If I have diabetes, will artificial sweeteners have any effect on my blood sugar?

You can use most sugar substitutes if you have diabetes, including:

• Saccharin (Sweet’N Low)
• Aspartame (NutraSweet)
• Acesulfame potassium (Sunett)
• Neotame (Newtame)
• Advantame
• Sucralose (Splenda)
• Stevia (Pure Via, Truvia)

Artificial sweeteners are also called sugar substitutes, low-calorie sweeteners or nonnutritive sweeteners. They offer the sweetness of sugar without the calories. Artificial sweeteners are many times sweeter than sugar. Because of this, it takes only a small amount of artificial sweeteners to sweeten foods. This is why foods made with artificial sweeteners may have fewer calories than those made with sugar.

Sugar substitutes don’t affect your blood sugar level. In fact, most artificial sweeteners are considered “free foods.” Free foods contain less than 20 calories and 5 grams or less of carbohydrates, and they don’t count as calories or carbohydrates on a diabetes exchange. But remember that other ingredients in foods that have artificial sweeteners can still affect your blood sugar level.