COMMENT from MD EADES: I don’t have really any new/updated info on consequences related to FOS, and based on what I’ve read, it’s probably fine to use.

COMMENT from MD EADES: Thusfar, we (Mike and I) do all the writing for the site. We have entertained the notion of having guest bloggers, but so far have not done so.

Do you think Lo Han and Stevia would have synergistic effects in baking? Maybe those sweeteners along with erythritol would have the best results? FYI, Stevia Glycerite doesn’t have that bitter aftertaste because NOW uses the expensive parts of the plants in making it. I’m trying out Jarrow Lo Han sweet as soon as it comes in the mail.

COMMENT from MD EADES: You’re quite welcome. All sweetener options come with a good side and a bad one, I’m sure. Once any of them are used in large amounts by many millions of people (as has happened with Splenda) then you’re bound to have some people who will react unfavorably. It’s just a numbers game, really. Just as people can react with allergic violence to sesame seeds, or chocolate, or aspirin, so they can to any substance. If enough people use the substance, somebody’s bound to react. The same might likely prove to be true for the ‘natural’ ones, such as stevia glycosides or lo han. In small amounts, infrequently (as nature probably intended us to consume super sweet foods) there may be reasonable safety in most all of them.

In the book, Low Carb Comfort Foods, how would i adjust the sugar for making breads and stuff. if we used that as our everyday bread (2 slices) per day, would that fall under moderation?

If you get time to answer, thanks.  LaNell

COMMENT from MD EADES:  I will be happy to answer, but I don’t understand your question.  What recipe in Low Carb Comfort Food Cookbook are you wondering about adjusting the sugar in?  If you can let me know, I’ll gladly comment further.

I realize there are a ton of low-carb recipe sites out there, but I was trying to address how to cook *both* high carb and low carb simultaneously. I’ve been doing it for years as my husband and daughter have no interest in low-carbing.

So… in putting this site together, I wrote a page about sweeteners myself:
http://ornery-geeks.org/text/cooking/baking/aboutsweeteners.asp

You will probably not be as interested in the page about various types of wheat flours though.

I specifically ignored sweeteners that I have never seen recipes for in the low-carb newsgroup and web sites, just limiting it to what I think people commonly have available.

I do not consume any artificial sweeteners (on purpose~one time I noticed sucralose on the ingredient label of an English muffin after I had eaten it). I have an ethical reason for not eating sucralose also. I am not 100% sure if it is true, but puppies alledgedly suffered in the testing of sucralose. UNACCEPTABLE!!! For what…human vanity…?!

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
(~Mahatma Gandhi)

COMMENT from MD EADES: Can’t say I have ever heard that as a complaint against the product and I can’t figure out what they would have been looking for by testing puppies with it, what they could possibly have been trying to find out, I mean. Those kinds of tales often turn out to be apocryphal when they’re finally tracked to their origins. Of course, we’d all hope no animals would ever be tortured for any reason, but in this case, it doesn’t make sense. Why puppies, after all? Why not more typical, less charismatic lab animals, such as mice, rats, pigs, or monkeys? There shouldn’t be anything particular to puppies that would make them especially suited to testing a sweetener and their use would be sure to draw the ire and fire of the public.

COMMENT from MD EADES: We’ve personally witness documented and reproducible severe stomach cramping from Equal in several people, so it’s certainly possible that it’s the culprit. Agave is mainly fructose, which is a true sugar and in particular one that can cause insulin resistance if used in large amounts. Sugar in the raw is just unbleached sugar with the molasses and other particulates left in. From a metabolic standpoint, it’s just sugar with all the attendant metabolic problems. Stevia, AceK (which is artificial, however) and perhaps erythritol (which is also technically artificial) in small amounts might be preferable. Anything in large amounts can cause problems, so moderation is usually the key.

COMMENT from MD EADES: No, I can’t say that I know of another Splenda sweetened chocolate bar, but you can always make your own Splenda sweetened confections. There’s a recipe for Classic Chocolate Truffles in the companion cookbook to our PBS television show, The Low Carb CookwoRx Cookbook. You could even make the carb count per truffle lower using the Splenda Quick Packs in place of the granular or the packets.

COMMENTS from MD EADES: The products are available in many specialty stores and online. They’re even available from the Low Carb CookwoRx website in the products section. And yes, the instructions are written right on the packages. I keep both basic products around: not/Starch which works better as a thickener for gravies and sauces and not/Sugar, which helps to replace some of the mouthfeel and bulking effect usually provided by sugar. They’re easy to use and tasteless and, for me at least, at boon.