Does anyone know about a product called Opti-sweet? It's an all-natural sugar substitute that is made from Trutina Dulcem Kiwi Fruit Concentrate. I would like to know if this would negatively effective blood sugar and therefore be bad for a low carb diet. Would Splenda be better? Any comments would be appreciated!

I've got both the little bottle and the packets here. They're each very small servings of a particular kind of fructose that is intensely sweet and low-glycemic.

The 'granular' serving is 1/5th of a teaspoon and physically incapable of being more than 1 gram carbohydrate as it weighs about a gram and the packets are also about 1 gram. In that way, 1 serving (approx equal to 2 teaspoons' sugar sweetness) is the same as Splenda cuz Splenda has the dextrose filler. Dextrose however, is a lot more glycemic than the fructose. So in larger quantities, like when 'baking', the OptiSweet is probably the better, lower glycemic choice.

I like the stuff, but use a wide variety of sweeteners so as not to get overexposed to any of them. The only one I DON'T have, I think, is Equal (aspartame).

Island Girl, thanks for your reply. I was concerned that Opti-sweet may raise blood sugar more than Splenda since it is made from fruit concentrate. I take it from your reply that you have used it as well as other sweetners and have not noticed a difference. Is that correct?

Yup, that's correct.

I use all "fillered" carby sweeteners sparingly and don't actually monitor my blood sugars, but do keep a mental eye on my cravings... and prefer the low-glycemic to the high, when I DO use these types of bulk or nutritive sweeteners.

The fruit concentrate that is used in the OptiSweeet is not QUITE the same as straight fructose or 'fruit concentrate' (which you could buy in the health food store, for instance). 1 serving 1/5th tsp (1g) of the Optisweet is approximately as sweet as 1-2 teaspoons of pure 'ordinary' fructose (9g)... and both are low-glycemic in the short term... that's comparing fructose to trutina dulcem. Comparing trutina dulcem (with a carb count similar per serving) to Splenda, there the total grams are the same at 1g per serving but the glycemic load is higher with the maltodextrin in the Splenda than the trutina dulcem in the OptiSweet.

Ultimately, you get more sweetness per gram with the OptiSweet over the fructose so can use less, and you get less glycemic load with the OptiSweet over the Splenda so get fewer cravings, usually blood sugar triggered (at least for me).

Clear as mud, eh?

Makes sense to me. Thanks for the help!