hi newtothis
Sucralose (Splenda is the brand name) has zero carbs in its pure state. Technically, it's called an "intense sweetener", since it's approx. 600 times sweeter-tasting than sucrose/sugar. Actually all of the "artificial" sweeteners - aspartame/nutrasweet, saccharine and cyclamate (only avail. in Canada) are zero carbs in their pure state.
However, in order to make it into a form that's practical for consumers to use, the manufacturers add filler ... maltodextrin and dextrose most commonly used. Dextrose is a type of sugar and is a carbohydrate. Maltodextrin is a carb as well, spun from highly refined cornstarch. These are what make up the bulk of the white powder we see when we open a packet or scoop out of a box or jar.
Now, about the discrepancy between Canada and US. In Canada, labels must declare carbydrate to the nearest 0.1g, if a serving is less than 10g of the food. In the US, they are only required to report the nearest whole gram, and if one serving of the food is less than 1g carb, they are permitted to label it as ZERO. This is disadvantageous, since it can mislead the consumer into believing that multiple servings of the food will still be ZERO, which it is not. Cream is another example, where there is 0.4g carb in 1Tbsp heavy cream, yet in the US, they label it as zero.
So, the Canadian label is accurate. Splenda, as we buy it, whether in packets or in bulk, has 24g carbs in it for the amount equivalent to one cup of sugar. (24 packets = sweetness of 1 c. sugar)
Commercial foods we buy that are sweetened with Splenda - drinks, ice tea, etc ... - do not need to have the maltodextrin filler added. The manufacturer just adds the pure sucralose to their product, and so there are zero carbs added.
Apparently, there is a liquid Splenda available in some countries, but not in Canada yet. It has zero carbs, again because it doesn't need to have the granular filler in it. In Canada, Sugar Twin (cyclamate) is available in liquid form that is zero carbs.
hope this helps
Doreen
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