@ Compare Calories Before Buying Sugar-Free Chocolates (NAPSA)—Whencontemplating what to get that special someone, you may wantto consider calories— and surprisingly, sugar-free may not be the best way to go. If you think purchasing sugarfree chocolates will reduce caloric intake—hbefore you purchase that sugar-free, heart-shaped box of chocolates, you might want to compare the calories per serving to the regular sugar-sweetened version. The Sugar Association commissioned research at the University of Georgia, Division of Nutrition, School of Health Pro- fessions, College of Health and Human Sciences. Graduate students compared sugar-sweetened products and reduced-sugar foods for calorie, fat, saturated fat and sugar differences. For 53 percent of the 74 products included in the comparisons, the calorie savings were less than 25 percent of total calories on a unit basis. For 9 percent of the products, the calories actually increased on a unit basis. Five popular chocolates were compared to their sugar-free counterparts and not one of the sugar- What a sweet deal. Sugar-sweet- ened chocolate may actually have fewer calories than sugar- free chocolate. free products had a significant caloric reduction (25 percent for an FDAreduced-calorie claim). In fact, four of the five sugarfree chocolate products had higher fat and saturated fat content per serving than their regular sugarbased comparison. Sugar-free does not mean calorie-free and, as you can see, often means morefat. Whysacrifice taste when your sweetheart might be better off with the all-natural, sugar-sweetened chocolate candy?
