Hi All,

I have taken a shine to sugar free popsicles. They are nice at the end of a 90 degree day and Yard work. They are listed to have a total of 3 carbs and they contain glycerine and maltodextrin.

Can anybody tell me what maltodextrin is? And I am correct that you do not count glycerine as a net carb?

I am trying to figure out the net carbs for these things and am stumped. Any help would be most appreciated.

you can look at this info i found about maltodextrin. may be of some use
http://www.grainprocessing.com/food/malinfo.html

youdon't count glycerine. Molodextrin is actually a high GI carb, which I don't understand why they put in in so much sugar free foods and Atkins products.

It's probably in there because one or more of the ingredients used comes in powdered form.

i'm in the WOL stage, so all i can tell you is that maltodextrin doesn't cause me any type of gain...i've read it's a slow release carbohydrate, and it does seem to keep me full for hours. i do think it shouldn't be used in induction, but otherwise, in moderation it should be okay.

I saw this ingredient in my chromium supplement and I called Atkins 800# about it. They said it was a starch but not to worry about it in such a small amount. In foods though....I don't know.

Thanks for all of the info! That website had a lot of great info as well. I am pretty sure I should stay away from it on induction, but I think I might allow myself one every now and again anyway. Since a popsicle has a total of 3 carbs, I will count all three and keep myself at or under 20 a day. I will just have to monitor the situation closely and see if weight loss occurs or I get sugar cravings. If my weight loss does not progress as desired then I will cut them out.... but I do loooooove them, so I think I'll try to keep going with them.

I wouldn't worry about it. You're safe to count all three carbs, but IMO it would be even less. A whole packet of Splenda has less than one gram of carbs, entirely from the maltodextrin.

pecan- it's not a "slow release" anything, really. It even said in teh website that it's the same GI as dextrose. Granted, the glycemic LOAD of a small amount would be low.

Oh man...I just realized that maltodextrin is in splenda...I need to sit down and get all this info in a easy to reach place. So I can take it with me to the store...sheesh!

Maltodextrin is partially broken-down Cornstarch. It is very High-Glycemic. It is used mainly because it gives Bulk without adding alot of weight. There are better choices out there, though. Brown Sugar Twin for example weighs 19g per cup give or take a fraction of a gram, which is 5g less than a cup of Maltodextrin. Granular Splenda is almost entirely Maltodextrin, with a fraction of a gram of Sucralose mixed in.

Weight (grams) per Volume (cup):

Maltodextrin: 24 g/cup
Nonfat Dry Milk: 68 g/cup
Cocoa Powder: 86 g/cup
Dry Whole Milk: 128 g/cup
Cornstarch: 128 g/cup
White Sugar: 192 g/cup
Brown Sugar: 220 g/cup
HFCS: 310 g/cup
Corn Syrup: 328 g/cup

What I still want to know is why cant inulin be used for bulk instead of maltodextrin?

Its used in stevia packets and works fine there.