Quick Review: Sun Crystals vs. Ideal sweeteners
Sun Crystals: Bitter. Blech. Do not want. Why did you do this?
Ideal: Yessss. Cool on the tongue, tastes great right out of the packet. Better aftertaste than sugar, if you can believe it. FTW.
"It is as sweet as sugar, but has 40% less calories. While a gram of sugar has 4 calories, a gram of granular xylitol has just 2.4 calories. Chemically speaking, xylitol is a 5-carbon sugar alcohol. Six-carbon sugars like fructose and glucose are absorbed quickly and stimulate insulin. Xylitol is absorbed more slowly, without stimulating insulin or increasing blood sugar. This makes it an ideal sweetener for diabetics, who need to keep blood sugar under control. And good news for teeth: The sugar-alcohol structure cannot be used by cavity-causing bacteria in the mouth. Finnish studies comparing use of xylitol-sweetened vs. sugar-sweetened chewing gum and tooth decay show dramatic reductions in cavities with xylitol gums. Even more interesting, xylitol appears to inhibit growth of bacteria that cause ear infections."
Neither of these is calorie free, they just use such a small serving size that they can say it has no calories. But, xylitol/Ideal = 40% less calories and tastes better than sugar, with the other benefits? Win.
Ideal: Yessss. Cool on the tongue, tastes great right out of the packet. Better aftertaste than sugar, if you can believe it. FTW.
"It is as sweet as sugar, but has 40% less calories. While a gram of sugar has 4 calories, a gram of granular xylitol has just 2.4 calories. Chemically speaking, xylitol is a 5-carbon sugar alcohol. Six-carbon sugars like fructose and glucose are absorbed quickly and stimulate insulin. Xylitol is absorbed more slowly, without stimulating insulin or increasing blood sugar. This makes it an ideal sweetener for diabetics, who need to keep blood sugar under control. And good news for teeth: The sugar-alcohol structure cannot be used by cavity-causing bacteria in the mouth. Finnish studies comparing use of xylitol-sweetened vs. sugar-sweetened chewing gum and tooth decay show dramatic reductions in cavities with xylitol gums. Even more interesting, xylitol appears to inhibit growth of bacteria that cause ear infections."
Neither of these is calorie free, they just use such a small serving size that they can say it has no calories. But, xylitol/Ideal = 40% less calories and tastes better than sugar, with the other benefits? Win.
Comments
If I understand correctly, 100g of Ideal has 240 calories. Better than sugar? - perhaps! No calorie? - a lie!
"Our baking blend is 70% xylitol, 29.7% maltodextrin and 0.3% sucralose. There are 53 grams of carbohydrates and 202 calories in a cup of Ideal® white granulated sweetener. Compare that to 192 grams of carbohydrates and 768 calories in a cup of regular granulated sugar."