hi Teena,

I've posted an article about Sweeteners in the "Tips" section of the LowCarb Canada website. Just click Tips in the red menu bar at the top of this page, or click here http://www.lowcarber.org/tips/tips006.html to open a new window.

I'm not sure where you live, Canada or US?? I'm assuming US, since you didn't mention cyclamate, which is still banned in the states, despite over 30 years of safety in human use. SugarTwin and Sucaryl are two brand names, and cyclamate sweeteners come in granulated like sugar, brown sugar flavour, individual packets, zero-carb liquid drops and zero-carb mini-tablets. It is fine to use in cooking, since it doesn't lose its sweetness like aspartame/Nutrasweet does. It can have a bitter after-taste.

Some people find that by mixing two types of sweetener together, you get an improved sweet taste with no bitter aftertaste, and you can often use LESS of the combined amount. Dr. Atkins recommends this in his cookbooks.

Aspartame - nutrasweet is coming under fire lately, and rightly so. It appeared on the market as a cheap and friendlier alternative to cyclamate and saccharin. But as you stated, a lot of folks are experiencing negative effects. I too find that it will trigger headaches and irritable bowel if I eat more than one serving of any food with it. I generally avoid it altogether, or just have a single serving of a "diet" food if I'm somewhere (a restaurant, or someone else's home) where there is no other choice. It's too bad, because most commercial diet foods are made with aspartame. Like diet hot chocolate, iced tea, jello and dessert mixes, soft drinks, etc........ Gradually, we're seeing a change, and more foods are available with sucralose. Here in Canada, most diet foods are made with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame-potassium, a supposedly safe, completely non-absorbed zero-calorie sweetener. Ace-K as it's known, has a bitter taste when used on its own, but when blended, this feature disappears. By blending the two sweeteners, less of either one is needed to give food the same sweet taste. So in a way, it's a good thing, less aspartame in the food.

Sucralose - Splenda has been around for quite a while in Canada, but is only just available in the US in the past 2 years. It has a high degree of safety, including use by children and pregnant women. It is stable in heat, so it's great to use in cooking. I heard a rumour that it may one day be available in brown sugar flavour!! YUM.

Stevia is a natural sweet extract from the leaves of a South American plant, stevia rebaudiana. Like any plant-based substance, there is always the potential for allergic reaction. Although it is calorie and carb-free, some studies show that it may trigger insulin just like sugar. In Protein Power, the Eades caution against its use.

It's true that after a time, the sweet-tooth does "die off" a bit. I generally don't eat sweets or desserts, but I realise that would be hard to do with a family around. I recently ate a "sugar free" chocolate bar made with maltitol, and it triggered a toothache, it just tasted so SWEET - it was overwhelming (not to mention the "laxative effect")

Now, if I could just tame my "greasy-fried" tooth, you know, the one that makes you crave chips, fries, nachos, onion rings and the like........

Doreen

[Edited by doreen T on 17-01-01 at 09:32]