A newly published study based on research by Dr. Morando Soffritti and his co-workers at the prestigious Ramazzini Institute in Bologna, Italy, found that life-long feeding of sucralose to male Swiss mice — an accepted animal model for human cancer risk — caused a dose-related, statistically significant increase in risk of blood cancers, especially leukemia.

That is to say that the more sucralose the animals ingested, the more cancers they developed, and the lifespan of these mice were cut short as a result.

Other tumors — both benign and malignant — also increased in frequency in male and female mice.

However, the greatest increase was in leukemia. Among people, leukemia occurs most frequently among those ages 75 to 84.

Sucralose, first approved for general use in 1999 is found in more than 4,500 products, including foods, beverages, and drugs.

Splenda, which contains 1.1 percent sucralose, has been shown to harm the colon’s beneficial bacteria, increase body weight, and alter liver and colon detoxification enzymes.

All of those factors could increase a person’s risk of developing colon cancer, as well as a number of immune-related disorders.