BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Low Carb Lactitol - The new Olestra?

Then I'm not sure why you thought I was hyper-sensitive to sugar alcohols even though it was established that the same thing happened to two other people. I thought THAT would be obvious. The only "mystery" here is why you're not just a little outraged by a candy which has a double dose of gas-producing laxative per serving. Gas + Laxative = Explosive diarrhea! You can't think this is a responsible product. It's only your need to debate that's keeping you from saying you're wrong.

Honestly, nobody wants to hear your little "healthier than thou" song and dance about how you would never ever ever have eaten a whole bag. It's beside the point. What we want to hear is "oh, golly gee wiz maybe you guys are right about lactitol and it's worthy of such scrutiny." If you didn't spend your entire post making the case that we're all a bunch of irresponsible over-eaters, you couldn't have possibly had anything to say without conceding that we're probably right.

All 4 people who bought a bag of this ate it all. To say that you wouldn't have, that's just not part of the debate. The debate is whether other, normal people would do that. Since we're four for four at this point, I'd say the odds are pretty likely. In my case, I ate 12 during the run of the oscar telecast... a time when someone might sit down with a bowl of popcorn or a bag of chips. Certainly you can't think someone who shares a box of mike and ikes with their date at a movie is a horrible glutton. Which isn't to say that sitting and snacking isn't an unhealthy behavior, but people do it. If even 50% of people happen to eat all ten massive pieces, they shouldn't be subjected to the after-effects of this product... and THAT's why it's irresponsible.

Since your last stand of "debate" was to say "well that's what you get for eating the whole bag, dumbasses," I would like to reiterate that this also applies to the person that eats half the bag (for only a double-dose of gas causing laxative.) Surely that's not over-indulgence to the point where you could call it unhealthy eating. As fendel stated, he gets negative side effects from less than the serving amount state on the bag...er... no wait, he's probably hyper-sensitive to lactitol... my bad.
But really, you're unlikely to find someone who doesn't eat the bag inside a day... a carb-concious person anyway. To use an analogy I'm sure you'll be fond of, it's like putting a six-pack in front of a recovering alcoholic.

I'm starting to think you're on the lactitol council or something. I swear, if your next post is anything short of "maybe I'll look into lactitol a little closer before I defend it so tirelessly" you had better ban me from this forum> Your (what seems like) resistance to the idea that lactitol is a terrible and irresponsible product is just mind-blowing! Since I know you'll never budge from your positiion that we're all sweets-crazed heffers, I guess I'd be satisfied just to hear you say maybe it's not such a good idea to make candy mostly out of a gas-producing laxative.

Ya, you are making me a little mad... enraged really, cuz every time you reply to me you call me a pig for eating 3oz of candy, or you try to call my claims unfounded or ridiculous. Mostly I'm just frusterated with the fact that my words seem to bounce off you like a brick wall, even though the truth in them is so totally apparent.

P.S. why don't you loosen up and get drunk sometime, you sound like you could use it.

One of the most important things you learn in debating is that it's about the issues, it's never about attacking someone personally. I'll end this topic if you're going to be personally abusive. Debates are about different people holding different opinions and discussing them - they are not about one person berating the other for disagreeing. Getting drunk is never something to joke about, especially in this context.

Houston, we have a problem!!

I bought that very same product yesterday and ate 5 cups, since the serving size says 5, which equates to not being excessive. I almost died last night with the diarrhea. Not even an hour after eating the first 3 did I start feeling the bloating. I'm fine today, but ate 5 more before stumbling over this forum. It's going to happen again:-(

I found the culprit to my sugar alcohol problems - lactitol. I've tried other products with Malitol and no problems at all. Guess I'll call my wife and have her pick the baby up on the way home.

I'm just glad to have stumbled over this forum before I happened to pick up some of this product. I'm thankful that you guys have put this up because even if it doesn't happen to everyone, I'd rather not take a chance on getting any kind of upset stomach from eating it. Especially sonce I'm sure there are other options (such as maltitol which I ate yesterday and didn't have a problem with it)

I just wanted to thank you for posting because this is something that I think is pertenant to most low carb eaters since they will enevitably want some goodies from time to time to help deal with cravings.

NO! Please, pick some up. Lisa says they're entirely safe. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Actually I just bought a case of these chocolate peanut butter cruch carbslim bites, sweetened with splenda and erythritol. I like them a lot. There's also a chocolate/carmel variety I haven't tried yet. Gotta buy them by the case though (12 boxes @ 1.67 ea + free shipping from vitaglo.com) otherwise they're 2.50 to 3 bucks each, which, even in the realm of low carb snack prices, is pretty outrageous.

I must agree with our host. These sugar free, low carb treats have been my savior. I had a friend that experienced the same "stomach issues" so I was for warned but I am a choc-o-holic. The majority of my diets have failed because I felt deprived of chocolate. I was worried about the low-carb world... me with no chocolate - I couldn't even imagine!! Knowing the side effects I decided to treat the low-carb treats the way normal people (non carb addicts) treat regular chocolate... like a treat... I allow myself one or two a day and I feel satisfied and I don't suffer the side effects. I know the serving size is double the OTC limit - but the serving size is not meant to be the portion size... the serving size is used to determine the daily recommended allowance values... you are not required to eat that much. I don't know what I would do with out these treats...

Hey chrissimit, have you tried the D-lite brand of chocolate bars? They come in a variety in types and are really good! Better than a lot of regular chocolate I've had. They're about a dollar a piece and you can get them at Wal-mart near the medicine section. I'm not sure where else they sell them though. They don't have lactitol in them. Instead they have maltitol and it doesn't seem to have the same effect. I'm with you in that it's really hard for me to give up all sweets so these are a dream for me. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think it depends on what you call dangerous. I ate 3-4 of these candies (I think I had 2 PB cups and 1 or 2 dark chocolate bars). The next day I was a mess with stomach cramps and horrible pain. I ended up needing treatment in the ER for the pain.

I am missing my gall bladder and, in the past, I have reacted badly to other laxitives. While I knew that "excess consumption" might cause problems, I had no idea that my 3-4 would put me in the ER.

I know this is not the typical reaction, but I certainly didn't expect it. I now stay away from all the sugar alcohols and am annoyed that they've come to be in so many things. Luckily, I found an ice cream that only has splenda in it so that I can have a little treat now and then.

Technically, then, you're also agreeing with me. In my original post I recommended keeping it down to three or fewer per day. My point, of course, is that it's an irresponsible product. The fact that you had fore-knowledge of the side-effects played to your favor, but I assure you, your experience is not that of the majority. People shouldn't need to go through the so-called "stomach issues" or be lucky enough to know someone who has, in order to know how much the correct serving size is.

On your "normal people" comment, I could name for you the candy bars that are larger than 5 mini-reeses cups, but I'll spare you. I certainly dont know any NORMAL people that eat a WHOLE candy bar. I really like how she called us all carb addicts, moments after saying she lives and dies by the chocolate bar.

See because I thought I WAS required to eat a certain amount. I was afraid the FDA was watching and they were gunna haul me off for not meeting the eating requirement. :angel:

COME ON! You know, there IS a reason they call it a serving size rather than 'irrelevant, yet legally required, partitioned volume, mass or weight.' I'm not sure what you think the word "serving' refers to in this case if not 'an amount to be served.' Do you have a bottle of any kind of vitamin or dietary supplement? You'll see the same table, there. If it says serving size: 2 tablets, is that just some random number they picked out of the air? A jar of peanut butter lists a serving as 2tbsp, cheese-its: 28 crackers, this protein bar - 1 bar. Are these numbers just random, or are they reflective of some idea of what a portion should be? Prove me wrong... how about one of those all-in-one meal in a box things they have, if it says "serves six!" on the front, it's going to say 6 servings on the back. I saw a commercial today for some berry vanilla special k cereal which stated 'it's a 110 calorie treat' or something, because 110 is the amount of calories for a serving size of that cereal. This applies to all ready-to-eat packaged foods or those with really only one way to prepare them (like cereal.) I only mention it because I just know yer gunna go fishing and see that something like sugar is listed in cups, and geez who would eat a cup of sugar!? <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

If the package reads: "excess consumption may cause laxative effect" it's going to have to give you some indication of what 'excess' is. When the package reads serving size: 5 pieces, and gives no other hint at what 'excess' might be, you have no choice but to gauge your consumption by that number. If I recall, the front of the package said something like "3 grams net carbs per serving," which takes your argument out of the realm of legal necessity, or that this was just some number that they randomly picked for a nice round calorie count. When the front of the package states the carb count of a serving, it's certainly taken as an implication that the serving size is a safe amount.

Serving - portion, helping, plateful, ration, quota, allocation (c/o ms word.) Even if you were able to strike down my entire arguement to this point, even you would have to make the concession that a serving is indeed a portion. neener.

I think the coffin is nailed quite shut on this issue. I can hardly believe I just spent over 15 minutes knocking down the idea that a serving size has nothing to do with a portion size. I really need to just let people be wrong more often.

P.S. - Calliaz, I'm really sorry to hear about your ER visit! Although yours is clearly a special case, It does emphasize the need for the package to be labeled with a lesser serving size, and a more pronounced warning label. How about "hershey's chocolate laxatives." This would certainly be in accord with my utopian vision of a world with a higher standard of truth in advertising. After all, the main ingredient is a laxative.

I'm so glad that I stumbled upon this post. My stomach has been going at it for hours now and I'm actually confined to the bathroom with my laptop.

After eating about 5 pieces of lactitol laced Hershey�s candies, I've had the most explosive gas of my life. This is probably the most unnatural experience I've ever encountered.

I would highly encourage everyone to think twice before indulging in these delights. Start with 1 or 2 in order to satisfy your sweet tooth and save the larger quantities for those days where you are running low on an OTC laxative!