Having Sucralose sensitivity myself, I understand firsthand the symptoms people have when consuming these products. I myself get fibromyalgia-type symptoms, swollen joints and headaches any time I eat anything with Sucralose in it. So when I have patients come into my office complaining of such symptoms and see that they eat or drink products with artificial sweeteners in them, I have to wonder what really is causing the particular symptom. Is it more spinal- or disc-related, or is more chemical-related?

Due to our society's love of sugar, scientists have been able to synthetically produce sweeteners. These artificial sweeteners give us the same pleasure as sugar without the calories and dangerous effects on insulin signaling and triglyceride formation.

Unfortunately, these artificial sweeteners and flavor enhancers break down into highly toxic chemical agents that damage important regions of the body.

Artificial sweeteners are often devised completely in a laboratory, or begin as sugar and undergo massive processing. Two of the most dangerous artificial sweeteners and flavor enhancers are Aspartame and Sucralose.

Aspartame: Known as Nutrasweet, originally approved in 1981 for use in food, aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is composed of 50 percent phenylalanine, 40 percent aspartic acid and 10 percent methanol. Excess phenylalanine has been shown to disrupt normal serotonin levels in the nervous system, which can lead to depressive, emotional and psychotic disorders. Individuals who continually consume aspartame will have elevated phenylalanine.

Aspartic acid is an excitotoxin that literally over-excites neurons and destroys cells. Methanol is also a neurotoxin, and its absorption is also increased when aspartame is heated above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. This heating breaks methanol into formaldehyde, which damages the nervous system and is highly carcinogenic.

Most doctors and victims of aspartame poisoning don't have a clue as to the cause of those many painful and expensive problems. What is not known cannot be reported. More to the point, the majority of aspartame-caused problems are usually misdiagnosed as arthritis, Fibromyalgia, MS, Lupus, and/or a whole range of other diseases

Sucralose: Known as Splenda, this artificial sweetener is marketed as if it came from natural sugar. However, it is highly processed with three chlorine atoms that damage the microflora within the human gut. Biochemist Dr. James Bown says, "Sucralose is simply chlorinated sugar."

Sucralose has been shown to damage the thymus gland and inflame the liver and kidneys. Chlorine is a natural antiseptic that harms the human gut and destroys microflora leading to candida formation, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, obesity and cachexia.

The safety rating of the little yellow packet has gone from "safe" to "caution."

So the next time you reach for that diet soda, think twice.

Dr. Wayne Fichter is the lead doctor at Disk and Spine Northwest, a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation center specializing in the treatment of serious, chronic back pain, acute injuries and postural/scoliosis problems. Contact him at diskandspinenorthwest.com or (208) 215-3261.