Sucralose, safe in our juices?

[ceedee]

I'd spotted that a couple of long-term mixers have concerns about using Sucralose in their juices but figured they were mostly about taste rather than safety.

But a post yesterday on Reddit citing an (apparently authoritative) scientific paper (search that very long document for "Safety of Sucralose That Has Been Heated") which states that when heated above 119ºC Sucralose starts to decompose producing HCl measured at  pH=1 (see quote below).
Even worse, when it's heated with glycerols it gives off all sorts of other toxic nasties leading to another paper concluding that "caution should be exercised in the use of sucralose as a sweetening agent during baking of food products containing glycerol and or lipids due to the potential formation of toxic chloropropanols."

Wikipedia confidently states Sucralose is "highly heat-stable" before noting the thermal decomposition and linking to another study that confirms the release of HCl and recommends against it being used in baking.

But I'm no chemist so - before I tip a nearly full bottle of TPA Sweetener down the sink - I'd appreciate another perspective and maybe some reassurance that this isn't the next vaping health scare.

They concluded that thermal decomposition of sucralose commences at 119ºC with liberation of HCl and water. More recently, Rahn and Yaylayan (2010) raised new concerns about the stability and safety of sucralose in heated applications. Like Hutchinson et al. (1999) and Bannach et al. (2009), Rahn and Yaylayan (2010) concluded that sucralose undergoes thermal degradation. Further, Rahn and Yaylayan (2010) found that chloropropanols were generated when sucralose was heated in the presence of glycerol. Chloropropanols comprise a group of contaminants that include known genotoxic, carcinogenic, and tumorigenic compounds (Biles and Piper, 1983; Cho et al., 2008, Tritscher, 2004; SCF, 2001; WHO, 2002). Rahn and Yaylayan (2010) concluded that "caution should be exercised in the use of sucralose as a sweetening agent during baking of food products containing glycerol and or lipids due to the potential formation of toxic chloropropanols." Other chlorinated compounds including dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls, and polychlorinated naphthalenes were also generated by heating sucralose in the presence of foods (Dong et al., 2011, 2013; Wu et al., 2011). Overall, these studies indicate that sucralose is not stable at elevated temperatures, and that the compounds generated were affected by the other ingredients in the mixture.

Excerpt from p420 of Susan S. Schiffman & Kristina I. Rother (2013)
Sucralose, A Synthetic Organochlorine Sweetener: Overview Of Biological Issues,
Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 16:7, 399-451,
DOI: 10.1080/10937404.2013.842523

[lisburnvapes]

As an ex-smoker , who was on nearly 30 Regal king size a day ...........
I don't really give a sh*t !
No offence intended ceedee
Seems to be every week that there's another so called nasty in our juice, I'm all for it being as safe as possible but let's get real here, we are heating up a liquid to the point where it vaporises , then we are inhaling it deep into our lungs !
It's never going to be 100% safe !
If we want to live for ever then just stop vaping..........

[Deleted]

Dec 1, 2015 11:37:41 GMT ceedee said:

But I'm no chemist so - before I tip a nearly full bottle of TPA Sweetener down the sink - I'd appreciate another perspective and maybe some reassurance that this isn't the next vaping health scare.

*-SARIN-* is - he may have some perspective

Nick

[smiley76]

Government will do anything to get you back on 30 a day

[*-SARIN-*]

I'll start by saying that the scientific paper in OPs post has nothing to do with vaping, nor has it got any reference to inhalation of sucralose at increased temperature. Now for the bulk......

1) There is definite evidence that sucralose degrades at increasing temperature, numerous authors have been cited. The compounds that are generated are not the best, certainly chloropropanols shouldn't be inhaled.
2) Here is the line that should be understood:

"Overall, these studies indicate that sucralose is not stable at elevated temperatures, and that the compounds generated were affected by the other ingredients in the mixture"

Conclusion:

Undecided, the studies and the other references in the paper are not very helpful in drawing a conclusion as to whether you should or should not add sucralose sweetener to your liquids as they are mainly referenced in another form (baking etc). What i will say though is that vaping ISN'T 100% safe but it is a lot safer than smoking. If you go looking you can find this sort of almost similar paper all over the internet, there was one the other day that was to do with car engines but someone managed to link it to vaping. If it's not using the chemical exactly as we use it then the results are inconclusive, although a lot of misinformed people think otherwise.

PS:  Reddit runs on upvoting, some authors are very selective on what they quote to get those upvotes and rely on the reader not bothering to read the original paper or the referenced papers


TL;DR  Potentially an issue but needs a specific study done.  Something will kill you and heated sucralose will do it slower than smoking or walking about in a major city.

[ceedee]

Many thanks, *-SARIN-*.

[Perpetua]

Even without *-SARIN-*'s professional insight I've no intention of discontinuing my use of Sucralose as a sweetener ceedee . . . . the same as I have no intention whatsoever of not using concentrates that contain Acetoin & Acetylpropionyl.

Like all things it's a personal decision, I know that whatever I do use is significantly less harmful to me than smoking the 40/50 cigarettes a day that I did.

Personally, I ignore and avoid those internet guru's who seem to revel in spreading some conspiracy theory or another.