There was a time when ice cream, cookies and other sweets were considered off-limits to people with diabetes. But advances in food technology and in understanding the effects of different foods on blood sugar, have made sweet foods an acceptable part of the diabetes meal plan.
Today there are many more acceptable options to make life sweeter for people with diabetes.
In diabetes, the body does not produce sufficient amounts of the hormone insulin or cannot use the amount that is produced properly. Insulin helps the body use sugar or glucose in the blood that results from digestion of food, by allowing it to enter cells Consistently high blood glucose levels in diabetes can lead to heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and other health problems. Aspartame vastly expanded the range of acceptable foods for persons with diabetes by providing a clean-tasting sweetener that does not affect blood glucose levels. Although technically considered a nutritive sweetener contributing four calories per gram, aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sugar and very little is needed to achieve a sweet taste. Thus its caloric contribution is negligible.