My aversion to artificial sweeteners is well documented here. I don’t mind the strange aftertaste of artificial sweeteners much, but the taste that hangs in my mouth for six or eight hours after eating them is quite unpleasant. The only exception to this rule has seemed to be the so-called “sugar alcohols”. My experience with them to this point has been in sugarless gum. Trident gum uses xylitol, specifically. But I’ve also heard of malitol and sorbitol being used in other brands. I still taste the artificial sweetener taste, but it doesn’t leave the incessant aftertaste. I’ve wondered: Would a “sugar alcohol” sweetener in a drink or in food produce the same kind of long-standing aftertaste?
With my latest haul of Girl Scout Cookies, I finally got a chance to test that question. Each year I order several boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. It seems there is always a Girl Scout in one of my classes, and they always know to come to me. When I got my order this year, in among the boxes were some “Sugar Free Chocolate Chips” cookies. I don’t remember ordering them, but… well, my poor memory is also well documented here. The ingredient panel says the artificial sweetener is not saccharin (the pink one), aspartame (the blue one), or sucralose (the yellow one). It says malitol, sorbitol, and lactitol. Hmmm…
I ate a bunch of them last night. (Though I did note that “sugar free” does not mean “low calorie”. In fact, these cookies have more calories than the cookies I got with sugar in them.) The results of my trial? A bitter-metallic taste in my mouth this morning. 🙁 However, it is possible this after-taste I’m experiencing could be the result of the large amounts of coffee I drank yesterday. A confirmation test is necessary…
Sorry about the laxative effect. It won’t help that you drank all that coffee, either.
It’s nice to see that amongst all those ‘ingredients’, eight are actually real foods that I recognize.
Did you eat them all? Or do you have more left for another trial?
I think I may not require a confirmation test.
I’ve just noticed that the last ingredient is sucralose. That leaves the aftertaste. Since it’s the last ingredient, does that mean negligible amounts, or could it have caused the morning mouth?
Sugar-free cookies? Why bother? That’s like a fat-free donut. Hrmph.
I know, right?
Anway, I don’t think I actually ordered them. I did order one box of something random, but I don’t think it was sugar free cookies. I think it was Samoas or something.
Besides, these clearly aren’t healthy. They’re full of fat. There’s even transfat in these… “partially hydrogenated…oil”
I was gonna say, Brad – Just eat more donuts and forget all that other nonsense.
(oh, and I’d stay off the Double Fiber bread for a few days too.)
40 points
Hey! Why is MY site the only one over there on the right that doesn’t have a description when you drag your mouse over it?
I mean, I know I’m not a regular poster right now, but I have two kids fergoshsakes. And furthermore, they are the kids that will care for you in your old age – I at least deserve a description.
Hrmph.
Fixed. hehe…
Heh.