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Sugar-Free Mentos snags another victim of dubious side effects

There oughta be a big bold WARNING label placed on any sugar-free product that purports to be "sweetened with Splenda" if sucralose is not the top sweetener. You know what I'm talking about--while the Splenda logo appears prominently on the front of the packaging of many low-carb, sugar-free products, the truth is there's something else making that product sweet. 

That something else is sugar alcohols usually, most notably and notoriously the one called maltitol. Just as sugar-free doesn't mean the product is necessarily low-carb, neither does having the Splenda emblem on the packaging mean it is the primary sweetener. In fact, many times it comes in dead last in the ingredients.

If this is happening, then why does maltitol show up as the #1 ingredient, hmmm? Sounds like a bait and switch scam to me! I've warned about the negative impact this sugar alcohol can have on your stomach many times and even had this humorous story from a reader named Fred Scuttle who found out the hard way what the sugar alcohol maltitol can do to you.

Now I've got another horror story to share with you from Sarah who thought she would get away with downing some Sugar-Free Mentos without a hitch. HA!

Here's what happened to her:

My experience with maltitol happened just today at my restaurant job.

I bought some Sugar-Free Mentos just the other day and was relieved to see the Splenda emblem proudly displayed on the package...I have had problems with other artificial sweeteners, so I thought I was safe.

Wrong!

So, while I was busy serving food on a busy lunch shift, I snacked on the box of candy. Mind you, this was a small package---maybe 15 pieces or so.

Well, an hour into my shift, my stomach started to do that dreaded gurgle and roll and I knew immediately I was in trouble.

I literally had to run to the bathroom, lest I "sharted" in my pants. It was totally awful. It felt disgusting having explosive diarrhea while serving food to customers and the gas and bloating were so terrible I had to go to the bathroom to undo my pants.

Upon closer inspection of the box, in all capital letters I noticed (too late), this disclaimer: EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION MAY CAUSE A LAXATIVE EFFECT!

That's nice. Glad to know that candy now has the ability to make me crap my pants."

Some lessons can only be learned through experience. This will certainly make Sarah read food labels carefully from now on, don't ya think?

By the way, that's the first and last time you'll ever see the word "sharted" at my blog. TMI and EWWWW!

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written by Carla Kooij, June 29, 2007

Wow, I knew those sugar alcohols were bad, but didn't know it did this ... read it does cause major bloating, but this is proof its bad. I hate the food industries for putting chemicals like this in our bodies!