Splenda is hidden in many consumer products like Airborne that I recently reviewed. I had many people thank me after publishing that article, as they had a number of mysterious health problems disappear once they stopped taking the product.

Although the bulk of Splenda is sold to processed food manufacturers and soft drink bottlers, it could turn up in your medicine as well, as nearly 10 percent of all sucralose is sold to drug companies. Many times sucralose (Splenda) will not be listed in the drug information, so there simply is no way you would know you are consuming a potentially dangerous artificial sweetener.

So please be mindful of this fact. If you are taking a drug and have any of the symptoms listed below you might consider going on a drug holiday for a week or so and seeing if the symptoms disappear. Of course, you will want to do this under careful medical supervision, as stopping some drugs without supervision could be very dangerous.

The following symptoms have been noticed within a 24-hour period following consumption of Splenda products:

• Skin -- Redness, itching, swelling, blistering, weeping, crusting, rash, eruptions, or hives (itchy bumps or welts). These are the most common allergic symptoms that people have.

• Lungs -- Wheezing, tightness, cough, or shortness of breath.

• Head -- Swelling of the face, eyelids, lips, tongue, or throat; headaches and migraines (severe headaches).

• Nose -- Stuffy nose, runny nose (clear, thin discharge), sneezing.

• Eyes -- Red (bloodshot), itchy, swollen, or watery.

• Stomach -- Bloating, gas, pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or bloody diarrhea.

• Heart -- Palpitations or fluttering.

• Joints -- Joint pains or aches.

• Neurological -- Anxiety, dizziness, spaced-out sensation, depression.

This is not a complete list. Last month I was lecturing in New York to 1,200 nutrition students and after the lecture one student thanked me for helping solve the mystery of her mother's conjunctival hemorrhage, which completely cleared up once her mom stopped consuming Splenda.

If you stop a drug and have symptoms like the above disappear, please let us know so we can document this and research it for you.

Splenda is simply not as perfectly safe as the manufacturers would have you believe.

If you are still using Splenda, I strongly encourage you to take a look at the many pages of testimonials from Mercola.com readers who feel they have been harmed by Splenda -- then decide if using this unproven product is really worth the risk.

Just a reminder, my next book, Sweet Deception (to be published this fall), tackles the subject of Splenda and other artificial sweeteners head-on.

Of course, eating too much real sugar will also adversely affect your health, as it will cause your insulin level to rise, and this is associated with a host of health problems. But I am absolutely convinced that if you had to choose between diet and regular soda, real sugar -- even with all the extra calories -- is a far safer and healthier choice for you.

There simply is no reason for you to ever consume artificial sweeteners -- none.

The best option for your health is to radically reduce the sugar and sweets in your diet -- including artificial sweeteners. Amazingly, over time, your desire for sweet foods will dramatically decrease.

Try avoiding sugar and other sweeteners for just a week, and then go back and taste a sugary item you used to love. You'll be amazed at how overpoweringly sweet it will taste.