Sweeteners:
Artificial sweeteners are chemicals, which do not contain sugar and therefore contain no calories, they will not raise your blood glucose or affect your weight. They can be useful in diabetes in providing variety without upsetting your blood glucose control. They are intense and so you need to use only small amounts of them to sweeten foods and drinks. They come in different forms: tablet, granules (for sprinkling) and liquid. You can buy them from supermarkets and chemist. They do taste different from each other, so experiment to find one to your taste.

Are sweeteners safe?
Sweeteners like all food additives undergo rigorous safety assessments and evaluation. Based on these tests the Government sets "Acceptable Daily Intakes" (ADI) often based on adults or per kg body weight. However it is very difficult to set limits as people vary in their consumption and individual foods do not state the amount of sweetener present in the product. The current advice is that the products are seen to be safe, but by using a variety of different sweeteners you avoid having too much of an individual one.

How to use sweeteners?

• In drinks such as tea or coffee - 1 tablet = 1 teaspoon sugar <
• In a dessert such as custard - 3-4 tablets = 1 teaspoon sugar
• On cereal - 3-4 tablets = 1 teaspoon sugar

Sweeteners can be used instead of sugar when making milkshakes, khir, tea, coffee, and milk. 1 tablet will provide the same sweetness as 50g of sugar.
When making dishes such as milk puddings and custards add the sweetener at the end of cooking.

Eating sweets:
One can have sweets. If possible one should have with meals and have in moderation.
Also once a while treat is good.