What is the deal with sweetener packets?!?!? Dextrose?!?!?

sweeteners
cooking
bloodglucose
testing
(Crippie) #1

Ok, so I got a glucose meter over the weekend, mainly because I want to test my wife and I for insulin responses to different sweeteners, she has a sweet tooth that must be met so I wanted to be safe and just science it out.

My next step was to go get some sweeteners to try. I went to Wal-Mart and found the isle with all the sugars and artificial sweeteners. Planning to grab a wide variety to test our responses and preferences.

I was stopped in my tracks though as EVERY SINGLE ONE had the first ingridient(s) as DEXTROSE or MALTODEXTRIN or both! I mean I could be wrong, but aren’t those just fancy words for “pure glucose” and “starch”?

I checked all the big ones, Splenda(Suralose), Sweet n’ Low(saccharin), Equal(Aspartame), Monk Fruit in the Raw. All of them had the FIRST ingredient as dextrose, which I understand is pure glucose? A couple had Maltodextrin listed as well which I believe is a starch filler?

The only sweetener I have found readily available which does not have these listed is Truvia(erythritol/stevia). Luckily I do not have a response to this, but unfortunately it seems my wife has an insulin response to it, so I am hoping to find something else.

So what is the deal with all these sweetener packets with Dextrose? I see friends who are T2D using it in their coffee every day as a sugar alternative to avoid raising their blood glucose, but with dextrose in it how is that even possible? Am I misunderstanding this dextrose/maltodextrin thing? Is it keto safe?

I had two packets of “Monk Fruit in the Raw” that I tested my wife with, after 30mins her glucose actually dropped a fair amount. From what I read, dextrose being pure glucose, it raises your blood glucose very quickly. So could it be her glucose shot up and would have been higher around the 10 minute mark? An at the 30 min mark we were already seeing her insulin response?

I avoided buying the sweeteners to play it safe, but was curious what the deal was? I see everyone talking about finding the sweetener that works for them, but got so confused that they all seem to have glucose in them? What id everyone using then?

TL;DR: ALL sweeteners have DEXTROSE? How does that work? What does everyone use? How are they T2D safe with glucose in them?

(A ham loving ham! - VA6KD) #2

You can buy “pure” sucralose in a liquid or powder form with no additives at all. Both are extremely sweet. I have the powered form and when I have coffee, I just put the tiniest dot of sucralose powder on the tip of the teaspoon and that’s enough to sweeten (sometimes it’s too sweet!).

(Crippie) #3

I have seen that on amazon, thought about ordering a bag, but wanted to see what everyone else did before spending too much.

I thought perhaps I had this whole Dextrose thing wrong since I see it in all these sweeteners that are supposedly diabetic safe.

But I think I may order some of it anyway, from what you said and what I have read while browsing it is pricey, but should last me forever as so little is needed when using it.

(A ham loving ham! - VA6KD) #4

I bought a one-pound bag about a year ago…I think it was $50 or $60 or in that range. It’s still mostly all there and that’s with several coffees almost daily. :smile:

The amount of dextrose is only about 1g per packet, but it all adds up over a day if you go with that. They use the dextrose and maltodextrin as fillers to fluff up the volume so that it’s teaspoon for teaspoon equivalent to table sugar.

(Leslie ) #5

I’ve found Pyure brand stevia packets with erythritol as the filler sweetener. Those are handy to carry with me when ordering coffee or tea out. At home I use the Pyure brand liquid stevia which is just a solution in water. Those two sweeteners (stevia and erythritol) haven’t affected my bg levels.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #6

So, for me personally, I tend to avoid sweeteners that list dextrose or maltodextrin. As for why they are used, I believe they are used as bulking agents, since the amount of the actual sweetener would be tiny without them. The amount is probably not sufficient to cause major blood sugar spikes, but it’s not a risk I’m willing to take, though I will also say that if I’m out and about and a Splenda packet or two is my only option other than sugar, I will use it in that case.

At home, and if available while I’m out, I usually opt for Truvia, as I seem to tolerate it well, and if there are any rogue sugars, they’re hiding under the “natural flavors” umbrella, and are not the first ingredient.

But definitely a good reminder to always check labels, as even things that are targeted at dieters and diabetics can have some unexpected ingredients.

(Crippie) #7

Yea, I may order the 50g bag off amazon to try it out and it would last me a good while from the sounds of it.

I understand that they use them as fillers, but to me it seems like Dextrose being pure glucose, and being the largest ingredient in these sweeteners, that they are just straight lying about it being a sugar free sweetener( I know sugar is glucose and fructose so TECHNICALLY it is sugar free), but it still has the glucose, possibly more glucose per gram than its table sugar equivalent?

And my big issue is how can they be “diabetic friendly” if its got so much glucose in it, which is what diabetics have trouble handling. Its insane!

(Crippie) #8

Me too, but it seems if I want to i need to avoid the store, and order specifically offline, which I was hoping to avoid in this “testing” phase as most online orders are bulky.

Yea i have heard it is a “fluff” ingredient, and that in a packet there is less than a gram so that’s why they round down to 0 carbs. But still I don’t want to risk it either. What gets me is that dextrose is pure glucose, where as table sugar is 50/50 glucose/fructose. So with these sweeteners, it is possible there could be more glucose per gram than table sugar? I mean rather than 50% glucose, it seems that the largest ingredient is pure glucose. So how is it safe for diabetics when glucose is the problem for them?

Truvia is definitely my go to, unfortunately my wife needs something else.

And for sure, I now ALWAYS check labels, and ingredients list. The eye opener for me was Mayo, I used it all the time as it said 0 carbs, but someone told me it had sugar so I checked the ingredients and wouldn’t you know it there it was sugar listed right there.

(Crippie) #9

I have not tried Pyure, but I think its pretty much the same as Truvia. Which I enjoy and tolerate, but my wife does not.

I found some Stevia liquid drops at the local health food store, which I may get for my wife to try, in case it is the erythritol she is reacting too.

#10

On the surface, yes, but they taste very different. I like Truvia, but Pyure tastes unbearably bitter to me. I think different people taste different sweeteners differently. Some people find sucralose bitter, but it’s my favorite sweetener. However, just so you are fully informed, some studies have indicated that it kills off beneficial gut bacteria. I think that’s not necessarily established, though, so I’m willing to risk it. And check you and your wife’s glucose/insulin response before getting a big bag.

I used to buy the expensive little bottles of liquid sucralose (EZ Sweetz), which was great, but so expensive. I tried a little bag of bulk sucralose, and I never looked back (a 500g bag lasted my family 2.5 years, and we use a ridiculous amount of it daily).

A few tips:

Dilute the powder with liquid for ease of use. Dissolving 26g in 100ml of liquid (or 13g in 50ml) will give you roughly the same concentration as the commercial liquids, one drop equaling, supposedly, two teaspoons of sugar. But I’ve always found sucralose not as strong as they say, so I use about 30 drops to equal a cup of sugar in recipes (rather than the expected 24). Sweetening coffee or tea might only take a drop or two, depending on your taste (I like it really sweet, so I use a lot of drops, but I love that it’s easy to be consistent by counting them; no guesswork or having to taste and adjust each time once you find your personal level).

Buy a small squeeze bottle to store your liquid sweetener in. Mix it in a cup with a pour spout first until well dissolved. It takes a while. Add a tiny bit more liquid only if you can’t get it to dissolve after five minutes or so.

Keep your mixture in the refrigerator. Without preservatives, it will mold. Even refrigerated, it eventually will. I experimented unsuccessfully with preservatives until I hit on the idea of using lemon juice (from a bottle). The acidity (and commercial preservatives) keep it from molding. If you’re only adding a few drops to coffee, you don’t get enough lemon to taste it. But now I’m experimenting with just using water, but freezing my liquid divided up in one-ounce bottles.

(G. Andrew Duthie) #11

I don’t find it too bitter to bear, but I agree it’s a noticeably different taste between the two.

Good tips on the sucralose. Might try that, since the packets aren’t a great option.