Artificial sweeteners, like Splenda, Equal and Sweet’N Low, can’t be digested by humans, so they end up in water supplies since they can’t be processed at wastewater treatment plants, according to CTV News.
In Canada, a team of researchers from the University of Waterloo and Environment Canada has been studying the effects of artificial sweeteners in the waters of Lake Erie and Ontario, Canada’s Grand River, which empties into Lake Erie. There, the daily amount of artificial sweeteners in the water is equivalent to between 81,000 and 190,000 cans of artificially-sweetened soda. To put that in perspective, the river is 300 kilometers, or about 186 miles, long.
These sweeteners, including sucralose, saccharin, cyclamate and acesulfame, can’t be digested by humans, are potentially harmful to aquatic life. The study suggested that the presence of artificial sweeteners can impact a plant’s ability to perform photosynthesis and that the sweetener affects an animal’s ability to forage for food.
Via: CTV News (Canada) > Rivers, lakes loaded with artificial sweeteners, researchers say
