Why We Use Sucralose, Why We Made Another Option, and What the Research Says

Yes, we use sucralose in most Kaged supplements, and now we make options without it. Sucralose is an artificial sweetener you’ve probably seen listed on other performance products, protein powders, and energy drinks.

We use sucralose, combined with natural stevia, because it provides a sweet taste with no calories. This helps our supplements taste great and makes it easier to stick to your routine.

In this article, we’ll look at the research on sucralose, sugar, and other artificial sweeteners.

Sucralose (sold as Splenda®) is about 600 times sweeter than sugar, opens in a new tab.

It dissolves well, stays stable in powders and drinks, and blends nicely with natural sweeteners like stevia for a clean taste.

Importantly, sucralose has a long safety record.

The FDA approved sucralose in 1998 (for certain foods) and 1999 (for general use) after reviewing over 110 toxicology and clinical studies, opens in a new tab.

Yes, there are some downsides, which we will outline. But the subtle risks from high doses of sucralose are less to worry about than the high, known risks of sugar.

TL;DR — Why We Use Sucralose

• Sweet taste, no sugar: A pinch of sucralose gives the sweetness of table sugar at essentially zero calories.
• You’ll look forward to your supplements: Making supplements taste good helps you use them consistently. This is key to getting results.
• Blended with stevia: We often mix sucralose with stevia. This lets us use less sucralose while masking any aftertaste. Sweetener blends can mimic sugar’s taste and reduce off-flavors.
• Trusted safety: Global agencies (FDA, EFSA, etc.) have repeatedly reviewed sucralose. For example, a 2017 critical review, opens in a new tab concluded that decades of evidence “demonstrate[s] the safety of sucralose for its intended use.”

Sucralose Has Decades of Research and Safe Use

Sucralose is one of the most extensively studied sweeteners.

The FDA set an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of 5 mg per kg body weight. For a 150-lb (68 kg) person, that translates to about 340 mg per day. One Splenda packet contains only about 12 mg of sucralose.

In fact, a 150-lb person would have to consume on the order of 30 Splenda packets in one day to reach the ADI.

In practical terms, drinking a typical sucralose-sweetened beverage or using the amount in a scoop of protein powder leaves you far below that limit. We also blend in stevia, so the sucralose dose per serving is lower.

The Concerns With Sucralose (and Any Non-Sugar Sweetener)

Every sweetener will have downsides. The presence of any sweet taste will have biological effects, whether it has calories or not.

Let’s be frank about what this research says, especially with regard to metabolic or microbiome changes with high sucralose intake, which are the common concerns.

Insulin Sensitivity

A few small human trials have found that sucralose can affect insulin and blood sugar under certain conditions. For example, in one randomized trial,, opens in a new tab healthy adults taking sucralose daily (about 15% of the ADI) for 14 days showed a significant drop in insulin sensitivity.

Another study on PubMed, opens in a new tab found that drinking sucralose-sweetened soda with carbohydrates (like usual diet soda + a sweet snack) for 10 days impaired insulin sensitivity compared to a sucralose drink alone.

In other words, the combination of sucralose and carbs seemed to blunt how well their bodies handled sugar.

However, taking sucralose without added carbs didn't show the effect.

For most people at typical intakes, common sources note that glycemic impact is minimal. Sucralose itself has a glycemic index of zero.

Some research suggests sweet taste alone may trigger a small insulin response, though findings are inconsistent. Either way, it's a fraction of the response to sugar itself.

Blood Sugar & Inflammation

One pilot study, opens in a new tab reported that healthy young adults consuming a daily sucralose dose (equivalent to a 500 mL “light” soda) showed slight increases in markers of inflammation, blood glucose, and insulin compared to water.

Some other short-term studies in rodents, opens in a new tab have suggested that sucralose might raise inflammatory signals or even body weight in certain disease models, but animal results don’t always translate to people.

Sucralose might tweak metabolism in some settings, but no one should panic based on the current evidence.

Gut Microbiome

Many of the bigger concerns around sucralose come from animal studies. Rodent studies have shown that very high doses have been linked to changes in gut bacteria and markers of gut inflammation.

In humans, one small 10-week trial in healthy volunteers found that sucralose consumption increased the abundance of Blautia coccoides and decreased Lactobacillus acidophilus compared to control drinkers.

These shifts were subtle, and the health implications are not yet clear. There’s also interesting (but preliminary) data suggesting sucralose might affect maternal gut bacteria, opens in a new tab and even the microbes in breast milk.

This study grabbed a lot of headlines, and if you’re pregnant, we would definitely recommend you talk to your doctor if you’re consuming sucralose regularly.

We don’t dismiss these findings. However, once again, this preliminary data is far less concerning than the crystal clear research on problems with sugar.

Cancer Risk

This comes up a lot in conversations about sweeteners. The best data on humans right do not show sucralose causing cancer. For example, a large French cohort study, opens in a new tab (over 100,000 adults) found that higher intake of artificial sweeteners was modestly associated with cancer risk, but that signal was almost entirely driven by aspartame and acesulfame-K – not sucralose.

In that study, people who consumed a lot of sucralose-containing products did not have a statistically significant increase in cancer.

Importantly, observational studies like these can’t prove cause and effect (people who avoid sugar often already have health issues that could bias results), and researchers themselves call for caution in interpretation. In any case, the major health agencies (FDA, EFSA, WHO, etc.) still regard sucralose as not carcinogenic at real-world doses.

The old scary headlines about Splenda causing tumors were based on rodent tests at astronomically high doses. Rats metabolize sucralose differently. Decades of later research never confirmed a cancer risk in people.

Everything Is a Risk–Reward Balance

There are really four ways to sweeten a supplement: a sucralose-and-stevia blend, stevia or monk fruit alone, a small amount of real sugar, or nothing at all. We use all four across the line, and each one is a trade-off.

When products are loaded with sugar to make it taste sweet, that's when you need to pause. Chronic excess added sugar promotes fatty liver, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, high uric acid, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

By contrast, sucralose has no calories or carbs of its own, does not raise blood glucose directly, and doesn't drive the fat-building pathway that excess fructose does.

From a health standpoint, replacing sugar with a zero-calorie sweetener is the right move for most people in most situations.

Finally, remember why people take supplements in the first place: for specific health or fitness benefits that can be hard to get otherwise.

A modest dose of sucralose in a protein shake or pre-workout is a small trade-off for those benefits.

For example, protein supplements are strongly linked to preserving muscle mass, especially as we age. Losing muscle (sarcopenia) leads to frailty, falls, and metabolic problems. Getting enough high-quality protein is one of the best ways to combat that. Protein powders help people hit those targets.

Likewise, evidence-backed pre-workout formulas (with ingredients like Read the L-Citrulline Guide, opens in a new tabL-citrulline, opens in a new tab and CarnoSyn® Beta-alanine) can boost performance, allowing you to train harder and recover better.

The scientific consensus is that these ingredients do what they claim (improve blood flow, buffer acid, etc.).

So, sucralose’s risks are mostly theoretical and small at normal doses, while the risks of not taking these supplements (or taking them with sugar instead) are much larger. If a scoop of a Kaged supplement with sucralose and stevia helps someone stay fit and healthy, we view that as a big net positive.

If You'd Rather Skip It, We Made That Too

Safe and preferred are two different questions. Everything above answers the first one. The second one is yours to answer.

Many customers told us they'd rather not drink sucralose.

So we made Hydra-Charge Sucralose-Free, launching in September 2026. It has the same five electrolytes and the same formula. The only difference is it's sweetened with natural cane sugar and stevia leaf extract instead of sucralose and stevia leaf extract. Original Hydra-Charge isn't going anywhere for those who prefer the option with less sugar.

There are trade-offs to this as well. So we made this version with as little sugar as we could while still getting the flavor right. It has 3g per scoop and 20 calories per serving.

We Will Continue to Use Sucralose Where Appropriate

We believe that, combined with stevia, it’s the safest, most effective way to sweeten our products without sugar and make our products taste amazing.

All current evidence, including decades of research and real-world use, says that when you consume sucralose within normal dietary amounts (far below the FDA’s ADI), there’s little to worry about for healthy individuals.

We’ll keep monitoring the science (and adjusting if new high-quality data emerges), but for now we stand by sucralose as a smart choice for our supplements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Kaged use sucralose?

Yes, in most of our flavored powders, almost always blended with stevia. Sucralose is how we make supplements taste good without loading them with sugar, and a supplement that tastes good is one you'll actually keep taking. Our capsules, unflavored powders, Organic Greens Elite, and Hydra-Charge Sucralose-Free contain none.

Which Kaged products are sucralose-free?

Every capsule product and every unflavored powder, since those contain no sweetener at all. Organic Greens Elite is sucralose-free. So is Hydra-Charge Sucralose-Free, which is sweetened with natural cane sugar and stevia leaf extract instead. The full breakdown is in the table above.

Does Hydra-Charge have sucralose?

Original Hydra-Charge is sweetened with stevia leaf extract and sucralose. Hydra-Charge Sucralose-Free is sweetened with natural cane sugar and stevia leaf extract. Both are available, and the original isn't being reformulated or discontinued. The sucralose-free version is a second option, not a replacement.

Why not just use stevia or monk fruit on their own?

Because at the doses a full scoop requires, both carry a bitter, lingering aftertaste that most people notice immediately. Blending sucralose with stevia solves that. The other way to add sugar.

Is sucralose bad for you?

For healthy adults at normal intakes, the evidence doesn't support that. The FDA approved sucralose after reviewing more than 110 toxicology and clinical studies, and agencies including EFSA and WHO have reaffirmed it since. Some small human trials have found subtle effects on insulin sensitivity and gut bacteria, which we cover in detail above.

Is sucralose safe to take every day?

The FDA's Acceptable Daily Intake is 5 mg per kilogram of body weight, or roughly 340 mg a day for a 150-pound adult. A single Splenda packet contains about 12 mg, so you'd need close to 30 of them to reach that limit.

Why does Hydra-Charge Sucralose-Free contain cane sugar?

Three grams, at 20 calories per serving. Pairing cane sugar with stevia is what keeps the sugar that low. Sweetness from sugar alone would take ten to fifteen grams or more. In a hydration product, the carbohydrate also does real work: glucose and sodium are absorbed together in the small intestine, which is the principle behind oral rehydration solutions.

Is sucralose safe during pregnancy?

Talk to your doctor. There's preliminary research suggesting sucralose may affect maternal gut bacteria and the microbes in breast milk. The findings are early and the implications aren't yet clear, but it's worth a conversation with someone who knows your situation.