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• 1. Sally Johnson asks - Why is Canderel better for you than sugar?

  Spoon for spoon, Canderel granular has only one tenth the calories of sugar, making a very good choice for slimmer’s who still want to enjoy an occasional sweet treat, but with less calories. Canderel also doesn’t affect your blood sugar like sugar can. Frequent sugary snacks can make your blood sugar levels go up and down, leading to fluctuating energy and increased hunger levels, Canderel does not have this effect, so your blood sugar levels remain more stable.

  It must be remembered that Canderel sweetened foods, particularly bakery products, may contain quite high levels of other refined carbohydrates such as white flour, which will contribute calories and may cause rapid ups and downs in blood sugar. So everything in moderation is, as ever, the key!

• 2. Mrs D Brown asks - Can you use Canderel Vanilla sticks in cooking?

  We don’t currently have any recipes available using Canderel Vanilla sticks in cooking and baking. However you could try using them to add a delicious vanilla flavour to your recipes – remember that each stick is equal to two teaspoons of sugar.

• 3. Becky asks - Is it true that even if I regularly exercise and always feel like I have really pushed myself, I have to increase the amount of exercise I do to continue to see the benefits?

  I think it really depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you always feel you have pushed yourself, especially if you do for this for 30 minutes five days a week you can be happy that you are exercising at a level which will deliver maximum health benefits in terms of energy, reduced risk of heart disease and so on. However if you want to get seriously competitive, or reach an elite level of fitness, you will of course need to push yourself further over time. I’m guessing though that you fit into the first category, in which case you’re probably trying to keep in shape or maintain your weight. To aid in this, you need to stop your body getting too used to one particular regimen. So for example you could try rowing instead of the treadmill and to change your weights regimen regularly for example.

• 4. Mark asks - Can stinging nettles really help arthritis? If they do how can I introduce them into my diet?

  Studies have been small and inconclusive, but they do suggest that some people find relief from joint pain by applying nettle leaf topically to the painful area (nettle cream is available in health food stores or pharmacies). A few other studies show that taking an oral extract of stinging nettle, along with non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), allowed people to reduce their NSAID dose. Again I’d suggest taking a properly formulated supplement for greatest chance of effectiveness, but if you want you could also try nettle tea or nettle soup.

• 5. Aisha asks - Are there any foods that are particularly good for stress?

  The main thing when you’re stressed is to eat a diet that’s as generally nutritious as possible. Unfortunately that can be hard when our time is so taken up with the things that are stressing us, but there are easy ways to incorporate your five a day if you snack on fruit, add bagged salad to meals, use convenient frozen or pre-chopped veg and so on.

  Then another easy thing you can do is swap less nutritious white products for more nutritious brown – so you always eat wholemeal bread, whole wheat pasta and so on.  As far as specific nutrients are concerned, be sure to eat plenty of B vitamins, vitamin C and magnesium, which are all important to how your body deals with stress. You’ll be getting plenty of B vitamins and magnesium if you eat plenty of green veg and whole grains, as well as a couple of good portions of lean meat or fish, and some low fat dairy every day.

• 6. Katy Cushen asks - My daughter is having a birthday party in a few weeks, two of her cousins are diabetic and I don’t want them to miss out. Do you know any diabetic friendly party snacks I can create?

  If you can, I’d try to have a word with their mums before hand, as they’ll be able to guide you as to what treats are okay for them. Young children with “Type I” diabetes are usually insulin dependent and can eat certain amounts of sugary or refined foods as long as the insulin they receive is matched to the amount they eat. However making some foods with Canderel sweetener in them instead of sugar should make it easier for your little partygoers not to miss out and there’s no reason these foods can’t be eaten by everybody, so the diabetic children won’t feel like they are being singled out or treated differently.  Why not try the lemon drizzle cake recipe, which you’ll find here - Lemon Drizzle cake? In my experience most kids love it and it would make a wonderful birthday cake!

• 7. Colin Charlesworth asks - I have a friend who is diabetic and I tried to make him some chutney using Canderel instead of sugar but it wouldn’t set. Can you please give me an answer to this?

  Canderel is fantastic as a sugar substitute in so many respects, but it can be tricky for making preserves due to the sustained high temperatures required. However you may get better results with Canderel Yellow as this has been specially formulated to maintain sweetness when cooked at consistently high temperatures. Alternatively it might be due to boiling for too little time, or not using pectin rich fruits / vegetables to make your chutney.

• 8. Diane Lucock asks - My Dad likes to make his own marmalade but has type two diabetes. Do you have a recipe?

  Unfortunately we don’t currently have a recipe for marmalade but you can  replace sugar spoon for spoon with Canderel Yellow granular (1 spoon of sugar = 1 spoon of Canderel Yellow granular) in your favourite marmalade recipe. If you find that your marmalade has a softer set, try boiling for longer than the recipe calls for. Reducing the liquid will help you get a firmer set too.  Remember, however, that Canderel Yellow does not have the same preserving effects as sugar, so keep the marmalade in the fridge.

• 9. Julie Himsworth, Mr Derek Carter and Elizabeth Freda Campbell ask - Is Canderel safe for diabetics and can it be used in homemade low fat and low sugar puddings?

  Yes Canderel is safe and in fact ideal for diabetics. You can us it to make lower calorie and sugar puddings, but be aware that if looking to make a lower fat pudding you would need to replace the high fat ingredients such as butter with low fat alternatives (eg low fat margarine).

• 10. Claire asks - When making fairy cakes how much Canderel should I use with 100g self-raising flour, 100g margarine and 2 eggs? I made it with 1 tsp and they didn’t turn out very nice.

  Unfortunately you added too little Canderel. To make cakes that would normally have 100g sugar in them, you need to add 10g of Canderel, which is in fact 20 teaspoons, or around 6 tablespoons of Canderel. When working out how much Canderel to use in any recipe you can replace sugar with Canderel or Canderel Yellow spoon for spoon or divide the weight of sugar by ten to calculate the weight of Canderel to use.

• 11. Mia Haywood asks - Is Canderel Yellow aspartame free?

  Yes, Canderel Yellow does not contain Aspartame and instead is made with a special blend of ingredients including Sucralose.

• 12. Ashleigh asks - Does Canderel have cholesterol?

  There is no cholesterol in Canderel.

• 13. Fareed asks - My physician advised me to restrict my salt intake, can you advise me on any sodium free salt products, so I can at least have the taste?

  When it comes to flavouring your food, I’d suggest experimenting with lots of different herbs and spices, which can easily make up for a lack of salt. If you really do need to add salt occasionally, use a potassium-rich salt replacer such as LoSalt. Bear in mind also that you will definitely come to prefer a less salty taste as time passes. Your taste buds do in fact adjust quite quickly and if you start reducing salt today, you’ll find that in three weeks time you will naturally feel satisfied with less salt.

• 14. Lisa asks - I have Hyperkalemia, am I allowed to use Canderel sweeteners in my tea?

  Due to your special condition, we recommend you to use Canderel yellow tablets in hot & cold beverages. Other Canderel products do contain small amount of potassium from Acesulfame

• 15. Moira Mount asks – Is it possible that sweeteners using aspartame could cause cramps in my legs and feet? I read an article that suggested Aspartame could cause this and de-toxed for 60 days and the pain in my joints disappeared.

  Aspartame does not cause cramps of any kind.  Aspartame is digested to components which occur in much greater amounts in a normal balanced diet containing meat, fish, eggs and vegetables - it is highly unlikely that these components could be eliminated from the diet.  It may be that foods you eliminated as part of your 'de-tox' were impacting how you feel, but it is not the aspartame used to sweeten them that is the reason for this effect

• 16. Burcu Khan asks - What is the main difference between aspartame and table sugar? Is it true that aspartame has the same effect as sugar and will still make the body put on weight?

  Aspartame ins an intensely sweet ingredient - two hundred times sweeter than sugar.  So you get the same sweetness as sugar by using a very tiny amount of aspartame.  A spoonful of Canderel granules or a Canderel tablet provides the same sweetness as a spoonful of sugar, but the Canderel granular contains less than 2 c Calories whereas a level teaspoonful of sugar contains 20 Calories.  Replacing sugar with Canderel helps maintain or lose weight.  Aspartame does not make you put on weight

• 17. Margaret Perry asks - I try to cook healthy food including all the bread we eat. I already use olive oil instead of butter and only use 1 tsp salt instead of 2. Sugar of course makes the yeast [dried type] work, so question is can I use Canderel instead?

  Unfortunately Canderel will not work as a yeast activator, yeast needs real sugar to act on and produce the bubbles, so Canderel wouldn’t be a suitable alternative.

• 18. David Baxter asks - I suffer from constipation, my wife has the opposite problem. We both eat the same food with the exception of sugar (I am diabetic). I have heard that some sweeteners can cause this problem, is Canderel likely to be the cause?

  There are no sweetening ingredients in Canderel which would cause this problem.  Sugar alcohols, like sorbitol, used in sugar-free confectionery like sugar-free mints and chocolate labelled as suitable for diabetics can have a laxative effect (for some people).

• 19. Diya asks - I am Vegetarian, are there any products in the Canderel range I can’t use?

  No, I’m pleased to say that all the Canderel range is suitable for vegetarians

• 20. Claire asks - What’s new Canderel Yellow, what’s the difference?

  Canderel Yellow granular is made with a different blend of ingredients that has been specially formulated for cooking and baking at high temperatures. The main difference is that Canderel Yellow granular is made with Sucralose, which is heat stable, so it’s great for use at a wide variety of temperatures and baking in recipes. The original Canderel range is perfect for simple and easy meals such as sprinkling on fruit or cereal or for recipes that don’t require cooking at high temperatures. Find recipes tailored for each product in the Canderel Kitchen.

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