Products we are watching closely
Some brands use giant "zero sugar" or "sugar free" language while the back label tells a more complicated story. We call that a Rebel violation: legally technical, practically confusing, and dangerous for people trying to learn diabetes fast.
Close the sugar-free labeling loophole.
In the U.S., a "sugar free" claim is a technical claim about sugars, generally below 0.5g per serving and reference amount. It is not a promise that a product is carbohydrate-free, gut-neutral, or right for every glucose plan. Sugar alcohols are carbohydrates and sit outside the label's Total Sugars line; they do not have a dedicated Daily Value that tells shoppers how to interpret them. Read the FDA's sugar-label explanation and FDA's sugar-alcohol guide.
Sugar alcohols are not a fixed amount of hidden sugar. They are absorbed and metabolized differently by compound and person, and can still affect blood glucose or cause bloating, gas, and diarrhea. That uncertainty is exactly why a giant front-of-pack claim should not be allowed to do all the talking. We want plain language before the purchase, not a chemistry lesson after someone's stomach or CGM pays for it.
Every sugar-free product should put the numbers that matter together: label sugar, sugar alcohol, total carbohydrate, the sweetener used, and our transparent comparison metric.
- Stop unqualified "sugar free" front-label marketing when a product contains materially relevant sugar alcohols.
- Require the sugar alcohol's name and grams per serving beside the claim, plus a plain digestive-tolerance notice.
- Enforce against claims that imply zero glucose impact when the product's total carbohydrate, portion, or ingredients do not support it.
- Support insulin affordability and diabetes education for newly diagnosed Americans.