Sugar free tablets

Hello

I have a query. can someone please answer me? How safe is it to consume Sugar free tablets? I have heard that it is good to control diabeties and to reduce calories. One of my friend offered me tea with sugarfree tablets and I liked it. Infact, I didnt find any difference between the normal tea and the tea that was offered by my friend. I want to continue the same and to avoid sugar as much as possible. can someone answer the following queries

1) Are sugarfree tablets really helpful? Does it have any side effects?
2) I have a six months old baby and I am still breast feeding him. Can I consume these tablets at this stage?

I wish to hear from IL Members who have any information about Sugar Free tablets.

Regards

Lakshmi

Hi lakshmi,
Yes sugar substitutes are safe to consume. There are whole variety of substitutes available. Most often depending on the substitute, you will not notice any difference between the sugar and the substitute.
Most sugar substitutes do not have any side effects. I have been using them for years together now without any problems. You can have them while feeding your baby. No problems. It is just a packet or two a day i guess.
The most popular substitutes that are available now are:
Aspartame based: the brand name that is most popular is equal
Saccahrin Based: Sweet and Low
Sucralose : Splenda
If you want to go organic, then try Stevia( which you will get in health food stores). The others you can get any store. I like equal and splenda the most. I find saccharin leaves a slight bitter after taste.

Good luck. And remember while it is good to reduce the sugar intake, the best way to burn off calories and reduce them is exercise.

Vandhana

Originally Posted by Lakshmivinoth

Hello

I have a query. can someone please answer me? How safe is it to consume Sugar free tablets? I have heard that it is good to control diabeties and to reduce calories. One of my friend offered me tea with sugarfree tablets and I liked it. Infact, I didnt find any difference between the normal tea and the tea that was offered by my friend. I want to continue the same and to avoid sugar as much as possible. can someone answer the following queries

1) Are sugarfree tablets really helpful? Does it have any side effects?
2) I have a six months old baby and I am still breast feeding him. Can I consume these tablets at this stage?

I wish to hear from IL Members who have any information about Sugar Free tablets.

Regards

Lakshmi

Hello Vandana, That was a very valuable information about sugar free tabs. I have one more queary...Sugar free tabs can be added only in tea/coffee/milk or can it be even added in the sweets that we prepare at home?

Hi lakshmi,

You can make the following sweets with sugar substitutes:
1. all payasams that use sugar
2. Halwas: carrot, lauki, kesari.( badam and wheat halwa will not come out well with substitutes), thiratipal
3. Custards, trifles, puddings icecreams etc...
4. sweets like ras malai, basandi
You cannot make barfis as u need the sugar to get the barfi to set.

Hope this helps

Vandhana

Vandana, Thanks Once again.

Regards

Lakshmi

Originally Posted by vandhana

Hi lakshmi,

You can make the following sweets with sugar substitutes:
1. all payasams that use sugar
2. Halwas: carrot, lauki, kesari.( badam and wheat halwa will not come out well with substitutes), thiratipal
3. Custards, trifles, puddings icecreams etc...
4. sweets like ras malai, basandi
You cannot make barfis as u need the sugar to get the barfi to set.

Hope this helps

Vandhana

Hi ,

I read somewhere that Aspartame based sweeteners causes memory loss and other problems. I am not able to find that article now.
Even I started using "Equal" thinking to be health conscious, but after I read that I have reduced taking sweeteners and even if I take, I go for "Splenda" which doesn’t have Aspartame.
Just google and see ...you will get lots of link

Dear Vandhana,
I use Splenda to prepare most of my Indian sweets and desserts that you have mentioned. But at times this is what happens when the recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar I generally use half a cup[splenda] and still it is too sweet for me. Do you have an exact ratio that you follow? Thanks in advance.
Bye,

Hi Radha,
No I do not have an exact sugar to substitute ratio. I usually eye ball it and then adjust the sweetness . Usually i tend to go on the lower side, so i end up adding more. So whydon't you try 1/3 cup istead of 1/2 and then adjust with more if needed.

Hope this helps
Vandhana

Will try your suggestion next time and keep you posted.

Thanks,

Hi rogo,

You have the every cause to be concerened and I did read up about Equal and other Aspartame brand sweeteners, you must take what is written in the studies with a linch of salt. Usually to produce such results, they will give the participants a highly concentrated source. I read one article in which they made the particpants drink 2 litres of soda flavored with aspartame daily for a period of time. now that is too much. If there are so mnay problems with the sweetner, the FDA would have banned it long ago. Here is a link that you can see. In the same context, Saccarin is supposed to be a cancer producing, but the FDA has not banned it yet.

http://www.caloriecontrol.org/aspartame.html

As always, anything taken in excess will be detrimental to health. The same goes for MSG also. But having say 1 pkt of any sweetner is not going to harm anyone in the long run.

Vandhana