Just because it says "sugar-free" on the package doesn't mean it really is. Here's an interesting snippet from the NYT blog that explains how artificial sweetners are often paired with things called sugar alcohols, which provide fewer calories than regular sugar and are found in tons of everything from sugarless cookies to gum.
While it might not matter much for most people, this can make things tricky for those of us who are trying to manage our blood sugar. You can identify sugar alcohols in food by looking for ingredients that end in "-ol," like sorbitol, maltitol and xylitol. {Read the rest}