Are you confused about sugar substitutes?

Are you confused about sugar substitutes?

Are you under the impression that Splenda is “natural” and is not an artificial sweetener? What – you’re NOT under that impression? In that case, you’re not confused.

But other consumers are confused, according to lawyers for Merisant Co. (the maker of Equal and NutraSweet) who are suing McNeil Nutritionals (the maker of Splenda) for dominating the sugar substitute market by misleading consumers.

The Merisant legal team charges that Splenda ads give consumers the impression that Splenda is made from sugar. And it is. But the sugar is burned off in the processing, and the product’s sweetness comes from a synthetic compound.

When Splenda was first introduced, the ad slogan went like this: “Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar. But it’s not sugar.” Sometime later, that last sentence was dropped. Merisant’s lawyers say that’s when sales started to take off. But without that last line, they argue, consumers are led to believe that Splenda is, more or less, sugar.

In an Associated Press article about this case, a McNeil attorney pointed out that manufacturers of sugar substitutes don’t refer to their products as artificial sweeteners. He noted that marketers use “code” language, in which “artificial sweetener” becomes “no-calorie sweetener.”

I guess “synthetic chemical sweetener” was rejected as a suitable code.

If the idea of spooning synthetic sweetener into your morning coffee doesn’t appeal, you can find plenty of information about healthy sugar substitutes in the e-Alert “The Sweet Life” (3/10/03), at this link: http://www.hsionline.com/ealerts/ea200303/ea20030310.html