To Be or Not To Be, Zero Calories

A fact I found rather interesting since I've been in the sweetener biz is that not all zero calorie foods are truly zero calories.

FDA Food Labeling Regulations allow foods with just under 5 calories per serving to be labeled 0 calories.

See this quote from their official site:
"The caloric value of a product containing less than 5 calories may be expressed as zero or to the nearest 5 calorie increment (i.e., zero or 5 depending on the level). Foods with less than 5 calories meet the definition of "calorie free" and any differences are dietarily insignificant."

The FDA may consider less than 5 calories per serving insignificant, but to those of us counting calories for dieting or for monitoring blood sugar those hidden calories can really add up and have an impact.

So, when I learned this fact I was very curious to know the real calorie count for all the so-called "zero calorie sweeteners". I did my research and here's what I found:

4.0 calories per gm - Aspartame (Equal®)
4.0 calories per gm - Saccharin (Sweet'N Low®)
3.0 calories per gm - Sucralose (Splenda®)
2.6 calories per gm - Sorbitol
2.4 calories per gm - Xylitol
2.1 calories per gm - Maltitol
2.0 calories per gm - Isomalt
2.0 calories per gm - Lactitol
1.6 calories per gm - Mannitol
0.2 calories per gm - Erythritol (Zsweet®)
0 calories per gm - Stevia

Other than Stevia, Zsweet® is the only TRULY zero calorie sugar substitute. Not only is Zsweet® zero calories, but it's zero net carbs, which means you don't have to do the carb-calorie conversion. Why is that you ask? Because these kinds of carbs are not turned into glucose in the blood and are unavailable to be utilized as energy.

Here's the figures on some other commonly used sweeteners:
64.0 calories per tbsp - Honey
60.0 calories per tbsp - Agave Nectar
53.0 calories per tbsp - High Fructose Corn Syrup
11.0 calories per gm - Sugar
11.0 calories per gm - Brown Sugar