What The Heck Is Maltodextrin?! (Video Blog!)

Have you heard of Ritz Crackerfuls? Basically they are a new product created by Ritz, which are meant to be a "satisfying snack that is perfect between meals". The product is made with "real cheese and 6 grams of whole grain". Oh boy! That's not even half a serving of whole grain. You can read about them here if you're interested.

Check out my video, which includes some of my opinions of this product.




To read more about "maltodextrin" and "resistant maltodextrin", check out this link, which explains them both in an easy to understand manner.


Question/Challenge: Have you looked at the foods in your cabinets lately? I challenge you to check for maltodextrin and/or resistant maltodextrin in your existing foods. Let me know how many you find! Hint: Look at your "natural" and "organic" foods too. You may be surprised...


I searched my own cabinets and found three sources. Strangely, the "natural" SoyJoy I have in my cabinets contain maltodextrin (goes to show you just how accurate those "natural" labels really are....) Check out this label;

Notice what it says after maltodextrin; Natural Fiber Source. So why doesn't this say Resistant Maltodextrin? If this is just maltodextrin it is NOT a fiber! And in fact it can have a more significant impact on blood sugar than actual sugar (says the article above). As I've found, however, some companies don't use the word "resistant" in front of the word "maltodextrin", so many time you just have to guess whether it's resistant or not. In the SoyJoy bars, at least they do write "natural fiber source", so it's implied that it is the resistant maltodextrin. And it's true that it's a natural fiber source, but the production of this maltodextrin wasn't so natural, in my opinion. SOYJOY sent me this link to describe the resistant maltodextrin better. It's actually very interesting...but not natural, in my opinion.