Sweetener question

[TimAZ]

Originally Posted by kygman

We've used Splenda for several years. My doctor (GP) and all my wife's doctors say Splenda is fine to use.

After her gastric sleeve surgery, my wife's gastric dietitician said not to use creamers in her coffee, because there's too much sugar in them. Told her to use milk instead.

Splenda is OK for things like coffee, a teaspoon or so at a time. But most of powdered Splenda is the bulking agent Maltodextrose, and it’s a fairly high glycemic carbohydrate. Splenda is sold as a “zero calorie” sweetener because the FDA labeling rules allow them to round-down the carbohydrate count in a single serving to zero. Truth be told, a full cup measure of Splenda has about 30 grams of carbs depending on how it’s packed.

Half and half is even better than milk as a creamer — it has fewer carbs.

[WaikikiWaves]

Originally Posted by TimAZ

Splenda is OK for things like coffee, a teaspoon or so at a time. But most of powdered Splenda is the bulking agent Maltodextrose, and it’s a fairly high glycemic carbohydrate. Splenda is sold as a “zero calorie” sweetener because the FDA labeling rules allow them to round-down the carbohydrate count in a single serving to zero. Truth be told, a full cup measure of Splenda has about 30 grams of carbs depending on how it’s packed.

Half and half is even better than milk as a creamer — it has fewer carbs.

Fun fact how FDA regulates nutrition labels:

Class II nutrients are vitamins, minerals, protein, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, other carbohydrate, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat, or potassium that occur naturally in a food product. Class II nutrients must be present at 80% or more of the value declared on the label.

The Third Group nutrients include calories, sugars, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. However, for products (e.g., fruit drinks, juices, and confectioneries) with a sugars content of 90 percent or more of total carbohydrate, to prevent labeling anomalies due in part to rounding, FDA treats total carbohydrate as a Third Group nutrient instead of a Class II nutrient. For foods with label declarations of Third Group nutrients, the ratio between the amount obtained by laboratory analysis and the amount declared on the product label in the Nutrition Facts panel must be 120% or less, i.e.,

https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-infor...ition-labeling

So basically, your nutrition label can be anywhere from 80%-120% of the actual value. In other words, if the manufacturer states a drink has 200 calories, the actual figure could be anywhere from 160 to 240. Most food manufacturers round down (for obvious reasons).

Of course, does the FDA regularly test these products to ensure compliance? Probably not.

[WK91]

I’m not 100% convinced that artificial sweeteners are bad for you. However, due to the non-stop negativity surrounding them, I quit using them a couple of years ago.

I only use Monk fruit sweetener nowadays, and I’m pretty satisfied with it. Monk fruit does just as good a job of sweetening stuff as equal or sweet and low, in my opinion.

[cheka]

fake sugars, including stevia, harm the gut microbiome bacteria. imo run, dont walk away. this is THE most important part of our immune systems. and not just cold/flu -- immune system for everything -- cancer, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmunes, thyroid, etc....