Yellow Stuff & Pink Stuff & Blue Stuff (Artificial Sweeteners In Packets).

[AwayWeGo]

Is it just an anomaly of my particular taste buds, or do others also find the yellow stuff (Splenda) much lower in sweetening power, packet for packet, than the blue stuff (Equal) or even the pink stuff (Sweet & Low) ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[shagnut]

I use sweet & low for my tea and drinks, but splenda for cooking. shaggy

 

[Kay H]

I only use Splenda because years ago i found the others left an unpleasant after taste. Can't compare sweetness.

 

[Timeshare Von]

My hubby only used the yellow stuff (Splenda). In fact, I carry a baggie of the packets in my purse for him. He thinks it is sweeter in taste, without the sharp "chemical" taste. I don't use sugar or any sweetner in my iced tea, etc. David uses it in coffee and iced tea . . . and even uses it in the things he bakes, like cookies.

 

[Passepartout]

Different 'sweetening power'

Yup. I think I even saw it printed at some point either on some of the packets, though not recently. One yellow packet of Splenda is equal (no pun intended) to one teaspoonful of sugar. One pink packet is equal to 2 t. of sugar in sweetening, and one Equal is somewhere in between.

When I'm making my 'poor man's iced lattes', in a quart go-cup, in goes 1/2 full of coffee, 5 of the little vanilla or hazlenut creamers, 2 pink, or 3 blue, or 4 yellow packets. Fill with ice. Most c-stores will charge well under a buck and it'll last me several hours.

Mmm Good!

Jim Ricks

 

[Miss Marty]

Sweetener Facts - Equal® - Splenda® - Sweet'N Low®


Equal® Sweetener Blue

Aspartame is about 200 times sweeter than table sugar.
Aspartame is broken down into components that are digested by the body.

Equal is appropriate for use by individuals with diabetes.
It is well-tolerated by both those with insulin dependent and non-insulin
dependant diabetes (Type 1 and Type 2). Equal® Sugar Lite TM is also
appropriate for use by individuals with diabetes, however, because it
contains sugar, they must include it in their total carbohydrate counts.


Splenda®Yellow

Sucralose is about 600 times sweeter than table sugar.
Most sucralose passes through the body unchanged;
a small percentage of sucralose is absorbed and metabolized.

Sucralose, the sweetening ingredient in SPLENDA®
No Calorie Sweetener, does not affect blood glucose levels.


Sweet'N Low® Pink

Saccharin is about 300 times sweeter than table sugar.
Saccharin passes through the body unchanged.

Diabetes and Sweet'N Low - On the advice of a physician,
Sweet'N Low may be useful in the diets of people with diabetes.

Sweet'N Low contains one gram of carbohydrate and can be used in
conjunction with food exchange programs (Sweet'N Low Liquid contains
zero carbohydrates). Health professionals believe that the small amount
of carbohydrates in Sweet'N Low is nutritionally insignificant.


Learning About Diabetes

 

[SDKath]

Wow! Thanks for the info. My dad always says that he can't have Equal because it's a form of sugar and he has IDDM. But I have not heard that. Good to see that it is probably not true. Katherine

 

[Barbeque]

Stevia is the best alternative sweetner
Honey is a healthy sweetner but is not calorie free or may not be safe for diabetics

Aspartame is poison It will kill ants and much more
Splenda is very processed It starts from sugar but may not be as safe.


Check out www.mercola.com for more info on these artificial sweetners.

 

[BevL]

Splenda for me. The others are sweeter, but taste really bad. I can't really tell Splenda from sugar.

 

[Kona Lovers]

For coffee or tea, I prefer the pink over all for the sweetest taste, for me, that is.

Marty

 

[Fern Modena]

I've used them all at one time or another. I find Splenda to be the most to my liking; I have been using it for some years, even before it was approved by the FDA. At that time you either purchased it when on vacation in Canada or had somebody else bring it back for you. I use two packets for a 20 ounce mug of coffee (16 ounces coffee and 4 ounces 1% milk)

I generally carry a little container with the pill-type Splenda with me. You need to use two of those in place of one packet. If I don't have it I will use Equal in the same amount. If I am forced to use Sweet & Low I only use about a half a packet for an 8 Oz mug, I find it way too sweet.

My daughter has an allergy to Equal, it gives her migraines.

Fern

 

[dougp26364]

Equal® Sweetener Blue

Aspartame is about 200 times sweeter than table sugar.
Aspartame is broken down into components that are digested by the body.

Equal is appropriate for use by individuals with diabetes.
It is well-tolerated by both those with insulin dependent and non-insulin
dependant diabetes (Type 1 and Type 2). Equal® Sugar Lite TM is also
appropriate for use by individuals with diabetes, however, because it
contains sugar, they must include it in their total carbohydrate counts.


Splenda®Yellow

Sucralose is about 600 times sweeter than table sugar.
Most sucralose passes through the body unchanged;
a small percentage of sucralose is absorbed and metabolized.

Sucralose, the sweetening ingredient in SPLENDA®
No Calorie Sweetener, does not affect blood glucose levels.


Sweet'N Low® Pink

Saccharin is about 300 times sweeter than table sugar.
Saccharin passes through the body unchanged.

Diabetes and Sweet'N Low - On the advice of a physician,
Sweet'N Low may be useful in the diets of people with diabetes.

Sweet'N Low contains one gram of carbohydrate and can be used in
conjunction with food exchange programs (Sweet'N Low Liquid contains
zero carbohydrates). Health professionals believe that the small amount
of carbohydrates in Sweet'N Low is nutritionally insignificant.


Learning About Diabetes

I find this interesting and not sure what it says about me. I'll use the same amount of any of these in whatever I'm drinking, depending upon what's available. My preference is for Splenda followed by Equal and finally Sweet'N Low. When I was using sugar, I used the same amount of sugar as I do with these packets.

Now for what is certain to make more than a few of you go YUK. In a cup of coffee I'll use three packets of any of theses. If I'm going through Starbucks and I order a Grande Coffee I'll put 7 packets in.

They may be 200 to 600 times sweeter than coffee but I can't tell much difference between them (as far as sweetness goes) when using any of them. Perhaps each packet has a different amount that is suppose to be equal to 1 packet of sugar?

FWIW, I'm not diabetic but desperately needed to cut back calories somewhere. I was drinking on average 6 to 8 Pepsi's per day. Interestingly enough I prefer Diet Coke to Diet Pepsi but could barely tolerate regular Coke when I was drinking the regular stuff.

 

[borntotravel]

The only kind I'll eat is Splenda. When I use sugar in my coffee, I use a full teaspoon - when I use Splenda I only use 1/2 packet as it is much sweeter. I hated diet beverages before Splenda came along. Now, I purchase them all the time - to me, they taste just as good as the calorie packed drinks!

 

[Jaybee]

Stevia....Yea!

I used to think Splenda was splendid, until I read more about it. "Barbecue's" (was I close?) link to Dr. Mercola is a good start...or just google Splenda.
I've been using Stevia for a couple of years, and feel very comfortable using it. I get it from Wonderlabs, online, or at Trader Joe's. I carry the packets, and use the jar at home. It seems expensive, but it is extremely sweet, and I learned very quickly to use it sparingly. It's also called "Stevita", and is a completely plant based product, with no chemicals. Jean

 

[wackymother]

Sort of relevant here is a wonderful book called Sweet and Low, written by the grandson of the man who invented the sugar packet and, yes, Sweet 'n' Low. It's a family memoir.

http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Low-Fam...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212612419&sr=8-1

 

[midwest6]

Splenda does something strange to ice tea. If you make a medium strength ice tea and add splenda, it takes out alot of the flavor of the tea. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[Chrisky]

I had never heard of Stevia until reading about it here. Interestingly when I googled it, an article came up from USFDA their document 1A # 45-06 revised 2/2/96 and 4/24/08. They classify it as an unsafe food additive. It appears also that in Canada it can only be purchased in some health food stores and has not been approved by Health Canada. But apparently it is used quite extensively in Brazil and Japan.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Yes.

Splenda does something strange to ice tea. If you make a medium strength ice tea and add splenda, it takes out alot of the flavor of the tea. Has anyone else noticed this?

That's what provoked the original question.

I use pink stuff & blue stuff & yellow stuff only in iced tea. Pink stuff & blue stuff seem roughly equivalent in sweetness in iced tea, but yellow stuff never seems to do to the job despite its supposed sweetening power in comparison with the others. I was wondering whether it was just a quirk of my set of taste buds.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[JudyS]

Is it just an anomaly of my particular taste buds, or do others also find the yellow stuff (Splenda) much lower in sweetening power, packet for packet, than the blue stuff (Equal) or even the pink stuff (Sweet & Low) ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

I consider Splenda to be one of the basic four food groups (along with soy beans, salad, and chocolate), but I don't have a good answer to your question. That's because I tend to use the concentrated Splenda (Quick Pack -- it's designed for use with Kool Aid). I like the Splenda Quick Packs because I have to follow a reduced carb diet for my diabetes and the Quick Packs have almost no carbs. (Regular Splenda has one gram of carbs per little yellow packet.) The Quick Packs are so concentrated that after I use one, the air tastes sweet -- no kidding. I tap a little into coffee; I don't have a good way of measuring the Splenda that comes in Quick Packs, unless I mix a Quick Pack with water and measure out the solution with a teaspoon.

My understanding is that with all of the "little packets", whether blue, pink, or yellow, 1 packet is supposed to equal two teaspoons of sugar. The Splenda tablets, on the other hand, are supposed to equal one teaspoon. of sugar. (The tablets are very low in carbs, but cost far more per unit of sweetness than do the Quick Packs.)

Stevia is the best alternative sweetner
Honey is a healthy sweetner but is not calorie free or may not be safe for diabetics

Aspartame is poison It will kill ants and much more
Splenda is very processed It starts from sugar but may not be as safe.


Check out www.mercola.com for more info on these artificial sweetners.

Just because something is natural doesn't make it safe. Tobacco is natural; so are strychnine and poisonous mushrooms.
Stevia is very poorly tested and is banned in some countries as possibly harmful.

Splenda is well-tested and evidence shows that it is very safe. In animal studies, animals were given the equivalent (based on their body size) of a human dose of 20,000 little yellow packets a day for a month, with no observed harmful effects. No other artificial sweetener has this good of safety data.

For information on which food additives are safe, I strongly suggest either doing a search of the primary medical literature or relying on a major, reputable organization such as Center for Science in the Public Interest, not some random website.

 

[Jaybee]

I've read articles about that, too. I understand the FDA has tried to ban it here. (competition with the chemical sweeteners?) I also read that ...I think it was Coca Cola who has been trying to get a regulation changed so they can use Stevia in their diet drinks.

I had never heard of Stevia until reading about it here. Interestingly when I googled it, an article came up from USFDA their document 1A # 45-06 revised 2/2/96 and 4/24/08. They classify it as an unsafe food additive. It appears also that in Canada it can only be purchased in some health food stores and has not been approved by Health Canada. But apparently it is used quite extensively in Brazil and Japan.

 

[Jaybee]

More on Stevia

This may be of some interest to some of you.
http://www.steviacafe.net/stevia-sweetener-mainstream-coca-cola-soda

 

[AwayWeGo]

Suspicions Confirmed.

Splenda does something strange to ice tea. If you make a medium strength ice tea and add splenda, it takes out alot of the flavor of the tea.

OK -- after I read this observation, I took care to sweeten my iced tea only using blue stuff or pink stuff or some of each -- no yellow stuff by itself & no yellow stuff in combination with either or both of the others.

The result is a major serious consistent improvement in the sweetened iced tea around here.

Case closed.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[DebBrown]

I used to use Splenda and Nutrasweet interchangeably. I figured if they ever decided one of them caused cancer, I would only have had half the amount by using both.

Now I've found that Nutrasweet/aspartame contributes to my arthritis and Miniere's syndrome by stimulating pain receptors in the spinal cord so I've had to cut it out completely. If you do just a basic search of aspartame side effects or with "aspartame pain", you'll see how widespread the effects are.

I'm working toward cutting out all artificial sweeteners. I don't eat much processed food in general and I'm sure I'll be healthier without. I will miss my Diet Coke though!

Deb

 

[Mosca]

Regarding aspartame, splenda, and the internet,

On the one hand, it is healthy to view the official line with a bit of skepticism. There is nothing wrong with wanting to know what it is that we are putting in ourselves, really.

On the other hand, with the millions and billions and billions of doses of this stuff being consumed, don't you think that truly widespread adverse effects would be obvious? Most of the articles on "aspartame pain" referenced a doctor's letter written in 1991 ("JOINT PAIN ASSOCIATED WITH ASPARTAME USE By H. J. Roberts, M.D. West Palm Beach, Florida from the Townsend Letter for Doctors May 1991"), which gave an account of 551 instances of interviews and survey results, with 391 respondents reporting adverse side effects, and 58 reporting severe joint pain that subsided after avoiding aspartame-containing products; hardly a scientifically valid study, with no controls in place for other factors (could the only aspartame containing product be Diet Pepsi, and could the reaction be to the coloring?) , no controls for suggestive questioning, no controls in for environment or other factors possibly causing the pain. This is contrasted with years and years of clinical studies confirming the general safety of the product. In fact, aspartame is the most scrutinized product in the history of food additives. I refer you to this summary of the situation.

Which isn't to say that you, as an individual, shouldn't make the decision that is right for you. If you feel uncomfortable consuming these products, then don't. If you believe aspartame gives you a headache, and you don't get headaches when you don't consume aspartame, well, it's obvious; avoid aspartame.

But at the same time, realize that just as there are people profiting from the sale of aspartame, there are people profiting from promoting its controversiality. It's just a matter of scope.

Regarding stevia: although I haven't tried it, my opinion is that if it were safe, someone would already be profiting from it. "...[D]ue to studies on rats and hamsters showing that large doses of stevioside, the active ingredient in stevia, caused low sperm counts and abnormally small offspring, you'll probably never see it approved from the FDA or Health Canada, the European Union, or the World Health Organization."

I'm a Splenda guy, myself. In general I avoid soft drinks in favor of water, using Splenda in my coffee or tea. I actually prefer Splenda to sugar! I haven't noticed the Splenda effect mentioned above; I'll look for it.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Whatever Happened To Cyclamate ?

For a while there (as in, back in the early- to mid-1960s) low-cal versions of various kinds & brands of soda pop were sweetened with some stuff called cyclamate, which was said to be better than saccharine because cyclamate had less "aftertaste."

As I recall, those cyclamate-laced drinks were pretty good.

So, whussup with cyclamate now ?

I mean, with pink stuff & yellow stuff & blue stuff out there in those little packets, why not also some green stuff or purple stuff or orange stuff or whatever tint would do the job for cyclamate ?

The more the merrier, right ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​