Maltodextrin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltodextrin

Thanks for that but it still doesn't answer whether it is OK to take - I try to avoid all additives etc. but I have read articles where they say it's not good for you and others where it is OK. I react to all sweeteners i.e. aspartame, saccharin etc. and have sensitivity to cane and beet sugar but OK with demerara so you can see why I am curious. I always split open my supplements where possible and when I tried this particular one I could tell it was very very sweet.

Well, whether something is "OK" or not is rather subjective.

As you say, some articles will tell you to avoid things, and others will say they're ok.
Sure, pure chemical rubbish like aspartame, is best avoided as there's nothing natural about it, but if we just go on finding articles telling us not to eat things for one reason or another then we'd pretty much having nothing left to eat. For example, I could find vegetarians who will tell you why you shouldn't eat meat; then I can find vegans who will tell vegetarians why they shouldn't consume any animal products; then I can find fruitarians who will tell vegans why they shouldn't consume anything but fruit; or raw food eaters who will explain why you shouldn't eat cooked food, or ceoliacs who will explain why you shouldn't eat gluten.... I could go on.

Maltodextrin, from what I read, is from natural starch produced from corn or wheat using hydrolysis which itself is a fairly inert process, not involving any chemicals or unnatural methods. Of course, being potentially from wheat could be a problem for those with gluten problems.

Me personally, I'd be happy with Maltodextrin as an ingredient, providing I'm trying to maintain a normal balanced diet. Of course some people can go over the top and avoid this, that and the other, at the whim of what they've read in books or online, but often these people are doing it because they feel 'unwell' where the reality is that they are not actually making themselves better because they are making their diet so unbalanced, so will continually keep looking for more and more things to try and make themselves better.

Often, a properly controlled exclusion diet, with the help of a qualified nutritionist, is useful for people finding problems with foodstuffs, to identify exactly what are causing issues.

Lots of foods have natural sugars or sweetness, and from what I read Maltodextrin can also taste sweet (probably more the corn variety I guess), so what's really wrong with that? Our body needs salts and sugars as well as many of the other nutrients we find in foods.

All Love and Reiki Hugs

I hear what you say - it's just I bloat terrible and one of the side effects of maltodextrin was bloat.

Now here is another interesting one - I've found probiotics without FOS/prebiotics is the way to go for me but I bought one the other day that said the bacteria had been grown on barley (containing gluten) soya, yeast and lactose derived ingredients - so as I know I cannot take soya, avoid yeast as much as I can due to candida and barley puffs my face - how safe would this be - I'm thinking if the bacteria has been fed on this well there isn't any traces of this in the probiotic?

The bacteria will have concerted the substrates into chemicals that meet their needs so I would say the risk is very small After all coeliacs can eat meat from animals fed on food that contains gluten can't they? I have a severely coeliac friend who eats lots of chicken....

So do you think I would be safe to take this probiotic without any problems?

Unfortunately Janet, nobody here can legally offer a prognosis unless they are medically qualified to do so, and even then you shouldn't rely on anyone 'online' to offer such prognosis, whether or not they proclaim to have such qualfications.

You have two choices:
a) try it and see, if you're happy to put up with any possible side effects, i.e. at your own risk.
b) go and speak to your doctor etc. to get a legally qualified prognosis.

As Sally says, just because something feeds on something else, doesn't mean it's going to still contain the problem constituents of it, especially if it's something that is broken down into it's chemical components. e.g. yeast feeds off sugar to produce alcohol, but that doesn't mean that alcohol contains any yeast (yes there may be yeast left in some alcoholic drinks, but it's not in the alcohol component itself)

Guess I can only but try - if there is a reaction I just stop it.

There are both benefits and drawbacks to using supplements and vitamins that contains maltodexgtrin, but based on what I've read it is generally safe in normal amounts. In case, you begin to experience any side effects, be sure to seek medical help.

Decided against it as I would be in the minority to have a problem based on my previous experiences - and especially as there are supplements out there that don't contain it.