Zero Calories?

[CDarwin]

I've got a Coke Zero here in front of me (I don't actually, but I did when I first thought of this question and its a good demonstration). Supposedly this contains zero calories. I suppose that means I could drink an infinite number of these things and never get fat. How on earth could that be? If you took some Splenda and burnt it will it really not raise a milliliter of water a single degree? How could this work and how can they say it?

[swansont]

Not a biologist, but — if your body doesn't metabolize it, it doesn't have any dietary calories.

[ecoli]

the body can't metabolize it. We have a set of specific enzymes in order to break down different types of sugars, proteins and lipids. Splenda (sucralose, I think) is one of those types that we can't break down.

 

Keep in mind that also means it goes out the same way it comes in!

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Does that mean that in case of a Splenda shortage we can recover it from septic treatment plants?

 

I'll have to add that to my master disaster plan.

[iNow]

It reminds me of Olestra, that fat that couldn't be absorbed and was used to make potato chips... leading to anal leakage... Ewww...

 

However, as a diabetic, I must say that sucralose is a HUGE improvement over saccarine and aspartame, and I quite enjoy Coke Zero more than Diet Coke.

[ecoli]

I think splenda denatures under heat... which is why you can't bake with it. I don't think body heat would be enough to do that... but I'm just guessing here.

[YT2095]

if you can use it in boiling hot coffee with no ill effect, your guess about body heat would be a safe bet

[Sayonara]

Unless ecoli's normal body temperature is over 100c, and nobody has told him that is weird yet.

[YT2095]

lol, someone swapped the C and F on his thermometer!

 

actually you CAN bake with splenda, the problems (and solutions) are listed here: http://www.splenda.co.uk/cooking_tips/index.html

 

notably the Browning effect that`s nice to see with certain baked goods won`t happen.

[Daecon]

Dust.

 

Anybody? No?

[thewisecrab]

These things contain large amounts of aspartame, a non-sacharide sweetener which is commonly used in artificial sweeteners. They developed in such a way that they are as sweet as sugar but contain far less calories

It is 180 times as sweet as sugar in typical concentrations, without the high energy value of sugar.

Source: Wikipedia