Canderel is an artificial sweetener that is used by thousands of people across the UK who want a delicious alternative to sugar.

It is produced using a blend of ingredients, but its main sweetening ingredient is aspartame.

Canderel is currently the UK’s most popular sweetener, followed by Sweetex.

Like all artificial (or non-nutritive) sweetener s, it has a similar taste to table sugar (sucrose) but contains less calories and carbohydrates, making it ideal for people who want to reduce their daily calorie intake without compromising on taste, such as those with diabetes.

Produced and marketed by the Merisant Group, a global market leader in table top sweeteners, Canderel is available in both granular and tablet form at all major retailers, pharmacies and convenience outlets in the UK.

History

Canderel was first marketed in France in 1979. It was released in the UK four years later in tablet dispensers and later in granulated jars, and has since gone on to become the country’s most popular low-calorie sweetener – the Canderel brand currently holds a 28% share of the UK’s artificial sweetener market.

Types

There are currently 3 different products available under the Canderel brand. In addition to the company’s standard product line, consumers can also buy:

  • Canderel Yellow – a low calorie sweetener made using sucralose that is ideal for cooking and baking
  • Canderel Gree n – a low calorie sweetener specially formulated with the sweetest extract of the stevia rebaudiana (Stevia) plant, Reb A

Both of these are available to buy in either granule or tablet form.

Taste

Canderel has an extremely sweet flavour, with no aftertaste, which makes it an ideal spoon-for-spoon replacement for sucrose when making your favourite sweet or savoury recipes. It is also ideal for sprinkling on cereals and fruit or adding to dressings and dips.

Calorie value

The main benefit of Canderel is its low-caloric value. Each teaspoon of the sweetener contains just 2 calories and 0.47g of carbohydrates, while each tablet has zero calories and just 0.06g of carbohydrates

By comparison, a teaspoon of granulated sugar contains around 16 calories.

What is aspartame?

Aspartame is the name of an artificial, non-carbohydrate sweetener which is used as a sugar substitute in a range of foods and beverages worldwide. It is roughly 200 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar) and also provides a longer-lasting taste.

Aspartame is the main sweetening ingredient of Canderel tablets and granules, and can also be found in thousands of other foods, drinks and supplements sold worldwide.

Is aspartame safe?

Aspartame has been the subject of several industry-related conspiracies, email hoaxes/health scares and investigations since its initial approval for use as a food additive by health regulators in the US and some European countries in the early 1980s.

Use of the sweetener has been linked to a number of health conditions in many books and websites. However, safety reviews on aspartame in the past has reported no “consistent evidence” to support these health risk allegations.

TAspartame has been approved for use as a food additive in over 100 countries, including the UK and USA. Doubts continue to remain though, partly as a number of the health concerns were raised by researchers responsible for testing and approving the sweetener.

Is Canderel suitable for people with diabetes?

Most people with diabetes can use Canderel as part of a healthy, balanced diet, providing consumption levels are not excessive. It has a low-calorie/carbohydrate content, and research studies have shown that it does not affect blood glucose or insulin levels.

The only people who should not use Canderel are those with phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare, genetic metabolic disorder diagnosed at birth, which leaves affected unable to tolerate standard levels of an essential amino acid called phenylalanine.

Because aspartame – the main ingredient of Canderal – contains this amino acid, products containing the sweetener must be avoided by people with PKU.

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