Digestive Advantage and Sugar Alcohols

I just happened to glance at the ingredients list on a box of Digestive Advantage and noticed that it had mannitol in it--one of the sugar alcohols.  I'm sure the amount in it is miniscule, just enough to make the chewable tablet not taste too bad, but I thought I should draw people's attention to it since I, for one, have a horrible reaction to even very small doses of sugar alcohols (1 gram put me in bed for 2 days) and so if there are others out there who are very, very sensititve, you might want to beware.  And, of course, if you are taking more than one pill a day, you're also consuming more than a tiny dose of mannitol a day. 

It also contains some aspartame, for those of you who cannot tolerate artifical sweetners.  Again, I'm sure this is a very small amount (how much, exactly, is not listed, though), but some people are allergic to even a tiny amount, so it's good to know in case you need to avoid it. 

I noticed that also so only bought a month's supply. It has not bothered me and has really helped me but then I can eat sme sugar free candy and it doesn't bother me. Some goes right thru me and other has not effect.  Those Creme Saver sugar free cramp me up immediately but the Sweet and Low hard candy I can eat with not problem. Both from the same maker.

sorbitol and mannitol are sugar alcohols,  sweet and low is saccharin - a different compound.

I can also tolerate sweet and low in my coffee or a little aspartame but sugar alcohols and splenda are no-no's.  I have been wanting to try DA but have been too afraid b/c of the mannitol.  Does it help with the bloating and gas???  I would think it would make that worse.

Sweet and Low is Isomalt (sugar alcohol)which is Isomalt and sucralose with is from a natural source sugar. That is what it says on the package in front of me. They changed the formulation about a year ago. The creme savers were made by Sweet and Low but like I said they really cramped me up. I don't know if they have changed the stuff you put in coffee but these candies say "sugar alcohol 13 grams per serving which is also the carb count. I take the DA and have no problem but am not normally sensitive to sugar alcohol's. I never buy any candy with sorbital in it cause it tastes yucky. These taste really good and keep my mouth moist. I have been using them for years with no problem but they were different in past years and the package says "new and improved" Since I don't have a diahrea problem maybe that is why Ican tolerate them I would think though that something like DA would not come on the market without extensive research. There is a money back guarantee.

From what I know, all sugar alcohols end in -itol, i.e. sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol and one or two others. Sweet N Low is not a sugar alcohol (Sweet N Low packets have never carried the disclaimer that all sugar alcohol products do--may cause laxative effect), HOWEVER, that doens't mean that they didn't also put a sugar alcohol into their candy. I bought some popcicles that were labled "Made with Splenda!" so I thought I was safe since I don't have a problem with Splenda, only to find out that, in addition to the Splenda, they also contained sorbitol! Who cares if they have a little bit of Splenda in them if they still have evil sugar alcohols? I had to throw them out because I couldn't eat them (the one I ate, of course, made me sick); I felt that was deceptive advertising. Obviously your Sweet N Low candies also have sugar alcohol in addition to whatever Sweet N Low they put in them. 13 grams is a lot of sugar alcohol; I'm not surprised that bothers you. Stuart doesn't even eat that much at once and he still gets stinky farts from the lower doses (which is why I wish he wouldn't eat it, p.u.!)

But isn't this all kind of scary? Sugar and chlorine molecules, hydrogen molecules, isomalt? That's why I have quit drinking/eating diet stuff. Even if sugar has calories, at least I know it's from an honest-to-goodness plant, not a lab experiment. I just wish I could find a way around the high fructose corn syrup too. If you read how they make that, it's pretty scary too. But, jeez, it's in everything--spagehtti sauce, most soups, dips and spreads--I don't think I've found a single salad dressing without it. Stuart says adding sugar is an old chef's trick to make the food taste more flavorful because the sugar activates more of your tastebuds, but supposedly that only works with certain foods, like tomatoes. Can't tell it by looking at the product labels. Sounds like a giant conspiracy to me: if we add enough sugar, we can make them eat any sort of crappy processed food-like product.

Hi Canyon, You are allowed to post websites as long as you are not trying to see something or its not a website that you have vested interest in. :)

There is no saccharin (sweet and low) in that product as you have listed in the ingredients.

Yes isomalt is a sugar alcohol.  Sucralose is actually Splenda.  The 13 grams of sugar alcohols listed is from the isomalt.  Isomalt and saccharin are two DIFFERENT compounds.  The Sweet and Low name of the candy may be different from the "Sweet and Low" sweetner that is saccharin.

Wow, I didn't know that isomalt was a sugar alcohol. I wonder why it isn't named like the others--i.e. ending it -itol? I'll have to add that to my mental list of things to avoid!!!

I know how you feel Canyonbabe, about feeling like the package mislead you. Like me and my Splenda creamcicles that really were sugar alcohol creamcicles with a tiny dusting of Splenda on them. Why advertise a product as having one type of sweetner when it really is made up of two or more? That's like a hot dog saying "Made with chicken!" when it really has in it beef, chicken and pork. There'd be a lot of Muslims, Hindus and Jewish people who would be mad if they thought they were getting a chicken hot dog, only to find those other ingredients in there too.