Sugar Free

[basheerd]

Is really Sugar Free chocolates, biscuits etc are really sugar less. How do we assess

[gangadharan_nair]

Sugar-free chocolates ay contain artificial sweetners which may be harmful for your health. Natural sweetners may be preferred over artificial sweetners.

Source:--

thehindu.com/news/cities/Hy...

[basheerd in reply to gangadharan_nair]

Thanks Mr. Gangadharan Sir

[Shailp]

Good question! It is all about what the local laws/ regulations permit and how packaged food manufacturers (mis)use it. E.g. In the US the law seems to allow labeling a food "sugar free" if the manufacturer does not add sugar or sugar equivalent in manufacturing a product. Hence cookies/ biscuits, instant coffee mixed with milk powder or other packaged foods are labeled as "Sugar free". In India the law does not allow packaged food to be labeled "Sugar free" unless all ingredients are indeed sugar free. IF there is naturally occurring sugar in the ingredients then the Indian law requires the final product to be labeled as "low sugar" as opposed to sugar free.

Read the nutrition information on the packaging and look for carbohydrate content. All carbs (with an exception of fiber) get metabolized by the body and result into glucose being released into the blood stream. So Carb content is a good indicator of whether the food is indeed sugar free or not. Also be careful about serving sizes and values from the nutrition info. You might see "carbohydrates 0gm" listed on a sugar free sweetener like splenda but in reality it contains dextrose along with sucralose (the sugar free sweetener itself). They are probably allowed to list carb contents to be 0gm because it is less than 1gm. I am not sure what the exact legal requirements are.

If there is no nutrition panel then look for the ingredients and determine if there are carbs present or not. E.g. if you are about to have a ready to drink coffee/ tea or similar beverage that contains milk powder it is not sugar free because milk powder contains lactose a naturally occuring sugar. Same goes with biscuits/ cookies made from wheat or other flour.

The other ingredient to watch for in the "Sugar free" foods is the "Sugar alcohol". These are sweeteners that are used instead of sugar. Sugar alcohol is not a calorie free food. It gets processed by the body differently and has a sort of "delayed effect" in terms of release of glucose in the blood stream (lower Glycemic index). But they don't really work like fiber and do end up releasing glucose in the blood stream. Not to mention the sugar alcohols are known to cause gas and have a laxative effect.

So in summary look for the following:

Nutrition info -- carbohydrate content

List of ingredients and their carb content

Ingredients that go with "sugar free" sweeteners.

Sugar alcohol used in making the product

Hope this helps

[basheerd in reply to Shailp]

Excellant explanation Shailp. Thank You Sir