WE have all these foods now that are sugar free, so they are using artificial sweetners instead of sugar.


splenda , and aspartime. or whatever its called.....and many more..

ok so my mother in law said that all these artificial sweetners are trying to trick our bodies into thinking we are really eating sugar,, which in return our bodies produce insulin.... which is what low carbers might not want., i think?

My mother in law is a nurse.... so I am not sure if this is TRUE or not... PLease help.......

Artificial sweeteners have no direct effect on blood sugar or insulin. Dr Richard Bernstein discusses this in his book, Diabetes Solution.

Some people who have addictive tendencies for sweets *may* experience a rush from the sweet taste stimulation, similar to sugar. This can trigger the excitement hormones - adrenalin, cortisol dopamine .. which in turn may trigger insulin. I think this is discussed in the Carb Addicts books.

What folks do need to watch out for are sweeteners that come in powdered form, both the bulk spoonable type and the little packets/sachets. These contain fillers such as maltodextrin and/or dextrose .. which are high-glycemic carbs that will affect blood sugar and insulin.


Doreen

thanks alot for the great info!!!!!!!!!

Actually in DANDR, Dr. Atkins does mention that artificial sweeteners CAN cause a spike in insulin release that you may not want. The trick to keeping it under control... for every serving of sweetener you have, count it as 1 carb into your carb count for the day. It keeps you at a much lower risk of stalling and undermining what you're working for. If you do stall, try to cut out sweeteners for a couple days to see if it jumpstarts anything.

Actually, the counting sweetener is because most of the sweeteners have carbs - the packets have about 1g carbs each, and the bulk granular has ~1g carbs per 2 teaspoons (sweetness wise, the carb counts are the same for packets and granular). Many products have zero carbs - like diet sodas, which use a liquid form of the artificial sweeteners that don't have the carby fillers that the dry stuff does.


...but it is true that in some people, artificial sweeteners can cause an insulin spike - it isn't common though.