Beware The New Truvia Brown Sugar Blend and why it is a very bad investment. Many diabetics & lowcarbers have been using Truvia® for years and the maker of this product (Cargill) realizes what brand identification & brand loyalty is and they are now playing on this. The original Truvia® is composed of erythritol (a sugar alcohol), stevia leaf extract, and ‘natural flavors’ whatever that is. (Be sure to read at the bottom regarding the two Truvia® lawsuits) The new Truvia® Brown Sugar Blend is a completely different animal consisting of erythritol, sugar, molasses, and stevia leaf extract. See any differences in the ingredients?
Please read: Sugar Alcohols (Polyols) And Why I Don’t Use Them
Supposedly 1g net carb for ½ t. This ought to tell you something. There are 48 t in one cup which means if you are subtracting all the erythritol sugar alcohols there are 96g net carbs. Now we know that a sugar alcohol count over 5g should be divided in half and then subtracted from the stated carb count so in the case of the new Truvia® Brown Sugar Blend the real net carbs per cup would be 144g. I am here to tell you that is a lot of carb grams. If you compare that to one cup of real sugar at 200g carbs per cup the difference is only 66g and not much in the scope of things. Many recipes call for 1½-2 cups of sugar so you are now at a whopping 288g carb and that is only your sweetener. Did you ever wonder why low-no carb sugar sweeteners don’t list the carb count much above ½ t-1 T ? It is because anything above, the numbers begin to change. They are relying on you to do the multiplication, not taking into account the fact you need to use so much more of it in a recipe.
I originally made a mistake on Twitter saying there were 192g carbs per cup and I have now rectified it here as it is “only 144g carbs per cup”. Some fellow on Twitter got bent out of shape by not understanding the deceptive ploys being used to sell this “new” product. His words “So (1) if it’s a new product, (2) not marketed as low carb or approp [sic] for diabetics, & (3) clearly labeled, how is it a scam”? I tweeted back “Clearly you don’t get it and it can’t be explained with 140 characters. Not a scam and/but preying on brand loyalty. Disgusting”. At that point he opted out of the discussion as I guess he didn’t like my answer. My thanks to this man as it prompted this post (rant).
As I said above, most people who may have used Truvia®” in the past with no repercussions, may now blindly use this very high carby new product. Will diabetics test their blood sugar levels? Maybe & maybe not but the product will be doing harm never-the-less.
Food brand loyalties starts early at about age two-four as kids begin staring at the TV. Companies know this now and they spend billions targeting children who…influence their parents. It’s called “Pester Power”. I love the term and growing up in the 50’s I also tried and probably successfully used it on my parents.
Now, as adults, we are being bombarded with advertising for foods. One ad after another always pounding, pounding, and yes…more pounding-from cradle to grave. You are not advertised to for real food-only for crappy processed foods. Can’t get advertised to for a steak, green beans, cauliflower, or zucchini because there is no money in it.
OK, OK, I have ranted enough and I hope you get some of it. The bottom line is of course eat REAL foods and I am not alone on this. There are many, many people advocating eating REAL FOOD.
Two class action lawsuits involving Cargill and their use of the term “natural” in regards to Truvia were settled October 27th, 2014. The two lawsuits – known as Denise Howerton, et al., v. Cargill, Inc. and Molly Martin and Lauren Barry v. Cargill, Inc. – challenge the labeling and marketing of Cargill’s Truvia Natural Sweetener products.
Do you believe Coca-Cola & Cargill are walking hand in hand with your health at heart? I seriously doubt it.
Ethical?-NO Principled?-NO Moral?-NO Legal?-Sadly Yes
And drugs? Don’t even get me started. There are 80 drug commercials an hour 24/7 on TV and hey, Hollywood is also in on that cash cow. Bet you can name a few of em too.
Ronald Reagan famously said, “Trust but Verify”. At the signing of the INF Treaty, his counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev responded: “you repeat that at every meeting,” to which Reagan answered: “I like it”…I like it too.
They also falsely state on their web site that 1/2 cup of Truvia brown sugar blend is 210 calories and sugar is 830 calories. Their conversion chart is false too. Sugar ir brown sugar is 15 calories per tsp. 15×48=720. They also advertise the this brown sugar blend is 75% less calories than sugar. I don’t know where they went to school to learn math but a calculator might help them.
Consumers do you own comparison, read labels and if necessary use a calculator to do the math.
You will see for yourself where companies are leading you blindly into buying their products with false information.
Okay will order that. Thank you for such a quick Response. You and your family have a Happy Easter.
okay so you are poo pooing the truvia brown sugar blend. So then what is a good and safe sweetner for people with Diabetes 2? Thank you ahead of time.
Sue,
Why not try Just Like Sugar Brown. I buy it from Netrition and it has zero carbs. http://www2.netrition.com/just_like_sugar_brown.html