Sugar Alcohols?

[HypnoToad]

i was out the other day getting some groceries and i had a craving for dark chocolate, so i checked out some of the ones that claim to have no sugar, now they said no sugar on the back but had sugar alcohols....whats the deal with it? is it the same as sugar? can i eat it? if it is sugar whats it doing in the diabetic food section?

[LauRa Lu]

These sweeteners are neither sugars, nor alcohols, but they are carbohydrates nonetheless. They are sometimes called POLYOLS, to avoid confusion. At the present time, they have not been legally classified for product labelling purposes, as are sugars, starch and fiber. So, some manufacturers are choosing to omit them from the total carb count in the nutrient data panel of the label (they MUST however declare the amount of sugar alcohol in the ingredient list). Because they aren't actually SUGAR, products that contain them may use the term "sugar free" on the label. Some manufacturers and distributors (esp. in Canada and Europe) are choosing to declare the full carbs in the nutrient data panel, and some diabetes associations and consumer groups are pressuring for gov't legislation to make this a legal requirement.

Sugar alcohols do have carbs, and approx. 1/2 to 3/4 the calories of regular sugar. They are more slowly and incompletely absorbed from the small intestine than sugar, thus producing a much smaller and slower rise in blood sugar ... and consequently insulin. But this is a YMMV thing. Some Type 1 diabetics have reported that they sense an immediate "sugar rush" from eating even a small amount. Others notice no change, and absolutely no effect on ketosis.www.lowcarb.ca

I Didn't understand much about POYOLS for a while either, all I knew was that they can have laxative effect if you eat too many, one chocolate bar with them in is usually too many.

Some people find that these sugar free products like diabetic chocolate still raises their blood sugar, but for me it doesn't.. it probably would if I ate loads but it works like a laxitive so I'd be stupid to eat too much :p . I don't eat it hardly ever though unless I have a craving :whistling

[Amanda_Jo22]

I would say, more important than looking at the sugar content is looking at the total carbohydrate content. Carbohydrate will be turned into sugar in the body. If you compare a "sugarfree" item w/a non-sugarfree item, usually the non sugarfree item has less total carbohydrate.

[dixiepixie64]

What works for me in carb counting with sugar alcohols is to count them as 0.5 a carb each. They do raise my BG a bit.

[duck]

Laxative effect. Yeah. GROSSLY UNDER-stated.

[HypnoToad]

laxitive ehhhhhh

thanks for the info, ill try a little bit out and see if it affects my BS and uhhhhh any other areas

[Middle Aged Man]

I haven't researched these as much as I should, but I thought Splenda was a sugar alcoholol base without the laxative effect, whereas several others (not sorbitol, but I think it ended in -ol) have a major one (try eating sugar free jelly beans one night and you'll think real beans got nothin' on them!).

Has anyone done the research who can explain this well, or list the alternatives and their risk factors? I'm a huge Splenda fan, and think NutraSweet has a high probability of being dangerous to our bodies, so I'd love to learn more. Any experts in the making out there?

[Cinnabon]

Herdhey's 1 Carb bars have NO effect on my BS. I eat only half if Im craving Chocolate.

[DeusXM]

Sugar alcohols (or bulk sweeteners, as they're known in the UK), are probably one of the worst ever inventions. Aside from the laxative effect, which varies depending on the amount consumed, they're also practically useless when it comes to 'diabetic' food. Many people have found that they in fact raise bg almost as much as regular sugar, which means that if you're trying to get chocolate, you might as well just buy the real deal.

Diabetes UK have run several campaigns to end 'diabetic' foodstuffs because the sole criteria for a foodstuff to be classified as 'diabetic' is for it to be low sugar, as opposed to it having a minimal effect on bg. D-UK recognised that sorbitol and and other sweeteners like that were really no better than sugar itself, and in fact cost more.

Basically if you have a craving for chocolate then just buy real chocolate - just bolus for it beforehand and don't eat loads!

As for Nutrasweet (aspartame)....well, it can be dangerous since it's partly formaldihyde, but onlyif you eat roughly 3 metric tons of the stuff a day. Otherwise the total amount you'll injest will be so minimal it won't even have an effect. There's a lot bunk bandied around by people about aspartame who are usually seeking to blame the cancer they or a relative developed on the small amount of aspartame they used to have as part of their Diet Coke, as opposed to the 300 cigarettes a day they used to smoke.

Aspartame's an easy target because it's everywhere and Monsanto make it, but no government research has shown aspartame to be dangerous or cancer-causing.