Are calorie free drinks really calorie free??

kimberley276 · #1 (**permalink**) August 20th, 2005, 08:59 AM

Does anyone know if drinks (such as the WalMart version of Crystal Light) that list zero calories per serving are really calorie free overall. I'm asking because I recently read that calorie and fat free spray butters are only calorie and fat free by the serving but the entire bottle contains 90 grams of fat and over a 1000 calories. Anything that has less than .5 fat or calories per serving can be labled as "Free". I drink my knockoff brand of Crystal Light instead of water(terrible habit, but it's helped me kick my soda addiction) and I want to make sure I'm not really getting a bunch of extra unknown calories. Thanks in advance to anyone who answers. Kimberley(newbie

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Korrie · #2 (**permalink**) August 20th, 2005, 09:52 AM

Now, this is just my 2 cents, but I belive if something is marked as calorie free, fat free, what have you, that it has to be calorie free. Its false advertising and a law suite if its not.

summergurl · #3 (**permalink**) August 20th, 2005, 09:59 AM

i agree with newbride - if it doesnt state that the free bit means per serving you would be none the wiser to the whole thing containing no calories and there for would be able to sue!

but look at it this way - you have one serving then half hour later another, then another later on and by the end of the day have drank the whole thing so does that mean by drinking it in servings you havn't added any extra calories? nope because you have drank the whole thing. so the entire thing has to be calorie free else like newbride said - a law suite!!!!!!

bicker · #4 (**permalink**) August 21st, 2005, 04:11 AM

Quote:

I belive if something is marked as calorie free, fat free, what have you, that it has to be calorie free. Its false advertising and a law suite if its not.

Unfortunately not:

Quote:

Originally Posted by United States Code of Federal Regulations 21CFR101.60 (b)(1)

The terms ``calorie free,'' ``free of calories,'' ``no calories,'' ``zero calories,'' ``without calories,'' ``trivial source of calories,'' ``negligible source of calories,'' or ``dietarily insignificant source of calories'' may be used on the label or in the labeling of foods, provided that: (i) The food contains less than 5 calories per reference amount customarily consumed and per labeled serving.

Now that doesn't mean that 0 calories never means 0 calories -- it only means that it sometimes doesn't mean that. In the case of Crystal Light, I don't drink it anymore. When I did, I believe it ran about 4 calories per glass, so there you can see that it would "qualify" as zero calories, but a couple of liters would still add up to some significant number of calories.

My cousin is Director of Nutrition at the Pritiken Center. His favorite example of the exploitation of the law is Pam cooking spray. They say it has no calories, but in reality there are over 800 calories per can. The "reference amount" is listed as 1/3 of a second. My cousin, in his lectures around the country, makes a big deal about how he's a professional, and has had lots of practice necessary to learn how to dispense only that 1/3 of a second. Of course, no one actually ever uses that little.

Some things, however, are indeed 0 calories. Vinegar is often labeled "a zero calorie food" (they actually have to say it like that, rather than just claiming zero calories, whenever the type of food naturally has zero calories).

Artificial sweeteners vary. Saccharine (Sweet & Low) and sucralose (Spenda) have no calories. Aspartame (Nutrasweet) itself has 4 calories per gram, but most of what you get in a package of Equal is filler, so it adds up to about 0.014 calories per packet.

amomono · #5 (**permalink**) August 21st, 2005, 11:28 AM

that was really helpful brian.. thanks!

smiley · #6 (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2005, 05:12 AM

Just my 0.02$ here but i wouldnt worry so much about the crystal light it zero cals per serving but lets say you drink the whole pitcher in a day it still might only add up to like 12 cals, you prolly burn that just by drinking the juice.(now artificial sweetners in it well thats a whole other story lol try water and lemon juiice might help you drink more water??)

wonderwoman · #7 (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2005, 09:01 AM

not crazy bout crystal light except for the iced tea flavored one, but gave it up when it started staining my teeth brown! oh well, plain water is better for ya anyway.

bicker · #8 (**permalink**) August 23rd, 2005, 02:16 AM

Quote:

try water and lemon juiice

There might be more calories in the lemon juice than there would be in the Crystal Light though.

smiley · #9 (**permalink**) August 23rd, 2005, 05:11 AM

well one whole lemon has about 12 calories and i drink 3-4L of water in a day. so the cals are burned im sure lol. but i just meant it as a way to switch from the crystal light to water since alot of ppl find water very plain

TurtleMomma · #10 (**permalink**) August 23rd, 2005, 06:24 AM

I thought someone told me one time that adding pure lemon (actually squeezing the lemon - not the lemon juice from a bottle - don't know why the difference) is supposed to aid in weight loss. Does anyone know if this is true or not?

bicker · #11 (**permalink**) August 24th, 2005, 02:04 AM

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alot of ppl find water very plain

I sure do, though calories do make a difference, and if I have a choice between 0 calories, 4 calories and 12 calories, and the 0 calorie one tastes best, well, I'll choose the 0 calorie one.

Quote:

adding pure lemon

Unfortunately, that's a myth. Things like that are often reflective of the Hawthorne Effect. It seems like it works, but it actually doesn't.

summergurl · #12 (**permalink**) August 24th, 2005, 02:10 AM

whats the hawthorne effect?

wonderwoman · #13 (**permalink**) August 24th, 2005, 01:57 PM

vinegar in water helps too

bicker · #14 (**permalink**) August 26th, 2005, 02:30 AM

The Hawthorne Effect is when paying attention to something itself has more impact on it than how you pay attention to it.

souad1 · #15 (**permalink**) March 19th, 2007, 08:55 PM

we people who are severly overweight, it's so hard on us to quit everything from soda, coffe, juice, having Crystal light is a big step, now to worry about
5 caloris, plesse give us a big, big break, but thanks for the information.