ALL of the powdered artificial sweeteners use a carbohydrate to "fluff" or fill it out. Some use dextrose, a simple sugar. Some use maltodextrin, which is spun from highly refined cornstarch. Some use a combination of both.
The actual sweetener itself .. the cyclamate, sucralose, aspartame, saccharine or whatever .. is so concentrated, that it would only take a tiny dot to give the sweetness of a teaspoon of sugar. Well, it's kinda hard to measure a "tiny dot"
.. so manufacturers add the carbohydrate filler to give it bulk, and make it easier for consumers to use. Be aware that the bulk product that you buy in a box or jar, and measure with a spoon like sugar has the exact same
weight of carbohydrate filler added as there is in the little paper packets/ sachets -- it's just been fluffed up more to make it easier to measure. If you read the label of the little packets, you'll see that one packet equals the sweetness of 1 or 2 tsp. sugar, yet there's only 1/4 tsp or less of powder in there. It's more concentrated, so you don't measure it in the same way as the fluffy bulk powder.
For example, SugarTwin packets = 2 tsp sugar. 3 packets would = 6 tsp of sugar, which is 2 Tbsp. Yet, there'd be less than 1 tsp of powder to give that much sweetness.
Some artificial sweeteners are available in liquid or tablet form. The liquid forms have ZERO carbs added, since the sweetener is dissolved in water, there's no filler required. The little tablets usually are made with lactose .. yes, a sugar carb .. BUT, a very small amount, usually each tablet is 0.5 calories or less, which translates to 0.125g carbs
The thing to remember is .. (in Canada at least
).. the carbs that are contributed by the dextrose and/or maltodextrin are accounted for on the label .. for Cdn SugarTwin, which is cyclamate, it's 0.5g per packet .. or 2 calories. The cyclamate itself has no calories or carbs. In the US, manufacturers are permitted to label a product as "zero" carbs if the "serving" has less than 1 gram.
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Just to further clarify on your question of comparing SugarTwin weight for weight to real sugar ...
- 100 grams of sugar measures 1/2 cup for 385 calories
- 1/2 cup equivalent of SugarTwin weighs barely 3 grams, and has 6 calories
- 100 grams of SugarTwin would sweeten as much as 500 tsp, or 10½ cups of sugar
Hope this is helpful for you.
Doreen