In a message dated 10/1/03 11:00:13 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> Yet, also mentioned were the
> side affects of diarrhea, cramping, gas and vomiting which (though I am no
> science whiz) sounds like a protein reaction rather than a sugar reaction
> (someone
> please correct me if I am wrong).

Again, just from what I'm reading, these symptoms are produced because the
tagatose goes through the intestines with only very little of it being absorbed.
When undigested tagatose reaches the colon, the bacteria there ferment it,
just like they would undigested lactose or fiber or other carbohydrates. With
the intestinal flora being different in every person it's hard to say how
tagatose would react in any individual. Given the experience with olestra, I'll bet
that they'll test the hell out of it to be sure that they never again have to
write "may cause anal leakage" on any package. [g]

The flip side of this is that tagatose produces fewer calories this way, as
calories only come from absorbed sugars. So even though tagatose is 90% as
sweet as sucrose, it has only one-third the calories, one major reason it is being
touted as a sugar replacement. That and the fact it has the same bulk as
sucrose, so that it can be substituted pretty much one for one for sucrose in
baking.

I'm glad that FAAN is going to investigate tagatose. I'll post any results
they put out on my website.

Steve Carper
Steve Carper's Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/stevecarper