Hello! I have a question about a specific dietary restriction I have and was hoping it would be alright to ask. Due to a dietary restriction, I have to be very careful when consuming artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, splenda (sucralose), Saccharin etc. along with Stevia. I am especially sensitive to too much of any of this in drinks.
Besides the obvious (Diet/Zero Calorie sodas or soft drinks & energy drinks and zero sugar snacks), is there anything else any of you may know off the top of your head that I should definitely avoid; perhaps a type of street food or something I’m not thinking of? I’d like to assume that most foods use more natural flavorings than the stuff we pump our food full of in America but I’m not sure.
Specifically, if I were to grab a full calorie coffee drink from a vending machine to keep me going, will I be likely to run into artificial sweeteners or am I safer at cafes where I can just specify sugar?
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My wife is the same. She didn’t have any issue following the same avoidance she does in the states.
A couple of years ago someone asked a similar question, check my answer : [https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/hvz4oc/comment/fywu9ir/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/hvz4oc/comment/fywu9ir/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
TLDR, it will tell you how to find sweeteners in the ingredient list. If you want to find how more of them are written in Japanese, use Wikipedia, search the page in English then open the page in Japanese ( it will show as 日本語 in the menu).
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Regarding you specific question, don’t buy drinks in vending machines, buy them in convenience stores where you can read the label. If you want to ask in restaurant/cage, maybe make a list of the sweeteners you want to avoid so you can show it to people and ask for recommendations.
It looks like regular cola is fine – here is the Coca Cola Japan page for ingredients. I only checked standard Coca-Cola, but you can see the entire suite here: https://www.cocacola.co.jp/brands/coca-cola
I have a very similar dietary restriction on such sweeteners and I didn’t encounter them in anything I wouldn’t expect to (things labeled diet, zero calorie, etc.) during my 9 day trip in August, I was able to navigate and eat most things with minimal concern. I got several “regular” (not diet) coffee drinks from vending machines and none had offending ingredients.
Stevia is in a lot of processed foods. (Even non-sweet foods) Definitely learn to read ingredients lists. I just looked at the wrapper on my onigiri (triangle-shaped rice ball) and it contains stevia.
Most soft drinks, many kombini desserts, some alcohol contains them. Check out the ingredients, they are always listed.
For food labels here’s a list you can check (not exhaustive but the common ones). You will usually see them listed under the label 甘味料 (sweetener)
Stevia – ステビア
Aspartame – アスパルテーム
Sucralose – スクラロース
Acesulfame potassium or Ace K – アセスルファムカリウム or アセスルファムK
You are most likely to run in to them in bottled drinks. While the “diet” or “zero calorie” versions are easy to spot, some of the “regular” versions use a mix of sugar and artificial sweeteners. For example Sprite in Japan contains both Stevia and Sucralose.
I haven’t noticed them in foods outside beverages personally, but I can’t promise they aren’t there, I just notice them in drinks easily.
Probably not too much help but I’m in Japan now and I will say that I was caught off guard a couple times w/ soft drinks that were seemingly not marketed as “diet”or low-calorie but obviously use some kind of artificial sweetener(s) because the very low calories on the labels definitely don’t line up w/ a regular / full-sugar soda or coffee drink.
The “offenders” 🙂 were White Peach Water from Coca Cola and a Cafe au Lait type product in a gold can w/ a gold screw off cap, from the brand “Georgia”, also a Coca Cola brand if I’m not mistaken. I’m not someone who avoids artificial sweeteners so I was actually pleasantly surprised that they were so low in calories and yet tasted so fantastic. 🙂
Probably best to avoid mints like mintia.
Aspartame is used in pickled ginger for sushi.