Maltodextrin goof


(Rick) #1

Hello all - I am a T2D and have been in keto only 10 days. So far, so good BUT–

I have been using a ‘Stevia’ sweetener in moderation in some items, such as electrolyte drink. Finally I looked closely at the ingredients and first listed was MALTODEXTRIN. My BG has been reasonably stable with a few unexplained spikes. Seeing now as I have been eating maltodextrin ( with a higher glycemic index than sugar) I figure that might be the culprit.
Take home message for newbies like myself: be extra careful to read labels and identify problem ingredients. I will be switching to Truvia right away.


Bcaa
(Jim Russell) #2

This is excellent advice. The biggest problem is that there are many names that they use for sugar. According to this article, at least 61.

http://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/hidden-in-plain-sight/#.WbjmvLJ95aQ


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

I found a list of 121.


(Stickin' with mammoth) #4

Please post, thanks.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #5

Here goes. Note that a lot of these are names for sucrose, or products containing sucrose:

121 NAMES FOR SUGAR

Agave Nectar
Amazake
Anhydrous Dextrose
Barbados Sugar
Bark Sugar
Barley Malt
Barley Malt Syrup
Beet Sugar
Blackstrap Molasses
Brown Rice Syrup
Brown Sugar
Buttered Syrup
Cane Juice
Cane Juice Crystals
Cane Sugar
Caramel
Carbitol
Carob Syrup
Castor Sugar
Coconut Palm Sugar
Coconut Sugar
Confectioner’s Sugar
Corn Sweetener
Corn Syrup
Corn Syrup Solids
Crystal Dextrose
Crystalline Fructose
D-tagalose
Date Sugar
Dehydrated Cane Juice
Demerara Sugar
Dextran
Dextrin
Dextrose
Diastatic Malt
Diatase
Diglycerides
Disaccharides
Ethyl Maltol
Erythritol
Florida Crystals
FOS (fructo-oligosaccharides)
Fructose
Fructose Sweetener
Fruit Juice
Fruit Juice Concentrate
Galactose
Glucitol
Glucoamine
Gluconolactone
Glucose
Glucose Solids
Glycerides Glycerine
Glycerol
Glycol
Golden Sugar
Golden Syrup
Grape Sugar
HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup)
Hexitol
Honey
Icing Sugar
Inversol
Isomalt
Invert Sugar
Jaggery
Karo Syrup
Lactose
Levulose
Liquid Fructose
Malitol
Malt Syrup
Malted Barley
Malts
Maltodextrin
Maltose
Mannitol
Mannose
Maple Syrup
Microcrystalline Cellulose
Molasses
Monoglycerides
Monosaccarides
Muscovado
Nectars
Organic Raw Sugar
Palm Sugar
Pancake Syrup
Panocha
Pentose
Polydextrose
Polyglycerides
Powdered Sugar
Raisin Juice
Raisin Syrup
Raw Sugar
Refiner’s Syrup
Ribose Rice Syrup
Rice Malt
Rice Sugar
Rice Syrup
Rice Syrup Solids
Rice Sweeteners
Saccharides
Sorbitol
Sorghum
Sorghum Syrup
Sucanat
Sucanet
Sucrose
Sweet Sorghum
Syrup
Treacle
Trisaccharides
Turbinado Sugar
Unrefined Sugar
White Sugar
Yellow Sugar
Xylitol
Zylose


Carbs
Bcaa
(G. Andrew Duthie) #6

Some of those (sorbitol and xylitol, for example) are not forms of sugar, but rather are sugar alcohols.

While some people have issues with sugar alcohols, they should not be lumped in with sugar in general.

With sugar alcohols, it’s best to test your individual response and decide if they’re workable for you.


(Crippie) #7

This exact thing happened to me. I started about 2.5 months ago and went through the “try new sweeteners” Phase. I for a couple types and found one a few to try. I used one I liked, “Monk Fruit in the Raw” went with that a while but noticed it made me hungry when using in my coffee, so I tried switching to this other Stevia based one that I thought might work. I forget its name, but it was Natural something with the label of 0 sugar, 0 calorie, suitable for diabetics blah blah blah. Well this Stevia based one was immediately worse! After my coffee I was ravenous, I felt like eating every single thing in the house. I checked the ingredients on it and first one FRUCTOSE, and I thought “Wait that’s straight up sugar, just the fruit kind” So into the trash it went, and I had a new respect for checking labels, so I went back and checked the Monk Fruit in the Raw, and first ingredient listed…DEXTROSE. The packets were very small, maybe 1/4 a teaspoon each, so it didn’t hit me as hard, but still SUGAR!

Now I did what you plan to do, I go for Truvia, I also now have a bottle of pure liquid stevia drops I use in cooking, and pure erythritol I got from amazon for cooking when a dry sweetener is needed.


(Sheri Knauer) #8

Yes! The first few weeks you quickly learn to read every package you are going to buy! I did after making some goofs like this. Then you are shocked as you realize how much junk is thrown into so many things, even the ones labeled “healthy”, “all natural”, and “good for diabetics”.


(Crippie) #9

This exactly. I started this from day 0. My problem is I just looked to nutrition facts, not ingredients. If it had 0 carbs I got it. However, they are sneaky and able to round down if its under 1g or something because many things, especially items with small serving sizes, have 0g but definitely have carbs.

Take Mayo for example. Go look at a jar of Best Food Mayo, it says 0g carbs, but if you check ingredients Sugar is listed right there, so they sneak it in there. That is what happened with these sweeteners. The packets they came in were smaller than 1g total, so even though they were mostly sugar, they could round down the carbs to 0 on the nutrition facts. And then they also rename the sugar to something less common, they are just so sneaky! I hate it! And they brand it as sugar free, calorie free, all that jazz. Its sickening how they try to push this stuff.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #10

My favorite renaming is “evaporated cane juice,” which is—wait for it—table sugar!


(Brian) #11

It’s a pain having to read every label so carefully, even for products where you THINK you know what’s in there.

I am still amazed at the things they put into shredded cheese. Pick up a package of shredded cheese and it’s likely to have all kinds of stuff in there that ain’t cheese at all… starches, fillers, all kinds of stuff. And I just wanted cheese. We generally just buy blocks of it anymore and grate what we want when we want it. It has a fresher taste that way, anyway, just a tiny bit less convenient.


(Crippie) #12

So true! And they usually will have 1g carb per serving as a result. They add that starch powder to prevent caking. I will admit I still tend to buy a bag of the pre-shredded stuff, it is just too convenient for me. I track it and consider the carbs it adds but it has been fairly negligible for me. Taking the time to shred prior, and then the added time of the extra dishes and everything was just too much for me, call me lazy, i won’t disagree, the benefit is just not enough for me to spend that time. I did try pre-shredding a large amount off a block so I could grab it as I needed, but without that starch additive it really does cake together, and soon I just had a ball of solid cheese again.


(Linda Culbreth) #13

Some are so sneaky that they label a long list of “sugars” - but with each one being say less than the 1, they round all of them down to 0. You soon get where you glace at the carbs and then glance at the ingredients.


(Linda Culbreth) #14

Crippie - sounds like a “ball” of fun to me…


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #15

Is that what they call a “come to cheeses moment”? :smiley:


(Lisa Moore) #16

While I am not T2D, I made the same discovery and have since switched up to a stevia-erythritol sweetener that does not seem to affect blood glucose.