I did a presentation on sugar substitutes in Chemistry 100. While I am unsure as to the detrimental effects of sugar substitutes, I was shocked at the manipulation of information on "health food" websites. Using the term "chlorinated" was one of their favorite techniques, as the general public immediately tends to think of bleach.
Before you freak out about "chlorine" in sweetners, you might want to consider this commonly consumed chemical compound...sodium chloride...a.k.a. salt.
http://www.eurochlor.org/aboutchlorine
Chlorine - The element
Chlorine belongs to a group of five chemicals called halogens:
- Chlorine
- Fluorine
- Bromine
- Iodine
- Astatine
The word ‘halogen’ originates from Greek roots: hal means ‘salt’ and gen means ‘to produce’. All the chemicals in this group produce sodium salts with similar properties. The best known is sodium chloride (common salt).
Chlorine is one of the most common elements in nature.
Chlorinated compounds occur naturally in humans and are found in blood, skin and teeth. Even white blood cells need chlorine to enable them to fight off infections. In nature, chlorine is more plentiful than carbon. It occurs in both plants and animals and makes up 2.9% of the world’s oceans and 0.045% of the earth’s crust.