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Can a product with "0g sugar" contain lactose?
- brudgers 2y agoKeep in mind that the FDA defines serving size: The term serving or serving size means an amount of food customarily consumed per eating occasion by persons 4 years of age or older which is expressed in a common household measure that is appropriate to the food. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-101#101.9 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B... This means manufacturer's are free to make serving sizes based on how little a hypothetical four year old child might eat in theory. There aren't any substantial penalties for inaccuracy. There can be substantial incentives for optimistic labeling.
- voidUpdate 2y agoReminds me of the Vihart video about serving sizes in soup https://youtu.be/mxNPpte_6m4 https://youtu.be/mxNPpte_6m4
- unwind 2y agoJust as a counterpoint, in Europe the requirement is to specify nutrition data per 100 g of "usable" product. Some products are e.g. intended to be added to water before consumption, then the nutrition is for that final form, not for the concentrate that you actually buy. But it's really practical, it makes it dead easy to e.g. compare calories, sugar, fat and so on between e.g. milk and apple sauce (to take random example from the breakfast table this morning).
- M0x20M 2y agoThis seems to make a lot of sense since there are no calories or nutrients in water.
- Iulioh 2y agoEh. Sometimes it is used for milk too Example: "Calories for final product using 2% milk" And it's really confusing for someone like me who is tracking calories Iirc it was even worse because it was for a bag of dehydrated potatoes that used a mix of water and milk on the recipe. Another example was noodles, it is sometimes said for 100ml of finished product (at this point tell me the calories for the entirety of the pack or 100gr of it) I prefer dry weight.
- aulin 2y ago> in Europe the requirement is to specify nutrition data per 100 g of "usable" product Source? that doesn't seem true and seems prone to the same serving size tricks used in US. My experience it that nutritional values per 100g of product (actual raw product no matter what its final form is supposed to be) are always listed first. Then if you're supposed to mix it with water there can be e.g., optionally, a nutritional table per 100ml of finished product.
- esperent 2y ago~It's true.~ Edit: sorry I misread the previous comment. It's 100g "as sold". Not "as prepared". > All the information must be expressed per 100g or per 100ml. It may also, in addition, be expressed per portion or per consumption unit of the product. https://food.ec.europa.eu/safety/labelling-and-nutrition/food-information-consumers-legislation/nutrition-labelling_en https://food.ec.europa.eu/safety/labelling-and-nutrition/foo...
- aulin 2y agoThat doesn't say anything. It just says it may be more convenient to express data per 100 ml if you have a liquid product. Can you cite the article where it says you can express nutritional data with respect to a final form of the product you mix yourself and not list the per 100g/100ml data? I'm still very skeptic but would be quite interesting if that was really allowed.
- esperent 2y agoApologies, I misread your previous comment. You're correct that the requirement is for 100g/100ml "as sold" not "as prepared". The other commenter is incorrect. So milk powder, for example, would have a mandatory nutrition label showing 100g of powder and then the company can optionally add a second label showing nutrition for a serving of prepared liquid milk. Since most companies add whatever serving makes it look best it becomes habitual to filter out the serving size info. If anyone wants to dive further into this it's EU regulation 1169/2011 Annex 1.
- sshine 2y agoIn Europe, lactose is sugar. I am drinking an energy drink with a big "zero calories + zero sugar" label. On the nutritional content, it actually says 2 kcal per 100 ml even though there is <0.1g carbs in the recipe.
- aulin 2y agoAdditives and artificial sweeteners still have calories. E.g. 1g of citric acid is about 2.5 kcal. Also it's fun how can they name something "energy drink" and then advertise no calories. Where do I get the energy then?
- esperent 2y agoCaffeine, taurine, b vitamins. Plus the placebo effect which is the only reason you get instant energy from any kind of energy drink. Even pure liquid sucrose takes at least 30 minutes to digest (aside from a negligible amount that's digested in the mouth. There's some interesting studies that show energy gain during a workout from just rinsing your mouth with an energy drink and not swallowing any. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3916844/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3916844/
- sshine 2y agoI instantly wake up with my first sip of caffeine. I can believe it takes longer to get absorbed.
- esperent 2y agoAt least 30 minutes, apparently. Any effect you feel before that is placebo. Which shouldn't be read as "not real". The placebo effect means that actual physiological changes are happening in your body, they have just been initiated by your PNI system rather than the the substance.
- sshine 2y ago
- _0ffh 2y agoNo, "usable" product cannot be quite the correct expression. The macros per 100g of dry pasta are for the dry, not the cooked product. I'd venture to guess that few people eat their pasta dry.
- unwind 2y agoThat's true, didn't think of pasta ... Not sure how to express it then, but on the other hand beverages sold as concentrate and mixed with water before drinking ("cordials" in English, I think) seem less common elsewhere so perhaps it's a local/Swedish thing and not a very good thing to focus on at all. :) [1]: Like https://orklafoodsrs.se/produkt/454051626 https://orklafoodsrs.se/produkt/454051626, scroll down and the nutritional info ("Näringsvärde") is right there and it's clearly the diluted drinkable version, not the concentrate.
- _0ffh 2y agoSomeone else dug up what is probably the correct answer: "Where appropriate, the information may relate to the food after preparation, provided that sufficiently detailed preparation instructions are given and the information relates to the food as prepared for consumption."
- BobaFloutist 2y agoThat's also why cooking spray, which is 100% fat, can be advertised as having 0 grams of fat. Because 1/3 of a second of spray, the serving size, has less than the minimum amount of fat you need to declare.
- bobthepanda 2y agoFamously, Tic Tacs are less than .5g and so contain 0 sugar on the label even though they are pretty much entirely sugar.
- cinntaile 2y agoIt says 94g sugar/100g.
- kstenerud 2y agoIt depends on the jurisdiction. Some places require totals per 100g, whereas others are "per serving", which allows you to say 0 to pretty much everything if that "serving" is 0.5g or less. USA: https://www.food4less.com/p/tic-tac-berry-flavored-mints/0000980000540 https://www.food4less.com/p/tic-tac-berry-flavored-mints/000... Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Strawberry-Fields-Singles-Ounce-Pack/dp/B00717YQ64?th=1 https://www.amazon.ca/Strawberry-Fields-Singles-Ounce-Pack/d... Italy: https://worldofeurope.com/shop/hard-candy/product-289/ https://worldofeurope.com/shop/hard-candy/product-289/
- oldgradstudent 2y agoYou must be European. In the US, nutrition facts are per-serving and the amounts are rounded. A single serving of Tic-Tac is less than 0.5g, and therefore it has 0g of everything.
- phire 2y agoIt does in sane countries where nutrition labels are required to also include the per-100g stats. But in North America, they only need to show the per-serving column. Combine that with the <0.5g rule and the fact they are allowed to pick the serving size, you end up with tic tacs which don't mention any sugar on their labels.
- cinntaile 2y agoI see, that is quite malicious. I'm surprised they have a 0.5g rule, why don't they use oz for that?
- whazor 2y agoNow I am curious which products have '0g sugar', but still contain lactose. Here in NL, they normally explicitly add 'lactose' warnings to products.
- relyks 2y agoAs someone who is also severely lactose intolerant, this is something you figure out through trial and error (or I should really say trial and extreme digestive system upset). Unless the food product is clear with mentioning "no lactose", you can only trust that product will contain a "minimum upper bounds of 500 milligrams of lactose per serving for products labeled “0g sugar”" and it could have that much as the author says. I basically take lactase enzyme pills everytime I have a dairy product. Better to be safe than sorry
- kennydude 2y agoSadly is the case for me as well. A friend of mine went vegan just for the sake of at least it eliminated any possibility of diary products in their food. At least in the UK the enzyme pills can add up quite quickly in cost.
- theGeatZhopa 2y agoBuy lacto-free milk and drink that instead of the pills. In my experience, it's much better than the pills and works faster and better - enzymes added to whole milk are the same as in the pills. I, for me, wouldn't go vegan, as then supplements are needed and that add really up in costs :(
- kennydude 2y agoLacto free milk only works for when you are making stuff from scratch and not buying pre-made stuff. For whenever I use milk, I buy almond these days as it's marginally cheaper and I think it tastes nicer on a personal preference.
- theGeatZhopa 2y agoIt works after ingestion, no matter if pre- or while-made stuff. Lactose free milk is made by throwing in lactase. But not all lactase is used up in this process and still plenty is left in the milk. Almond milk or the other "artificial" milk-a-likes are most of the times pure chemistry. You have to read the contents. Phosphates are added a lot (actually a big problem for people with kidney diseases, but also might be problematic for healthy ones as phosphates are added literally everywhere and the daily consumption amount might become to much) and stabilizers and all the other stuff needed for the artificial milk to look and to mouth-feel like the ordinary milk
- teo_zero 2y agoIs buffalo mozzarella the cheese they eat in spaghetti westerns? :D
- apeescape 2y agoNo, it's the mozzarella cheese made with Italian buffalo milk.
- gberger 2y agoOne would be quite concerned to learn they are eating cheese made from bufalo milk, as the custom is to make the cheese from bufala milk instead.
- throwawalrgis 2y ago[flagged]
- talkingtab 2y agoBufala is the Italian Mediterranean water buffalo, and buffalo in the US refers to American Bison.
- theGeatZhopa 2y agoImportant information: 2.59 Euro per 130g, or 4 euro per 100g - depends where you buy. The mozzarella made of cow milk is around per 80g 1.30 euro. But the taste is worth it :)
- newzisforsukas 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_mozzarella https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_mozzarella
- jajko 2y agoAccording to many (including all Italians I know), its superior in taste to regular one from cow milk. I have to agree, fresh ones are mighty
- bagels 2y agoWhat products have secret lactose in them? I had no idea it was used as an additive.
- xxs 2y agofamously different type of dry sausages, e.g fuet. Although, I'd not call it 'secret', at least in the vast majority of the EU, it is listed. It's another story it's listed in the local language which is rather "unpleasant" (inconvenient) if you travel (esp. road trips)
- trollied 2y agoSome beers use it as a sweetener, as yeast doesn't break it down.
- bobthepanda 2y agoInstant dashi powder has lactose in it. After learning this I now take lactaid to ramen restaurants.
- unglaublich 2y agoEverything that has whey powder.
- Dwedit 2y ago0g means less than half a gram per serving. Given an arbitrarily small serving size, everything has 0g of sugar. Like how PAM spray grease has 0G of fat due to a tiny serving size.
- zerogpt_plus 2y ago[dead]
- gibagger 2y agoIn a country where tictacs can have 0 calories, the answer is yes.
- trollied 2y agoGetting my lactose intolerance diagnosis changed my life. I was having all sorts of bad pains & issues. At one point I thought I had kidney problems because of the pains in the area. I stopped drinking alcohol. The GP did so many tests - I was fit and healthy. Then he suggested an elimination diet. I was sceptical, but after 2 weeks I felt like I had been reborn. Many of the ills I had had over the years had been misdiagnosed (antibiotics for a bladder infection, for example - turns out it was just bloating and internal pressure from my bowel). It's so nice being able to sleep properly at night, and also not have random diarrhea/bloating/pains. My mental health is also great - the link between gut health & depression etc needs much more research.
- xyst 2y agoI ignore all or most of these labels anyways. Only need to look at the ingredients on an item to see how much garbage these companies put in what is supposed to be edible food. 0g sugar? Nah, we got sugar substitute. Then when you look at the refrigerated aisle, it’s loaded up with shit tons of sodium and a metric shit ton of “preservatives” and artificial flavorings. Yum. The food system in America is absolutely broken.
- nrjames 2y agoI developed a severe dairy protein allergy in my late 30s. At first, I thought it was just a lactose issue but anything dairy triggers it (with symptoms aligning with vasculitis). While I'm not vegan, it's just easier to eat vegan food when I go to a restaurant. I generally know what's safe from the grocery store but always look for the Contains Milk or Dairy Free labels. The labeling is extremely important. I find it upsetting that there aren't more rigid requirements for labeling common allergens. Given that a large percentage of people are at least mildly lactose intolerant by the time they hit age 70, you would think this would have stricter labeling requirements.
- throwawalrgis 2y agoMy son is anaphylactic on contact with cow's milk. We're on an experimental program to reverse this by dosing him with milks closer and closer to cow's. If you're interested (and courageous) try camel milk - it's the furthest away milk from cow in the program.
- darknavi 2y agoHow do you source camel milk? Do you have a local supplier?
- aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 2y agoWhich part of the world do they live in?
- nrjames 2y agoMy understanding is that it is somewhat common in adults to have a virus (cold, flu, etc) trigger a dairy protein allergy. They’re most often irreversible, or so the MDs told me. Anyhow, it’s been 15 years without dairy so I’m used to living without it. There are far more high quality non-dairy alternatives now than there were even 5 years ago, thankfully!
- gv123 2y agoI am in my mid 30's, moved to US from India a few years back, after lot of suffering, visit to Urgent care, Colonoscopy and lot trial and error I found out it was the milk which was causing the issue, currently I consume low fat lactose free milk and non fat greek yogurt from Costco. one question I keep wondering about is, do I have lactose intolerance or issue with digesting milk fat from cow milk. I am able to consume all products with any amount of fat content made from Buffalo milk inlcuding lactose (Buffalo milk is predominantly used in India)
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