Hi CLASYS,
While your facts are accurate about the content of artificial sweeteners, I don't feel that there is really any deliberate deception in the way that these sweeteners are sold and packaged, especially when you compare them to the high calorie/high carb sweeteners they replace. The packaging tends to emphasize equivalent sweetness and lower calories than sugar and this is accurate. Take Splenda for example. Yes, it lists maltodextrin as the main ingredient and then sucralose second. But look at the serving size: 1 teaspoon or 0.5 grams. Splenda claims to measure cup for cup (or spoon for spoon) to table sugar. My own personal taste indicates that this is a conservative estimate because if I use an equal measure of Splenda to flavor a glass of ice tea as I would sugar, it is too sweet. In other words, if I usually use two teaspoons of sugar to sweeten my tea, I would only use 1-1.5 teaspoons of Splenda to get the same sweetness. Now suppose that Splenda is 99 percent maltodextrin and 1 percent sucralose. A .5 gram (1 teaspoon) serving of Splenda would still only contain .495 grams of carbohydrate or about two calories. If I used 1 teaspoon of sugar instead, it would contain 4 grams of carbohydrate and have 16 calories. And I would probably use more sugar because I wouldn't think one teaspoon would be sweet enough. The bottom line is that, even by conservative estimates, Splenda has one-eighth the carbs of the amount of sugar that would have the equivalent sweetness. That is very significant to the low-carb dieter. The maltodextrin is necessary to give the sweetener some bulk, because if it was just plain sucralose it would be so concentrated it would be difficult to package and measure. This is a problem with stevia and could explain why you thought it had a funky taste. Stevia is extremely concentrated and, interestingly, gets bitter if you add too much. I have had very good results using a liquid version that is meaured with a dropper. I would put about 3 drops in a glass of tea or 18 drops in a 2 quart pitcher. My wife and children also found it to be very pleasant tasting. Powdered stevia that has no bulking agent has to be measured out in such small quantities that you have to use a special miniature spoon or the end of a flat toothpick. It is very easy to get too much and then the taste is ruined. As a result, there are stevia powders that have added maltodextrin or other sugars to make it easier to measure. It is interesting to note that all-natural stevia that has been used for centuries in South America can only be purchased in the US as a dietary supplement and has not been approved by the FDA as a food, despite the fact that it has no history of toxicity or side effects. Because of this you can not buy beverages or food sweetened with stevia in the US. I have read that Diet Coke sold in Japan is sweetened with stevia. It might be in the interest of low-carb dieters in the US to put pressure on the FDA to approve stevia as a food so that we too could enjoy a natural no-calorie sweetener in our prepared foods and beverages.
P.S. One thing that is misleading about the packaging on Splenda is the "no calorie" or "zero calorie" claim. But this is not really deception, it is because the FDA doesn't require a product to "count" calories that are less than 5 per serving. A teaspoon of Splenda in the yellow box contains about 2 calories, but since it is less than 5 they call it "no calorie" because the FDA feels this is an insignificant amount. That is also why it says
"less than 1 gram of carbs", because the FDA doesn't require that they identify the amount of carbs if it less than 1 per serving. If you were going to use a lot of Splenda in one serving of something the amount of carbs would add up and could become significant, but not more than .5 grams of carbs per teaspoon (which is a lot better than the 4 grams per teaspoon for sugar). It would be nice if Splenda would put the exact numbers for calories, carbs, etc., but just imagine if they volunatarily put this information on the package. Competitors would not be required to do the same thing so they probably wouldn't. Then it would appear that Splenda was not as low in calories or carbs. If you want absolute accuracy in labeling then the FDA needs to be persuaded to put more stringent requirements on food labeling. Apparently, however, all you have to do is ask the company to provide the information according to this post I found:
http://www.featherish.com/postp5509.html