Guest guest Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 I am glad that you brought this subject up - I was going to post about this 'Splenda' stuff because I have noticed that a lot of people seem to use it but when I checked out the granulated stuff in our supermarket, it was stuffed with carbs - in fact there wasn't a granulated sweetner that we could use. Here in the UK we use dissolved sweetex/hermasetas tablets or the hermasetas liquid. Emma - Mum to > Hi everyone, it has been a long time since I posted an update on . > > Mike had been doing great - (two days away from 5 months seizure free) when he started seizing again May 20th this year. He has been on the keto diet for just over 3 years now. Mike is also currently med free (YAY!) > > I have been scouring notes and trying to come up with why this happened, and at first, I assumed it was because his last clonaz dose was May 7th and this was just fall out. He did great for 2 weeks, then we adjusted cals and everything hit the fan. We put the cals back, no change. Around this time (after the seizures started again) I added jello, ketchup, fruit spread, and a small amount of candy (one gummy bear every 4-5 days) all sweetned with splenda. > > It looked like he was getting better, then he would get worse again. His seizures calmed a little and started coming in cycles - looking back at his notes, they started to correspond with how much splenda he was getting. > > He has been totally off all splenda since Monday (was off most of it before then but hubby wasnt reading labels and was still giving the ketchup) He had a horrible day that first day off it, but today was day 3 and we hardly saw any activity today. I am really beginning to think that splenda was the culprit for my son. > > Has anyone had these problems with Splenda? Are there other sweetners that are better/worse that I should use/avoid? > > Thanks for reading. > > Jenn mom to - 7 yrs old - keto kid for 3yrs currently med free (and NO asthma troubles since reducing the clonaz!) > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 The stuff you buy in the store does have carbs. But supposedly when they use it in the manufacture of products they use a liquid form with no carbs. The carbs come from the dextrose of malodextrin (forget which) which is used as a binder in the granulated stuff. So they say anwyay ketomum68 wrote: > I am glad that you brought this subject up - I was going to post > about this 'Splenda' stuff because I have noticed that a lot of > people seem to use it but when I checked out the granulated stuff in > our supermarket, it was stuffed with carbs - in fact there wasn't a > granulated sweetner that we could use. > > Here in the UK we use dissolved sweetex/hermasetas tablets or the > hermasetas liquid. > > Emma - Mum to > > > > Hi everyone, it has been a long time since I posted an update on > . > > > > Mike had been doing great - (two days away from 5 months seizure > free) when he started seizing again May 20th this year. He has been > on the keto diet for just over 3 years now. Mike is also currently > med free (YAY!) > > > > I have been scouring notes and trying to come up with why this > happened, and at first, I assumed it was because his last clonaz dose > was May 7th and this was just fall out. He did great for 2 weeks, > then we adjusted cals and everything hit the fan. We put the cals > back, no change. Around this time (after the seizures started again) > I added jello, ketchup, fruit spread, and a small amount of candy > (one gummy bear every 4-5 days) all sweetned with splenda. > > > > It looked like he was getting better, then he would get worse > again. His seizures calmed a little and started coming in cycles - > looking back at his notes, they started to correspond with how much > splenda he was getting. > > > > He has been totally off all splenda since Monday (was off most of > it before then but hubby wasnt reading labels and was still giving > the ketchup) He had a horrible day that first day off it, but today > was day 3 and we hardly saw any activity today. I am really beginning > to think that splenda was the culprit for my son. > > > > Has anyone had these problems with Splenda? Are there other > sweetners that are better/worse that I should use/avoid? > > > > Thanks for reading. > > > > Jenn mom to - 7 yrs old - keto kid for 3yrs currently med > free (and NO asthma troubles since reducing the clonaz!) > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 I never did use it to sweeten anything myself as it is only available here in powder and I had checked it out and knew it had carbs in it. Also wanted to say, that when I was testing Mike's blood sugar after I had started to put the pieces together but before I had taken the splenda stuff away he was testing at 6.1!! Usually 4.9 is high for him - couldnt believe it - no wonder ketones were down Jenn Re: Splenda question I am glad that you brought this subject up - I was going to post about this 'Splenda' stuff because I have noticed that a lot of people seem to use it but when I checked out the granulated stuff in our supermarket, it was stuffed with carbs - in fact there wasn't a granulated sweetner that we could use. Here in the UK we use dissolved sweetex/hermasetas tablets or the hermasetas liquid. Emma - Mum to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 I never did use it to sweeten anything myself as it is only available here in powder and I had checked it out and knew it had carbs in it. Also wanted to say, that when I was testing Mike's blood sugar after I had started to put the pieces together but before I had taken the splenda stuff away he was testing at 6.1!! Usually 4.9 is high for him - couldnt believe it - no wonder ketones were down Jenn Re: Splenda question I am glad that you brought this subject up - I was going to post about this 'Splenda' stuff because I have noticed that a lot of people seem to use it but when I checked out the granulated stuff in our supermarket, it was stuffed with carbs - in fact there wasn't a granulated sweetner that we could use. Here in the UK we use dissolved sweetex/hermasetas tablets or the hermasetas liquid. Emma - Mum to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2004 Report Share Posted July 29, 2004 I never did use it to sweeten anything myself as it is only available here in powder and I had checked it out and knew it had carbs in it. Also wanted to say, that when I was testing Mike's blood sugar after I had started to put the pieces together but before I had taken the splenda stuff away he was testing at 6.1!! Usually 4.9 is high for him - couldnt believe it - no wonder ketones were down Jenn Re: Splenda question I am glad that you brought this subject up - I was going to post about this 'Splenda' stuff because I have noticed that a lot of people seem to use it but when I checked out the granulated stuff in our supermarket, it was stuffed with carbs - in fact there wasn't a granulated sweetner that we could use. Here in the UK we use dissolved sweetex/hermasetas tablets or the hermasetas liquid. Emma - Mum to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 My *understanding* about labeling info on any food product is that if a count (let's say a carb count) is LESS than ONE, by law, it can be stated on the package as ZERO. For keto kids w/very low carb allotments, 1/2 g of carbs can be enough to really whack things out. Tracey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 I don't post often, but I am very curious where people are getting this information with Splenda/Sucrolose having carbs in it. All the information I have found including on packaging there are 0 carbs, therefor most reccomended by our dietician. We were told to stay away from aspartame/nutrasweet since it has 1/2 carb per serving and has been known to increase seizures in some people. All this information I have seen on here has really confused me. I have never seen any bad effects due to use of Splenda/Sucralose which we use on a regular basis. Check out this site : http://www.splenda.com/page.jhtml? id=splenda/diabetes/main.inc All data in here supports that there are no calories, although I did just notice that they added carbs = less then 1g/ serving, which i don't remeber seeing on packaging previously. Now I really don't know what to think????? Tina - mom to Nicky keto kid since 8/2001 > I never did use it to sweeten anything myself as it is only available here in powder and I had checked it out and knew it had carbs in it. > > Also wanted to say, that when I was testing Mike's blood sugar after I had started to put the pieces together but before I had taken the splenda stuff away he was testing at 6.1!! Usually 4.9 is high for him - couldnt believe it - no wonder ketones were down > > Jenn > Re: Splenda question > > > I am glad that you brought this subject up - I was going to post > about this 'Splenda' stuff because I have noticed that a lot of > people seem to use it but when I checked out the granulated stuff in > our supermarket, it was stuffed with carbs - in fact there wasn't a > granulated sweetner that we could use. > > Here in the UK we use dissolved sweetex/hermasetas tablets or the > hermasetas liquid. > > Emma - Mum to > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 Tina, Tanner has been using the Splenda sweetener and has had no seizures on it since starting the diet a month ago. The nutritionist at the hospital said to try it and see if it worked okay. He is in mid to high ketosis on it on the strips. Hallie Re: Splenda question > > > I am glad that you brought this subject up - I was going to post > about this 'Splenda' stuff because I have noticed that a lot of > people seem to use it but when I checked out the granulated stuff in > our supermarket, it was stuffed with carbs - in fact there wasn't a > granulated sweetner that we could use. > > Here in the UK we use dissolved sweetex/hermasetas tablets or the > hermasetas liquid. > > Emma - Mum to > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 30, 2004 Report Share Posted July 30, 2004 Tina, I had been using Splenda for quite a while prior to my daughter starting the diet. When I asked our dietician about it, she said " no " at first. She starts out very strict and then loosens up slowly, if things are going well. She had concerns at that time about the claim that Splenda is not metbolized. She thought that might be true enough for a diabetic or someone who wanted to cut out sugar to lose weight, but not true enough for strict keto. She was in the process of doing some " research " -- said she might change her mind later on, depending on what she could find out. I have education in both chemistry and biochemistry so I called McNeil and talked to two of their chemists. They were very helpful and very free with their information. Of course, they wanted to win me over, but I have to say that they were honest in saying " I don't know " to some specific questions about metabolic alterations on keto. Bottom line, I thought it would be worth a try. We were doing well on keto, so I figured that if I could get the o.k. from the dietician, we could start using small amounts and just see. At our 6 mo. follow up she had more info. on Splenda, too, so she agreed to let us try a small amount. We've not had any problems. Now we use quite a bit. Anyway, here's the carb. info from the chemists at McNeil. Liquid Splenda, which is only available commercially to companies who incorporate it into their products has 0 carbs. So, diet soda, sugar free syrup, ice cream etc. that contain Splenda have no carbs that come from the Splenda. I did ask, and was told that there are no plans to make liquid splenda available to the general public. You never know, though. Splenda packets contain 1g. carb per packet. Each packet equals the sweetness of 2 tsp. of sugar. Packets contain sucralose ( " generic " name for Splenda brand sweetener) along with some dextrose and maltodextrin. Granular Splenda contains sucralose and " puffed up " maltodextrin to make it measure like sugar. It contains 0.5g of carb. per teaspoon. So, with both the packets and the granular, you get the equivalent sweetness of 1 tsp. of sugar for 0.5g carb. Some keto kids have problems with maltodextrin so that's something to be aware of. It makes sense that, like anything else, there will be some kids for whom Splenda isn't friendly. If you have been using it without problems, I see no reason to stop. We've used aspartame without any problems, too, but I know several people of all kinds who don't tolerate it. At our house, we think Splenda just tastes better. When we last saw our dietician, she said that she is convinced now that Splenda is a good product to use on the keto diet--moderately, of course. She has several patients using it now and none have had problems. She confers with other dieticians regularly and one has described a patient with setbacks " possibly " connected to Splenda. Hope that helps. Cammie > > I never did use it to sweeten anything myself as it is only > available here in powder and I had checked it out and knew it had > carbs in it. > > > > Also wanted to say, that when I was testing Mike's blood sugar > after I had started to put the pieces together but before I had taken > the splenda stuff away he was testing at 6.1!! Usually 4.9 is high > for him - couldnt believe it - no wonder ketones were down > > > > Jenn > > Re: Splenda question > > > > > > I am glad that you brought this subject up - I was going to post > > about this 'Splenda' stuff because I have noticed that a lot of > > people seem to use it but when I checked out the granulated stuff > in > > our supermarket, it was stuffed with carbs - in fact there wasn't > a > > granulated sweetner that we could use. > > > > Here in the UK we use dissolved sweetex/hermasetas tablets or the > > hermasetas liquid. > > > > Emma - Mum to > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 Jenn, Good for you for questioning the Splenda. Looks like your detective work paid off!! Hope Mike's seizures stay away for GOOD now. Cammie > We have now confirmed that Splenda did cause Mike's problems. He was having NO myoclonic seizures before the splenda was added (for over a year) Before we took the Splenda away, he was having quite a few a day and was back in his helmet again > > > Mike only had 3 drops of ketchup with splenda in it on Saturday and Sunday - far less Splenda than he was having per day before that. On Monday, he was pretty much in status (non-convulsive) he would look at you when you talked to him, very slowly but almost like he was looking thru you. He didnt talk for a few hours in the evening. He sat on the couch in the same position for over an hour. I think that his body was going thru a bit of withdrawl as Tuesday when he woke, he was much better. > > BUT, now that he has not had it for 5 days - he has been totally seizure free for 2 days! The drooling has stopped, he isnt wetting himself anymore (he was doing this with seizures during sleep) His sleep seizures have stopped too - last one was Sunday nite, first full day off splenda was Monday. > > Yesterday he sneezed constantly during his waking hours, today he only sneezed a few times, still not sure if this is related, but I thought he was developing hay fever or something - he was sneezing so much. > > I do not think that all kids react this way (many probably don't - Mike has always seemed to be an 'odd ball'). If you child can tolerate Splenda on the diet, that is great (makes the diet much easier to accept and give Mom the chance to 'spoil' the keto kid just a little > > However, if there are parents out there using Splenda and their children are not seizure free, it may we worth a shot to take it away for 7 days and see if there is a positive change. > > Jenn mom to Mike - keto kid for just over 3 years (had been using splenda for approx 2 months), > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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