weight, etc. confirmed no direct/toxicity-related effect of sucralose on them. Although several animal and cell culture system studies reported various changes allegedly, on inspection these studies showed to have significant limitations including issues such as the absence of dose responses, inadequate assays, insufficient statistical analysis and lack of appropriate controls. The extensive database of studies done by numerous researches on assessing genetic toxicology, short and long term safety, animal and human metabolism, reproductive, development, and neurological effects and recent human clinical trials in healthy and diabetic subjects provide a clear demonstration of safety of use of sucralose as a non-caloric sweetener in foods and beverages.
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