Random question - testing sweetened drinks with blood glucose monitor!

[VixyA86]

Hi, this is a bit of a random question but I'd really appreciate if anyone could explain something to me as I can't find the answer on Google!

I was unsure if the 'diet' coke I was given at a restaurant was actually diet, so I used my blood monitor to check it and it came out 'HI'. I got another and double checked, and the result this time was 'LO', so I surmised that the first one must have been regular, the second one diet. I thought I'd found a great way of checking if drinks are actually sugar free or not if necessary when eating out, until this morning when I tested my theory with a cup of tea.....I was convinced that my dad had actually put sugar in my tea instead of sweetener, so out came my glucose monitor....19.3. I made myself another cup of tea with 1 sweetener and out of interest checked it again.....19.5! I don't understand, how can a diet soft drink produce a 'lo' result, but the tea with 1 sweetener was 19.5?! Surely a drop of (semi-skimmed) milk doesn't contain that much sugar?!

If anyone could shed any light on this I'd be really grateful!

 

[TorqPenderloin]

Purely speculation: it's a matter of whether or not the glucometer can read that particular type of sweetener.

Most people don't realize that artificial sweeteners are carbohydrates and therefore contain calories (energy). The issue is whether or not our bodies can convert those carbohydrates into useable energy (glucose). It's the same basic reason why we put gasoline/diesel into our cars but not broccoli and vegetables.

Long story short, our bodies may not recognize certain sweeteners as energy, but that doesn't mean our glucometers don't.

[Pure Guess]

 

[Robbity]

Starchy filler in sweetener?

Some sweeteners/sugar alternatives are actually very high in carbohydrates, but our bodies can't digest them so they don't raise our glucose levels, but maybe as Torq says, the meter can recognise them? Look at the nutritional information - you should be able to check the ingredients used.

Robbity

Erythritol is one of these, so I'll try to remember to test it next time I use some...