Diabetes Diet - Which Sweetener is Best, Splenda or Stevia? - Meals

Scott

2/21/07 10:57am

You noted that Stevia is used in several countries in Asia, most notably Japan, but were your readers also aware that Stevia is the sweetner used by Coca Cola and Pepsico in their diet soft drinks sold in Japan and Korea? It doesn't resolve the debate on the subject, but I thought you or your readers might find it interesting nevertheless.

Anonymous

3/ 1/07 5:21pm

Splenda can also be purchased in liquid form which contains no maltodextrin or any other bulking agent.

I use DaVinci sugar free flavored syrups which meet the above criteria. They even make a "Simple Syrup" which has no flavoring added.

Another source of unflavored liquid Splenda that meets the above criteria can be purchased from www.sweetfree.com

Anonymous

3/ 1/07 5:28pm

Don't use "Low GI" fructose The GI groups consider fructose and combination sugars such as sucrose and high fructose corn syrup as acceptable sweereners. See- http://ginews.blogspot.com/2007_02_01_archive.html "Fructose Fructose is a sugar that’s abundant in nature – you’ll find it in fruit, berries and honey. It has provided humans with carbohydrate energy for millions of years. As a product today it stands out from the crowd of alternative sweeteners, being sweeter than sugar (it depends on the temperature, the colder the better), providing the same amount of calories, but having only one-third the GI (19). This means you can use less fructose to achieve the same level of sweetness, and as a result, consume fewer calories and experience a much smaller rise in your blood glucose levels." The apparent low value of 19 given for GI is incorrect. The GI group uses poor chemistry in their calculation of GI. After digestion, fructose has to be changed to glucose in the liver. However, in the liver fructose is mainly converted to fats, something a overweight or obese person does not want. For diabetic 1 sufferers, eating raw fruits is OK in moderation. But remember any fructose consumpion will give blood sugar "spicking". Stick to artifical sweeteners. Hope helps

Sheila

3/ 1/07 5:54pm

I can only speak for myself and my experiances.

When I was new to diabetes I was all gun ho on the artificial sweeteners.

One day I baked a cake using Splenda. Since I am one of the millions of people who love raw dough I ate two heaping tablespoons of the dough. Inmediatly my mouth started burning, and to my horror, bleeding. The whole moucous membrain of my mouth sloughted off. I was in pain for a week and could not eat solid food.

I do not know if I am just very allergic to the Splenda or if it affects everyone like this to some degree.

For me it is now on my "poison" list.

Chris Brown

12/31/09 8:14am

I too switched to splenda (from sugar) when I found out I was diabetic. I began to consume as much splenda as I would sugar and have never experienced anything like you described. However, if I eat too big of a bowl of icecream made with splenda, it will upset my stomache.

Anonymous

3/ 1/07 8:06pm

The primary chemical used to produce Splenda is chlorine. Probably why your mouth was burning. Anyway any exposure to chlorine is bad news. I see absolutley no benefit or excuse whatsoever in using any product that is man made when there is a natural alternative. The bad news on Splenda will be coming along the pike anytime soon just as with it's predessesor aspartame.

celia p younger

5/ 2/10 8:56pm

PROBABLY You are right. A friend of mine told me his brother is a neurosurgeon, he told her that latetly there are many cases of brain tumors and they think it has to do with splenda. I really don't know if is true or not.

Anonymous

5/14/10 11:00am

"The primary chemical used to produce Splenda is chlorine. Probably why your mouth was burning. Anyway any exposure to chlorine is bad news. "

This is mostly bull. While a minute (in relation to other atoms in the molocule) amounts of chlorine are used to make Splenda, the ratio of chlorine make up is far less than that of table salt.

Salt is FIFTY PERCENT chlorine! If you can pour a tablesppon of salt in your mouth and not break out the same way it is doubtfull the Splenda caused it.

Anonymous

3/ 1/07 8:29pm

"One day I baked a cake using Splenda. Since I am one of the millions of people who love raw dough I ate two heaping tablespoons of the dough. Inmediatly my mouth started burning, and to my horror, bleeding. The whole moucous membrain of my mouth sloughted off. I was in pain for a week and could not eat solid food."............ To me, you need to avoid eating "high energy"," high fat and high starch foods".-like an alcoholic who has to abstain from alcohol. Just like alcohol, foods like pastry, cake, potato chips are highly addictive and you find it very difficult to control how much you eat. You have diabetes, not like a common cold. Th long termed consequences are very serious such that you need to carefully conrol what you eat............. Others please comment !

Anonymous

3/ 1/07 10:41pm

Have you investigated a product called Whey Low? It's made from several things, including milk suagrs, and reportedly has a lot lower glycemic index than reguilar sugar. They make various formulations, including one for diabetic people that has no sucrose in it. It certainly has a better taste than Splenda, and you can bake with it.

Anonymous

3/ 2/07 6:27am

"Have you investigated a product called Whey Low? It's made from several things, including milk suagrs, and reportedly has a lot lower glycemic index than reguilar sugar" Problem is that milk sugars or lactose is converted to fats in the liver. This means "low GI" is fairly meanindless for overweight diabetics,.......... Stay with no or very low calorie sweeteners, even Nutrasweet is a far better choice.

Rosemary

3/ 2/07 8:48am

I made an astounding discovery on how it affects me, and I now use Stevia, exclusively, and avoid any foods labeled "diet" - soft drinks, puddings, jello, canned fruits, etc. They cause numbness and tingling in my arms within a half hour of consumption. I hadn't had any diet foods for 3 months, was out shopping, was thirsty, bought a diet coke, and after drinking about a quarter cup, had symptoms and threw the rest away.

Anonymous

3/ 2/07 4:11pm

I've started experimenting lately baking pies with stevia and I'm still working out the kinks in it...The hardest part is the crust.

Anonymous

3/ 2/07 4:18pm

What about pies??? Can these be safely made and eaten by diabetics??? Does anyone know???

Anonymous

3/ 3/07 3:18am

From FDA
"Remember:.........Too much fat and cholesterol in your diet can be very harmful to people with diabetes. Food that is high in fat includes red meat, dairy products (whole milk, cream, cheese, and ice cream), egg yolks, butter, salad dressings, vegetable oils, and many desserts."

Pastery usually contains a lot of fat and qyuck release carbohydrates. Sweet pies can contain lots of sugars. Best left alone especially if you are overweight.......See,,,,,http://www.fda.gov/opacom/lowlit/diabetes.html

Anonymous

3/ 3/07 6:51am

I am allergic to chrysanthemums. Do you think I would get the same reaction from Stevia?

Anonymous

3/ 3/07 1:50pm

I aaume you don't eat chrysanthemums, so try Stevia if you can't use the other artifical sweeteners. Most people use the far cheaper and thoroughly tested Splenda and NutraSweet. The choice is yours.

Anonymous

3/ 3/07 2:05pm

An excellent source on diet is in this site.......On left side of Diabetes Home.....Most Emailed........Major Food Components. Should be more obvious.

Dave (Australia)

3/ 5/07 1:41am

Stevia is good - especially on breakfast cerial. I'm not too keen on it with Coffee - doesn't quite have the same taste as sugar with this beverage, and that's where I guess Splenda would be better.

The verdict: Splenda is a derivative of sugar, so if you can, avoid it and substitute it with muscavado sugar http://www.sugarindia.com/mus.htm with all trace minerals remaining.

Stevia has the tick - although being in a white powder form use sparingly due to the fact that anything that ends up as a white powder would have gone through some form of chemical process.

GI Joe

3/ 5/07 4:10am

"The verdict: Splenda is a derivative of sugar, so if you can, avoid it and substitute it with muscavado sugar http://www.sugarindia.com/mus.htm with all trace minerals remaining." Another form of brown sugar- local product a lot cheaper with same properties. Still a very high calorie and addictive sugar, in this case sucrose. Ernie Lee

anonymous

3/ 8/07 9:27am

Regarding the comment about not eating pies as they have a lot of sugar, I'm baking them myself and not using sugar...I'm using stevia.

So it is okay to do this, in your opinion????

Anonymous

3/ 9/07 12:35am

Problem is that pastry, cake, bread and any baked food containing mainly flour will give a high blood sugar peak some 30 minutes after eating. With doabetes 1, this can be a problem if not suppressed with insulin. With diabetes 2, as excess weight is usually the cause od the condtion in the first insrant and as these foods are very energy intensive they should be avoided. Unfortuneately, diabetese a very serious condition and needs to be seriously treated, in particular with respect to diet.

janet

8/ 3/10 10:45am

first of all diabetes is a horrible disease, but any Dr. will tell you that an occasional smaill slice of sugar free or low sugar cake, pie or ice-cream.....I did say occasional and that it fits in with your carbohydrate count for the day. Is okay!!!! stop judging, if a person HBA 1-c is good and over all glucose reading throughout the day are good who are you to tell people what to eat!!!

Anonymous

4/27/11 6:52pm

I am diabetic, and diabetes IS NOT a horrible disease, you can control it, and now mre than ever, if you exercise, keep a balance diet, check your blood regularly, and go to the ophtalmologist, and the endocrinologist, you can live a healthy and fulfilling life. There are horrible diseases out there starting with AIDS and all those siknesses that nobody knows where they come from, how to cure, and how to make you feel better.

P90X Rules

11/30/11 2:14pm

diabetes is not aids or cancer. That's for sure. BUT having to go to all those Dr and spending all that money, when you could get off your ass and start exercising and watching your diet is the way to go. Almost my whole family is diabetic!!! That's why I'm being proactive in fighting against it. Many people can control their diabetes with diet and exercise. After a while of exercising, lots of people can stop using meds and seeing Dr's. It just takes commitment!!! This is not judging people. It's the damn truth. Majority of people with diabetes got it through NOT exercising and NOT watching what they eat. There is a genetic component also, but normally can be avoided if you are proactive. Get off your ass!!!

Anonymous

4/ 3/07 11:22am

I am using stevia as several friends had digestive problems with splenda. In the other comments people mention using flour for pie crust. Flour shoots your sugars up just like potatoes and rice. Here is a recipe for pie crust that I havn't tried yet - but might solve your problem. Crust: 1 cup almond meal (finely ground blanched almonds), 1 t. ground cinnamon, stevia very small amount 1 drop liquid.(could omit). With Stevia I find it best to add gradually and taste. - l large egg white, and a pinch of salt. Mix all ingrediants except the egg white. Beat the egg white until foamy. Mix with other ingredients, stir well and pat into the bottom of the pan. Pan needs to be lined with parchment paper and sides of pan coated with butter. Preheat oven to 350F - this goes in a 9 inch pan. Bake for 10 or 12 min. or until lightly browned. If crust rises up.,just poke it with a fork and press it down. Let cool. This was a crust for cheese cake but I want to try it for pie. Good luck - Bronwyn

CeCe59

9/29/08 11:57am

I've been using Stevia for a couple of years and it's wonderful. My blood pressure dropped several points. I have a coworker who refuse to try "Stevia" although I've given Stevia to try. Once 2/3 packs of Splenda is poured into a cup of "cappuccio", I hear cussing at times because sugar level may have jumped 150/200 points. I just gave my great nephew's father "Stevia" for his son 6 year old who has "type 1."

Doug Jewett (Ann Arbor)

11/16/08 8:46pm

Erythritol has become widely available as a competitively priced, non-nutritive sweetner. I bought a pound recently in the hope of weaning myself off some of the other sweetners. It is not very sweet, but has a very "clean" taste. I tried successfully using part erythritol to reduce the amount of aspartame, etc. Before buying more, I have just done a thorough search of the literature on the safety aspects. My results were consistent with the information on Wikipedia. Additionally I found the following older reference via Medline:

Yokozawa T. Kim HY. Cho EJ. Erythritol attenuates the diabetic oxidative stress through modulating glucose metabolism and lipid peroxidation in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry. 50(19):5485-9, 2002 Sep 11.
Yokozawa, Takako. Kim, Hyun Young. Cho, Eun Ju.

We investigated the effects of erythritol on rats with streptozotocin- (STZ-) induced diabetes mellitus. Oral administration of erythritol [100, 200, or 400 mg (kg body weight)(-1) day(-1) for 10 days] to rats with STZ-induced diabetes resulted in significant decreases in the glucose levels of serum, liver, and kidney. Erythritol also reduced the elevated serum 5-hydroxymethylfurfural level that is glycosylated with protein as an indicator of oxidative stress. In addition, thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance levels of serum and liver and kidney mitochondria were dose-dependently lower in the erythritol-treated groups than in the control diabetic group. Furthermore, the serum creatinine level was reduced by oral administration of erythritol in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that erythritol affects glucose metabolism and reduces lipid peroxidation, thereby improving the damage caused by oxidative stress involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes.

about diabetes

3/ 1/09 8:06am

What is stevia in fact?

It is a natural non caloric sweetener. In fact it’s a small green plant, which grows in Paraguay. Its leaves have a delicious and refreshing taste 10-15 times sweeter than table sugar. Meanwhile the stevia extracts (steviosides) have 200-300 times the sweetness of table sugar.

Anonymous

5/17/09 9:50am

I just received this a sample of a new form of stevia in my sunday paper today. It is "truvia". I would like to find out if it is safe and also okay for pre-diabetes? Is it better to use than Splenda?

David Mendosa, Health Guide

5/17/09 11:17am

Please read my article, "Stevia Becomes Truvia" at http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/28008/stevia-truvia

Best regards,

David

Deb S.

11/ 4/09 2:07pm

I made cookies for my husband which has Diabetes using Splenda instead of sugar. Thinking this would be OK for him to eat. To my surprise his insulin levels went up very high after eating the cookies. So now I am confused on what to use in baking for him or at any other time as a subsitute for sugar.

David Mendosa, Health Guide

11/ 4/09 7:57pm

It's probably not the Splenda. What about the rest of the recipe? Any grain in the cookies?

David

Massagemaniac

11/17/09 1:57am

If you are using white or wheat flour, that could easily be the reason, as white flour will cause spikes. Ther are other flours like coconut, and almond flour, and even pecan meal that can be used that are lower carb. It seems many sites recommend using almond flour. Also, raisins are highin sugar.

Massagemaniac

11/17/09 1:57am

If you are using white or wheat flour, that could easily be the reason, as white flour will cause spikes. Ther are other flours like coconut, and almond flour, and even pecan meal that can be used that are lower carb. It seems many sites recommend using almond flour. Also, raisins are highin sugar.

Jack Spears

12/30/10 8:55pm

About 5 years ago I was a pre-diabetic. As a precautionary measure I started using Splenda. However, after about few months I started having lots of palpitations and even went to the ER. My doctor changed my BP medication to beta-blocker. The palpitations redcued but still happened a few times. I had been using Splenda all this while. It's more than a year now and my palpitaions have almost gone except for times of very high stress. Now, I have been diagnosed with T2 and wondering should I go back to using Splenda or something else?

Here's a link I found on healthcentral but it does not give any further detail:

http://www.healthcentral.com/heart-disease/h/can-splenda-cause-heart-palpitations.html

David Mendosa, Health Guide

12/30/10 9:01pm

Dear Jack,

The best strategy is to avoid all sweetener. But when you absolutely have to have it, I am convinced that stevia is the best choice that we have.

David

Jack Spears

1/ 8/11 2:11am

Thanks for your advice David. I will try to keep away from sugar or artificial sweetners. I did read about lots of side-effects (mainly rashes) for Stevia too. I wasn't too sure if they were genuine or posted by people who were anti-Stavia.

kh

12/14/11 9:23pm

I did not pay attention to the date of the post mentioning that Stevia is with the vitamins, not sugar.

The last time I bought Stevia, last Saturday, at Whole Foods, it was with the sugar.

David Mendosa, Health Guide

12/14/11 9:40pm

Dear Kh, Yes, now that the FDA has granted GRAS status to stevia, stores don't have to sell it as a supplement and can instead sell it as a food product. David

Splenda or Stevia ?

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