SmartSweets Red Twists

There is a bit of a sour taste, but it's not a bad taste. Just imagine sour cinnamon bears with a seriously spicy kick. I think they're fantastic, and I haven't been able to find any other cinnamon flavored candy without all the sugar and carbs.

Absolutely love these sweet and sour and delicious!

Why did you pick this product vs others?:I discovered these in a multi-pack with a bunch of other Smart Sweets and really I mostly wanted the sours but now I'm addicted to the caramels. They are made with coconut sugar and are just the right amount of sweet. I picked up a regular caramel the other day at the drugstore and it was just way too sweet. These are the ultimate clean guilt-free candy.

This product tries to lead you to believe it is better for you than sugar. This is misleading if not outright false.What good does it do to remove almost all sugar only to replace it with something that masquerades as being good for you, but is no better than, and probably worse than regular sugar?There was a report by Thanh Vo, MSc, in March 21, 2019 entitled "Tapioca Fiber or Soluble Corn Fiber: Which one is worse than sugar?" in which Prebiotic Tapioca Fiber was identified as none other than than the known culprit IMO: Isomaltooligosaccharide.As you may note from above, this compound is a saccharide, and saccharides are sugars!Do you wonder why these products taste so sweet, and you don't taste the stevia? IMO is a SUGAR FIBER, not a true dietary fiber! It is listed as a SWEETENER. One can find it listed in the 'All Sweetener List' at the Sugar-Sweetener-Guide which can be found online.The article by Thanh notes that in n 2013, Quest Nutrition came under litigation for representing IMO as dietary fiber on the nutrional labels for their bars. They ended up removing IMO from their products.Equating prebiotic tapioca fiber with IMO is uncovered by looking at the labeling of other products. An example given in the article is Primal Kitchen's Macadamia Sea Salt bars which list isomaltooligosaccharides (from Tapioca) (IMO) as the first ingredient on their website. However, the package label lists "Prebiotic Tapioca Fiber" in its place. But it is not listed as a carbohydrate or a sugar as this substance seems to fall through the cracks of current labeling requirements. They go on to show another label where "Prebiotic Tapioca Fiber" is directly identified as "IMO from Non GMO Tapioca starch" on the same label.What is notable, according to the article, is that IMO is NOT included in the current Final FDA Guidelines for Dietary Fiber. This would appear to indicate that this is not a true dietary fiber, and Tapioca Fiber is simply another name for IMO. However it seems that, for a few more years yet while the FDA allows further submissions in dietary fibers, companies can do what this company is doing. I look for that to change.The evidence presented in the article goes on to show that IMO (tapioca fiber) is actually worse than table sugar. Recent studies have shown IMO to generate blood sugar levels similar to glucose and dextrose. These have a glycemic index of 100!For a comparison of the glycemic index of various sugars:Table 1: GI of sugarsMaltose GI= 105Glucose/dextrose GI=100Rice syrup GI=98Sucrose GI=65Lactose GI=46Fructose GI=19As you can see, IMO has one of highest as its glycemic index as it is similar to that of glucose/dextrose. It's higher than regular table sugar.In this article they described running two tests to specifically see how a SmartSweet product impacted blood sugar starting from fasting. In one they ate a package of gummie bears. In the other they drank sugar water containg 28 grams pure sugar, and compared the results on fasting blood sugar.The results were virtually identical. Both spiked blood sugar into the160's within an hour, and took over 2 hours to return to normal. Imagine now the effect on a diabetic, and how this would kick someone on a ketogenic diet out of ketosis.Tapioca fiber has also been listed as:Prebiotic Tapioca FiberSoluble Tapioca FiberPrebiotic Fiber from Tapioca StarchPrebiotic Soluble Fiber from TapiocaNon-GMO Tapioca FiberOrganic Tapioca FiberPrebiotic Soluble Fiber from CassavaSo buyer beware. This product appears to be is no better than sugar. You can find people on YouTube showing what it does to their blood glucose levels as well. That this product suggests it is better for you than sugar is greatly misleading if not outright false.I feel I have been greatly deceived.

Taste good but ain’t worth the price point.

i like this, it takes me a few days to finish a bag so this lasted me over a month and i’m a sour candy girl. i don’t really eat other candy lol. just pricey but at least it’s not a lot of sugar and fiber kinda

I’m in between a low carb/keto diet (I don’t track so I don’t consider myself strictly keto) and these are a treat that satisfies my candy craving (not an every day thing). The texture is chewy but sticky on my teeth. It’s definitely less firm compared to the gummy bears by this brand. If you are following a strict Keto diet, I wouldn’t recommend this because it seems to spike people’s sugars and knock them out of ketosis very easily. Also, if you are starting out on a keto diet, you’re better off sticking to non-processed things so you don’t lose your mind with the sugar cravings (reach for some berries instead). I don’t test my blood ketones regularly, but my sugar was 97 after about 1-2 hours after eating a package and my blood ketones were at 0.5 which is the very low end of nutritional ketosis. If you are able to pick up a bag to try at the store, I’d say that they are worth a try. If you have a meter, try to test your sugar and/or ketones to see if these are problematic for you (everyone’s goals are different). If you really want to be in ketosis and are particular about your keto diet, this probably isn’t the product for you...however, if you need to satisfy a sweet tooth for candy but don’t want to reach for the regular stuff—this might work for you. There’s quite a bit of fiber in this product, so make sure you limit yourself to one serving and drink plenty of water so you don’t get constipated...fiber can be problematic if you’re not well hydrated.For me, this product hasn’t caused much gastrointestinal distress (I had a bag for the first time and I didn’t drink enough fluids that day...) and it’s not causing me to crave sugary desserts and candy that would throw me off of my healthy eating. This is one of those things that’s capitalizing on the low carb/keto crowd so I would be careful not to overindulge.

I've been on an artificial dye free, lower sugar content kick and these come in handy for my sweet tooth. I love the taste of these. It is more expensive than some of my old options but the fact that they taste good with lower sugar content and are free of those artificial dyes make me feel better about the price. I also don't have to eat as much to satisfy my sweet cravings. The smaller bags end up lasting longer for me because of that. I really enjoy that they are so yummy and give me that sour + sweet craving that I am longing for without me having to resort to options that are higher in both calories and sugar. These are my favorite by the brand!