• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Using Sweeteners

RuWo

RuWo

Member
Messages
12
Hello all, I am a newbie to this forum although have been type 1 for nearly 30 years.

I have a question about sweeteners if anyone can help? I don't use sweeteners usually but would like to try a few lower carbohydrate cake/sweet recipes I have seen recently (a link on another thread at this site recommended them) and they have sugar replacements such as splenda or xylitol. Looking at the sweeteners in waitrose earlier i got a bit confused! nutritional content of xylitol said 100g was around 95g in carbohydrate, and this was similar for other sweeteners. Splenda had none per 100g.

If I used xylitol or the others would I have to account for them having carbs in my boluses? Is there any point to using these over sugar if I am trying to just reduce overall carbohydrate intake rather than particularly cutting out sugar etc.

Thanks!!
 
The difference would be that xylitol for example is a carb but it’s a sugar alcohol and they are not absorbed by the body in the same way as other carbs.

Sugar alcohols are not all equal. Some will cause blood sugar spikes and others won’t. Like everything it varies person to person but frequently erythritol and xylitol are ok and maltitol isn’t great. Note: xylitol is toxic to dogs. They are classed as natural as they come from plants.

Splenda in the granulated form can be mixed with multodextrin as a bulking agent which is not bgl neutral unlike the sweetener it uses, sucralose. There is a liquid form without the bulking agent. This is classed as artificial.

Then you have stevia which is a plant too.

I’d say you’d need to decide how you feel about the artificial/natural debate and then test each one to see your individual response.

They vary in aftertaste too. Erythritol apparently has a “cooling” taste I’ve never noticed in baking but it’s awful in tea imo. Xylitol and Splenda taste ok in tea but have their own issues. Stevia has a taste I dislike but otherwise it would be perfect . Maltitol might as well be sugar for bgl and has an upsetting digestive effect for me and many others

I don’t use insulin so can’t say how any effect it’s use. Sorry.
 
I tend to use erythritol - zero carb and zero calorie. It’s available on Amazon. It’s not as sweet as sugar - about 30% less sweet, but you can use it like sugar.

Be aware that xylitol can be fatal to dogs.

I don’t use insulin so can’t advise on that, sorry.
 
Good morning, thank you both very much!

I think trial and error might be best both for taste and for possible effect on bloods it might have for me then!

I've not heard of erythritol so will definitely look into that too!

Have a good day!
 
When I was first diagnosed I did some research on alternative sweeteners and stevia and erythritol were the two that were most frequently recommended as being safe for diabetic use nor cause any stomach/gastric upsets. There are apparently two varieties of stevia and the Rebaudioside A one is supposed to have less aftertaste but is more expensive. While both stevia and erythritol are very high in carbs, as already explained these are non digestible so (should!) have no effects on glucose levels. Xylitol is frequently recommended for baking but is definitely a huge NO if you're a dog owner.

I use erythritol/stevia blends for baking - mainly either Sukrin or Natvia products which were all that were readily available 5+ years ago, but there's a huge selection available now on Amazon, and brands like Truvia and Natvia are often stocked by supermarkets.

Again I'm not an insulin user but I highly recommend that you visit
www.diabeticgoodbaking.com/
as it's owned by a T1 lady who has been a member of our website.

Robbity
 
Thank you again!

The website diabeticgoodbaking is the one that I am keen to try recipes from! Good to know she is also on this forum site :-)
 
Back
Top