Life saved by a mint? (Nestle Sugar Free Polo Mints)

Member Name: smurfuk76

Product:	Nestle Sugar Free Polo Mints
Date:	13/05/09 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Low cal, No Sugar

Disadvantages: Laxative effects!!

Hello and welcome to my review of Nestles Sugar Free Polo Mints.

I came across these mint a few years ago, I had never been a massive fan of mints but I needed something to help me stop smoking and thought that Sugar free mints would be better than normal Polo's . I mean after all they have "The British Health Dental Foundation Aproval" on the package!
I then found there is something special about Polo mints, there not as strong flavoured as Trebors extra strong mints which for me are too power full. I am aware there is a version of Polo mints that are EXTRA STRONG. I will leave those for now as I concentrate on the Sugar Free variety.

The package itself is a wax paper wrapped around a silver foil wrapper and is very easy to open.
The pack states the nutritional information as: (per 100g):
Energy 990kj /238kcal
Protein - NIL
Carbohydrate : 99.0g
of which are sugar Nil
of which are polyols 99.0g
Fat : Nil
Fibre : Nil
Sodium : Trace
Salt Equivalent : Trace

As the standard pack contains only weighs approx 34g. Thats approx 1/3rd of the values stated on the pack.
Each pack has 80kcals - which is stated as 4% of an adults recommended daily amount. With a standard pack containing 23 mints that's 0.17% of the RDA in each mint!! So overall there is nothing in them. Go nuts and get minted (sugar free of course).
BUT NO WAIT!! Dont Go and over mint yourself on these just yet. If you read the small print on the pack it states "WARNING : For some people especially children excessive consumption may produce laxative effects".

I did contact Nestle in January through there website to ask what was "excessive consumption"? I eat 2 packs a day some days (while im at work). Is that excessive? So far I have not had any laxative effects, do I risk going for another pack? Will I be putting myself at risk doing the 40min walk home? Will I make it home without any accidents.... well you get the idea. So far Nestle have not responded to my email. I did try to contact them again today through there site but the contact page needed registration and was under going maintenance.
Maybe I will never know if my underwear is at risk.

The taste:

On first impression there is no difference between the normal Polo's and the sugar free polo's. But as I sucked there seemed to be a slightly different taste its was sort of... waxy. I think thats about the best way to describe it. Don't get me wrong its not unpleasant, just different and I soon got used to it. You can still run your tongue along the raised lettering on the mint and try slide your tongue in the hole.
The other main difference, these sugar free ones dont seem to last as long as normal ones. The Sugar free mints seem to evaporate in a matter of minutes, this could be why I go through so many of the little beggers.
Contents :
Sorbitol,
Magnesium Stearate
Mint oils

Overall for a good alternative to Sugary sweets there well worth a try. They helped me kick smoking so I think that maybe "Sugar Free Polo's Saved My Life".

Summary: Worth a try if you are brave enough!