A charity has blasted an ice cream company after discovering its diabetic products could have a more detrimental effect on the health of people with diabetes than normal ice cream.
X-PERT Health, a charity which offers education course to people with diabetes through the NHS, researched the nutritional values of Frank's Diabetic Strawberry Ice Cream after receiving a letter from a concerned participant who had recently attended its diabetes self-management programme.
The nutritional information provided on the diabetic strawberry ice cream manufactured by Frank's, which is an approved NHS supplier, shows that it contains 19.7g of carbohydrate per 100g, which could significantly raise blood glucose levels among diabetics, compared to 16.2g in the normal ice cream tested - Soft Scoop Neopolitan Ice Cream.
Frank's ice cream also contains more calories, fat and saturated fat than the non-diabetic product.
Dr Trudi Deakin, award-winning chief executive of X-PERT Health, contacted Frank's managing director Joe Dallavalle, to express her concern.
She said: "From the ingredients list I discovered the sugars come from fructose and dextrose, reconstituted skimmed milk powder and strawberry puree, while the starch comes from maltodextrin. Both dextrose (another name for glucose) and maltodextrin are essentially building blocks of glucose that are absorbed into the blood very rapidly.
"This means that all of the carbohydrate in this ice cream will impact on and raise blood glucose levels compared to the normal, non-diabetic ice cream we tested - therefore, Frank's Diabetic Ice Cream will have exactly the same, if not more, impact on blood glucose levels compared to non-diabetic ice creams.
"I believe that Frank's are misleading people and potentially risking the health of millions of people living with diabetes across the UK. Leading a healthy lifestyle, which can include controlled portions of your favourite foods, is the key to effective diabetes self-management. There is no need for special diabetic products, especially when they cost a lot more and provide no benefit to blood glucose control".
Dr Deakin has so far received no response to the letter sent to Frank's six weeks ago.
X-PERT Health's six-week diabetes self-management programme is offered free to NHS patients across the UK. It helps people living with diabetes to take control of their condition by losing weight, increasing physical activity and controlling glucose, blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels.
X-PERT estimates that its training courses could save the NHS £367m every year.
For more information about X-PERT Health, visit www.xperthealth.org.uk
