Subscription Center
Mar 9, 2009 04:32 PM | 17
WASHINGTON, D.C.—People like sucralose—the artificial sweetener marketed as Splenda—because the human body can’t break it down and use it. That means the substance has almost no calories and makes it a popular ingredient in everything from cookies to diet sodas. Unfortunately, it turns out that modern wastewater treatment methods don’t break down Splenda either.
That, according to Smitha Ramakrishna, 17, one of 40 finalists in the 2009 Intel Science Talent Search who’ve gathered in Washington, DC, for the final judging rounds this week, means that the sweetener can accumulate in the water supply after people excrete it, potentially harming fish and other living things.
Ramakrishna, a senior at Corona del Sol High School in Chandler, Arizona, first became interested in water issues on a trip to India when she was 12. Her parents took her to an orphanage. She was appalled by the poverty—the lack of tables and chairs for eating, for instance—but what struck her most is that these children didn’t even have access to clean water. In Arizona, despite an ongoing drought, “you turn on the tap and it’s there,” she says. “You take it for granted.”
She came home and, despite her tender years, started an organization called AWAKE, dedicated to water conservation and education. Over the years, AWAKE has helped 3,000 kids in India gain access to clean water through reverse osmosis projects and rainwater harvesting systems.
By high school, however, Ramakrishna decided she wanted to focus more on the science of clean water, and less on the policy. She tried to start doing research at Arizona State University, though since she was the first high schooler her lab had ever had—and she was under age 16—this caused much controversy. “It’s almost child labor,” she says, laughing, explaining the problem. The case went all the way up to the university president’s office. But eventually she was allowed to subject sucralose to various treatments, like bacterial digestion, typically used in wastewater treatment plants. She found that sucralose resisted most of these treatments, and was only broken down into biodegradable molecules with extensive time and concentration of titanium oxide and ultraviolet light. Since few plants use these methods, that means almost all the sucralose people eat or drink winds up in the ecosystem.
It’s too soon yet to say what that will cause. Preliminary studies, Ramakrishna says, suggests that sucralose might poison fish in large enough concentrations. She plans to study this question more in college, potentially at A.S.U., where she continues to work—as do more than 10 high school students, now that she’s broken the barrier. “It’s opened a whole new door,” she says.
ScientificAmerican.com is on hand to speak with several of the finalists in this prestigious national competition that is the modern incarnation of the old Westinghouse Science Talent Search, which began in the 1940s. The 40 finalists get scholarships ranging from $5,000 to the top prize of $100,000. You can read about past finalists in our "Where Are They Now" series, and follow along as we live-Twitter from Washington.
Tags:
splenda,
smitha ramakrishna,
waste water,
intel,
sucralose
More News Blog:
Next: Canadian gov hands over millions for 16 renewable energy projects
Previous: Obama ends embryonic stem cell research ban
See what we're tweeting about
FlyingTrilobite .@edyong209 @Sci_Phile We often take heat @Symbiartic as irrelevant popcult nonsense degrading SA name. I <3 challenging what #scicomm is.
Myrmecos Recipe for a Photograph #2: Bee in Flight | Compound Eye http://t.co/s5JuowiF5H via @sciam FlyingTrilobite I like the dinosaurs on this Avengers cover! Nice one, @mikedeodato ! #sciart http://t.co/40UlDISPE8
Deadline: Jul 25 2013
Reward: Varies
This challenge provides an opportunity for Solvers to build a web-based or mobile “app” to explore data relationships in scholarly conte
Deadline: Jun 29 2013
Reward: $7,000 USD
The Seeker for this Challenge desires proposals for chemical methods that could rapidly degrade a dilute aqueous solution
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
17 Comments
Add CommentCan we get some nanobots together to combine all those formidable splenda molecules into something useful like honeycomb cells? I wonder what properties splenda has as a structural material?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe universities have got it wrong. We come up with our best ideas when our brains have not yet been channelled into conservative thinking.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOnce you are past the early 20s your ideas are getting set. Look at history all the greatest scientists came up with their ideas during their youth.
We need to encourage young thinkers to open our minds.
Hey! earthling you have it correct! Most original ideas come before collage teaches you what can't be done and how to think and regurgitate the right answers. I hope miss Ramakrishna can continue to think originally in spite of her professors best efforts. People go to collage to learn the answers in the books. They become expert in their field but can't come up with new answers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm allergic to Splenda. This could explain the reactions I have at certain times, even when I haven't ingested this chemical. And since I'm diabetic, they slip it into EVERYTHING! I'm thinking that I have to go totally organic, and that fruit sugars are the only way to sweeten. This stuff is scary, these mutant sweeteners.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is so true, earthling. As we get older, we become so less created. I don't think that it is higher learning that leads individuals into becoming closed minded, but it is the fact that these institutions are focused too heavily on certainty and there is not enough encouragement in challenging ideas. So many (or too many) professor, are unwelcoming to challenging ideas to scientific theories and concepts,etc. There are some many uncertainties in every field, society becomes too complacent with what's given to them by the so called experts!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSucralose (SPLENDA) is a sugar molecule that is constructed in a right hand manner (digestable sugars are construct in a left hand manner) it cooks and tastes like any other sugar but is indigestable to most things. When sugars are created from corn starch some sucralose is created and can be separated as a higher value product. It is bad for you, your brain thinks your consuming sugar and tells your body to make fat. Your body thinks it is being starved and tells your brain to slow down matablism to save energy. If you must consume sweeteners use the real thing at least you will burn up more calories. All artificial sweeteners have this problem.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf the thought of Splenda in the water supply bothers you, consider that one of the medcines found in hihgest concentration in drinking water is a diuretic.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI thought Einstein came up with his best idea when he was old
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's a pleasure sitting in on these discussions. But greater still is learning about the magnificent intellect fomenting in today's youth; and the construction they apply to generations of accumulated knowledge. Doubtless a few gifted individuals insist their parents and teachers if not retarded, made little contribution to their skills, but that only they can say. Unquestionably the greater part of one’s skill is developed through self motivation and study. Yet praise encouragement. It helps fuel the inspired, brings respite to the weary mind and occasionally exposes the unseen.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thislast i remember, Splenda is very close "relative" to DDT (the pesticide).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe thought that we ingesting stuff that's been through some-ones intestinal tract (possible several) is not inspiring, it does raise the question: where does it end? if it does not break down or dissolve, can it get so concentrated that the water tastes sweet?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNice work, thanks for the insight. Splenda is nasty stuff and I won't touch it. Or at least I thought I wasn't touching it, but I guess I was wrong. What else would you think a chlorinated sugar. Time to buy a water filter? Next question would be, do retail, consumer type water purification filter remove Splenda from water and how effectively do they do so if they do?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi! So you are allergic to Splenda (it's not good for you anyway) and Equal (aspartame) is awful for human beings. You should use Agave nectar. It's a wonderful sweetener (looks like honey) is natural as it comes from a cactus and great for diabetics as it doesn't spike blood sugar! I am a Registered Nurse and have insulin resistance so I know whereof I speak. I use Agave nectar all of the time and my trigycerides have decreased by half since doing so. As for the trigylcerides going down, I can't prove it was use of agave but can't account for the decrease any other way. Hope this information is helpful to you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoes age cripple creativity? I don't think so - but perhaps society and education does (not just college). Look at the alert awareness and open expression of a 5 yr old; compare that to a teenager, or 20, 40, 60 something. But it doesn't have to be that way! Me? Ok, I'll admit I participated in the Science Talent Seach too, 37 yrs ago - third in the state. Went on to a career in computer science, but realized my true passion was really in research science, and got my PhD at the age of 52. My inspiration? My dad: one of the research scientists of the Manhatten Project, that is STILL CONSULTING, at the youthful age of 91! Creativity is all in the mind...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSplenda ??? I took a blood sample at 08:00hrs, it was 7.3, (4-7 scale)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thistook a glass of water , added two packets of Splenda and drank it. Waited two hours without eating or drinking anything else. Measured my sugar again, it was 9.3. Karim
email:tejnaik186@gmail.com
Splenda claims that the sugar in the packet will not bring your blood sugar up. Try it for your self.....email to me..
The Calorie Control Council (CCC) is concerned about some inaccuracies in this article. Contrary to Smitha Ramakrishna's research, the safety of sucralose is documented by one of the most extensive and thorough safety testing programs ever conducted on a new food ingredient. More than 110 studies of humans and animals - conducted and evaluated over a 20-year period - clearly indicate that sucralose is safe for human consumption and does not cause any negative health effects including cancer, birth defects, tooth decay, kidney pain and more.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs part of this testing, the impact of sucralose on the environment was also studied. Scientific research demonstrated that sucralose is inherently biodegradable and has no adverse effect on the environment. Over time, it is broken down by bacteria in soil into water, salt and carbon dioxide. Studies have also proven that sucralose is not harmful to plant life or aquatic organisms. For example, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, a leading independent research body, determined that sucralose does not bioaccumulate in any aquatic organisms. They did not detect sucralose in either fish or shellfish (mussels) and said: "Based on the eco toxicological data currently available, the measured environmental concentrations reported in this study do not suggest any environmental risks."
For more information, visit www.sucralose.org, www.caloriecontrol.org/sweeteners-and-lite/sugar-substitutes/sucralose and www.acsh.org/news/newsID.449/news_detail.asp.
Sincerely,
Lyn O'Brien Nabors
President, Calorie Control Council
I just adore her for being patriotic in her own ways. I hope they can find the solution to that issue.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEveryone deserves a glass of clean water. Just imagine, you just come home enjoying from your favorite
<a href="http://eastvalleysports.com/">outdoor sports</a>
and couldn't have a glass of water.