
Do Artificial Sweeteners and Diabetes Mix?
A Look at Your Options for Keeping Life Sweet
Are you craving a Pepsi? Wishing you could have a box of chocolates from your sweetheart? It’s so hard to go through life with a sweet tooth when you’re diabetic.
There are, however, some options to help make life a little sweeter while not making your blood sugars sky rocket.
Artificial sweeteners are one option to help you to feel satisfied with a “treat” but not overload on sugars and carbohydrates. Artificial sweeteners are at least 100 times stronger than actual sugar, so very little is needed to create that sweet flavor you are craving.
They are also typically considered a “free food” with no effect on blood sugar. But, just because a product states that it is “sugar-free,” “no sugar added,” or “reduced sugar,” it does NOT mean it has no or low carbs.
It’s important that you always read the nutrition label before deciding on what to eat.
Basic Types of Non-Sugar Sweeteners
There are six sweeteners currently approved by the FDA:
Acesulfame potassium, also called acesulfame K (Sweet One, Sunett)
Aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet, Sugar Twin)
Saccharin (Necta Sweet, Sweet’N Low, Sweet Twin)
Sucralose (Splenda)
Neotame (Newtame)
Advantame
Stevia (Sweet Leaf, PureVia, Stevia in the Raw, Truvia) is one of the newest sweeteners, and it has been rated GRAS (generally recognized as safe) by the FDA, so it does not need FDA approval as a food additive. Many people prefer it, as it is a natural sweetener derived from the leaves of the stevia plant.
Cooking With Artificial Sweeteners
Not all sweeteners are equal
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