Hi All! I wanted to know what specifically is so great about sugar-free products. Does anyone know of any good websites that I can go to to find out information on the advantages to sugar-free products, as well as demographics on sugar-free products. In addition, I want information on any new findings about sugar-free products. Thanks to all who respond...I really appreciate it!

Read labels very carefully. Many sugar-free foods will actually have more carbohydrates than regular.

Many sugar-free foods contail sugar alcohols and some diabetics handle them better than sugar but others do not fair so well with them. Every dibetic is an individual, therefore, it is trial and error to find out how you handle a certain ingredient.

I have found no advantage to using sugar-free foods other than sugar-free jello. If I have the carb allotment to allow just a taste of the real thing, I will have that. Otherwise, I just pass the food by.

Hi
I never use any sugar free items such as Nutra sweet. My cardiologist warns that it causes hart muscle damage. So that is a no go. I will not use saccharine either. This one we all know causes cancer. The only one out is splenda. At this time nothing has been published that says it will kill us eventually. Usually anything man modifies will harm some part of the human race. Just use regular foods and keep balanced. You will do fine. At least until some person scolds you for eating something with sugar in it and tells you that you will kill yourself. The biggest danger is ignorance from friends and family in my personal case. Sorry I do not have any net sites to refer you to for the data I received. Sorry for venting. I just get tired when a non diabetic tries to tell me how to live my life. I get this a lot. OOOOH what an afternoon. Again I just had to get this out. Thanks!

Could not have said it better Don!... I have no idea how the diabetic cause was hurt by people warning diabetics away from sugar. Here we are years later and people still wonder if you should be eathing THAT!!LOL

I am a huge Splenda advocate because it is made from sugar. It doesnt have an after taste and I havent read anything really scary about it. It is working for us. I am also not big on artificial sweetners but I use the Splenda so that we can apply the caloris elsewhere. I hate giving empty calories to sugar

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Mindy :o)

I've been using products such as hard candy,cookies, and jams, made by a company called Fifty50, the reason for their name, they donate 50% of all profits for diabetes research, so far they have contributed $8 million. I have nothing to do with this company other than using their products.

The specific question has been asked about products being sugar free. Since sugar is far from the biggest problem with diabetes (flour, rice, potatoes are much more of a problem than sugar), I see no value in finding sugar free products to eat. On the other hand if you are really asking about the value of sugar substitutes such as aspartame and splenda then I personally think they are a God Send for diabetics. The people that claim there are problems with these FDA approved products are .... well out there.

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Ron

Type 2, diagnosed Feb 01, Prandin (GlucoNorm), Diet & Exercise

Hi!

I just visited my dietician the other day and she told me to look at the labels for no sugar products carfully! Some new products on the market that are supposed to be for diabetics label themselves as "no sugar added", which of course means they DO have sugar in them, they just don't add any during the production process -- they use an ingredient called "maltitol" (sp?). This ingredient is about half of what reguar sugar is in its effect on BG levels, but it does have an effect so it is STILL a sugar!!!

Also, maltitol also produces a "laxitive type effect" when eaten in large quantities (or as I have found out by having only a 1/2 a cup of "no sugar added" ice cream one night!), so if you're going to have something like this, make sure you're close to a bathroom just in case!

Hope this helps http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif