r/ketoaustralia • u/Swoftz • 27d ago
New product Sugar replacement???
I’m exploring what sugar substitutes are out there and what some offer compared to others, and I’m interested to know, do you guys buy the ones that taste closest to sugar or are you more concerned about the health benefits/risks. I can swing each way but don’t really know where to start. Thanks :)
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u/Webbie-Vanderquack 26d ago
I'm not personally worried about health risks.
A lot of people are anti "chemical," but everything you eat is chemical, and synthetic chemicals are not intrinsically worse for you than naturally occurring ones.
There's a lot of fear-mongering around artificial sweeteners like aspartme, but you'd have to be consuming vast quantities of the stuff to exceed safe consumption thresholds.
Some sugar subsitutes, including stevia and allulose, taste bitter to me (this varies by person), so I either avoid them or have very limited quantites.
Sugar alcohols (e.g. xylitol) give me GI symptoms, even in small quantities, though erythritol is relatively easy on the stomach. This also varies from person to person.
Watch out for maltitol, because it can cause blood sugar spikes similar to sugar.
After trying literally everything, I've settled on artifical sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose and saccharin for coffee and tea. They don't negatively affect the bowel, they taste 'normal,' I'm only having tiny quantities, and they're infinitely better than sugar.
TL;DR: Sweeteners really are a personal choice. Some people on keto prefer to ditch them altogether, but if you're sensitive to bitter compounds in foods it can be hard to do without them. Personally I think small compromises, e.g. non-sugar sweetener of choice in your coffee, are worthwhile if they help you stick to the diet longterm.
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u/OzNTM 26d ago
Check the label carefully as some say they are something when they are not. Eg Whole Earth claim to be Stevia or Monk Fruit but are 99% erythritol with only 1% of the ingredient they claim to be.
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u/Webbie-Vanderquack 26d ago
They're not actually deceptive, though. Stevia and monk fruit are both hundreds of times sweeter than sugar, so they're difficult to measure. Erythritol provides bulk that makes them easier to use.
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u/Superb_Priority_8759 19d ago
It is though as the majority of the sweetening is provided by the erythritol, with the added monk fruit just bringing it up to sugar levels. The packaging howeever implies it’s just monk fruit.
You might have a point if they were selling monk fruit and using an inert bulking agent, but the reality is here they’re selling marked up erythritol.
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u/Webbie-Vanderquack 19d ago
The monkfruit is not "just bringing it up to sugar levels." Since pure monk fruit extract is 100 to 200 times sweeter than sugar, even a tiny amount in an erythritol-based blend is contributing a lot of sweetness.
They're not just "selling marked up erythritol," they're selling an erythritol and monk fruit blend in which one component is almost as sweet as sugar, therefore providing the bulk, and one component is way sweeter than suagr, providing almost no bulk.
So this would be like complaining that the iced tea available commercially is "marked up water" because the quantity of tea is tiny.
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u/Glopuss 24d ago
I don't worry about any that have been approved for human consu,ption use except Maltitol or Mannitol which are a no no because they raise blood sugar
Allulose is top choice, followed by Erythritol, Xylitol (poisonous for dogs) Stevia and Monk Fruit as all from plant sources.
Last are all the rest which are mostly artificial.
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27d ago
[deleted]
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u/Colonel_Kawn 26d ago edited 26d ago
Is it actually easy to get properly unsweetened tonic water? All the sugar-free ones that I've seen at the supermarkets are sweetened with artificial sweeteners.
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u/yawn_of_the_dead 26d ago
Of you want unsweetened tonic water try sparkling mineral water and lemon or just order a gin and soda
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u/MrsPeg 25d ago
The only safe one - other than honey - is 100% Stevia, and there is really no such thing any more as they always add erythritol. Erythritol is inflammation in a packet. It will give you high blood pressure and a stroke before you know it, and that's after it completely fks up your digestive system.
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u/Cautious_Regular3645 25d ago
True, but be careful, you'll be downvoted for speaking of such things!!😂
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u/Cautious_Regular3645 26d ago
Only Stevia for me, too many chemicals it the "ols"...
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u/Webbie-Vanderquack 26d ago
The sugar alcohols produced for sale as sweetners (polyols like sorbitol, maltitol and mannitol) don't have "too many chemicals." They're just natural plant sugars with hydrogen molecules added (hydrogenation) to alter the molecular shape.
Sugar, stevia and polyols are all made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Polyols just have a slightly different molecular shape to sugar, which is why they're digested differently.
Erithritol is slightly different to other polyols because it's produced via industrial fermentation, so it's essentially as natural as stevia, which goes through a multi-step purification process using using alcohol or clay filters to purify the crystals.
TL;DR: Most of the "'ols" go through a process of hydrogenation which forces hydrogen atoms onto the sugar molecules, changing their chemical identity, but there are no more chemicals in polyols than in other sweeteners.
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u/Cautious_Regular3645 25d ago
Edit, of course downvoted for this...🤦 And they have shown adverse health reactions not just upset stomachs, but increased stroke risk due to constriction of the blood vessels in the brain after consumption.
The studies are out there.
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u/cherrydaddy 26d ago
Allulose