Courtesy of Elaine Magee

“No sugar added” treats are in the frozen dessert section of your supermarket, just waiting to refresh you this summer. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? I took to the frozen dessert aisle this week and checked out all the options I could find. While I expected to see Splenda in most of them, I was surprised to find that not one was devoid of the alternative sweeteners called sugar alcohols.

Every single no-sugar-added frozen dessert I found in the supermarket contained sugar alcohols in addition to the other alternative sweeteners used, such as Splenda and acesulfame potassium. In fact, I didn’t realize that most of the Splenda-sweetened treats also contain acesulfame potassium. Apparently, the two are thick as thieves in this aisle. (More on acesulfame potassium in a bit.)

The Good and Bad of Sugar Alcohols

As far as the sugar alcohols go, most companies are using sorbitol or maltitol. There’s good news and bad news when it comes to sugar alcohols.

The good news? This group of sugar replacers (which includes sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, and isomalt, in addition to maltitol) is particularly helpful to people with diabetes because only a portion of it is digested and absorbed. And the part that is absorbed through the intestinal tract is absorbed slowly, so there is little rise in blood sugar level and little need for insulin. The sugar alcohols are thought to give the taste of sugar with only half the calories. They don’t cause dental caries and your blood glucose level to go up as high as it would normally if you ate sugar.

The bad news? Heed this warning! Excessive consumption of sugar alcohols may cause a laxative effect. Believe it—particularly if your intestinal tract tends to be on the sensitive side. When some people enjoy a certain amount of sugar alcohols, intestinal discomfort and a mild laxative effect could result. This is thanks to the part of the sugar alcohol that isn’t digested or absorbed. It goes through the intestinal tract, starts to ferment, and attracts water into the intestinal tract. The result can be an individualized amount of discomfort, ranging from gas to diarrhea. It seems to depend on the amount consumed and each person’s intestinal tract.

The American Dietetic Association (ADA) advises that more than 50 grams of sorbitol or 20 grams of mannitol per day can cause diarrhea. You can see the amount of sugar alcohol in a serving of each frozen dessert by reading the nutrition information label. The label will tell you how many total grams of sugar alcohol are in each serving.

Should I Be Concerned About Acesulfame Potassium?

Acesulfame potassium is one of the additives that Americans should avoid or cut back on, according to Michael Jacobson, PhD, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Acesulfame potassium is currently used as an artificial sweetener in chewing gum, diet soda, no-sugar-added baked products and desserts, and as the table sweetener Sunett. This is the sweetener that is often used in tandem with Splenda or sucralose in diet sodas and other products. CSPI reports that the safety tests performed in the 1970s were poorly done and suggests this additive may cause cancer. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however, contends that its safety is backed by more than 90 studies.

No Sugar Added Doesn’t Mean No Saturated Fat

Just because a frozen dessert has “no sugar added” splashed across the container, doesn’t mean it’s free of saturated fat too. This is particularly true with some of the fancier no-sugar-added frozen treats, such as Dreyer’s Mint Chocolate Chip no-sugar-added ice cream (with six grams of saturated fat per one-cup serving), or Breyer’s No Sugar Added Krunch Bar (with eight grams of saturated fat per bar).

Without further ado, here are the no-sugar-added frozen desserts I found in my supermarket, with all the nutrition information you might desire (e.g., calories, grams of carbohydrate, sugar alcohol, fiber).

No-Sugar-Added Frozen Treats