sugar alcohol?

ms_erica

can someone please explain to me what sugar alcohols are? I just finished eating breakfast (blueberry/banana pancakes) and added sugar free syrup and noticed that in the nutritional label it said 11 g of sugar alcohol...

chickadee2010

I don't know the answer to that, but I've also noticed it in gum.

SNorrisii

Its basicly Splenda it doesn't raise your blood surgar levals or add calories but gives you the sweet taste

kidtechnical

From what I've read it's a sugar substitute, with a similar formula or structure to alcohol, but it's not alcohol.

TrainingWithTonya

It's a derivative of sugar that doesn't cause as much of a spike in blood sugar as sugar so it is helpful for diabetics who have to watch those blood sugar spikes. Unfortunately, it's an alcohol so it is 7 calories per gram, unlike sugar which is only 4 calories per gram.

hroush

They are a base sugar, which makes them sweet, but have an -OH group instead of an -H group, which makes them an alcohol. These alcohols are not as sweet as their sugar counterparts, but they also contain less calories.

Edit: correcting the previous poster, these contain less calories than sugar (sucrose). The blanket calories given by the EU is 2.4 cal / g, versus sucrose's 4.0 cal / gram. Also, these alcohols are not obsorbed as well by the body, so the actual calories taken in by the body is even less. Another benefit is that they are not broken down by the bacteria in the mouth, so they don't lead to tooth decay.

ms_erica

awesome...thank you so much for all the replies and for explaining all of this...

kidtechnical

hroush, great answer, thanks :drinker:

TrainingWithTonya

They are a base sugar, which makes them sweet, but have an -OH group instead of an -H group, which makes them an alcohol. These alcohols are not as sweet as their sugar counterparts, but they also contain less calories.

Edit: correcting the previous poster, these contain less calories than sugar (sucrose). The blanket calories given by the EU is 2.4 cal / g, versus sucrose's 4.0 cal / gram. Also, these alcohols are not obsorbed as well by the body, so the actual calories taken in by the body is even less. Another benefit is that they are not broken down by the bacteria in the mouth, so they don't lead to tooth decay.

Sorry, I'm going by what I was taught in my nutrition classes. We don't actually get to do the scientific measurement of calories per gram that is absorbed by the body because they aren't nutritional science labs, unfortunately. But we're taught to count them as 7 calories per gram because that is an average for all alcohols. In actuality, none of the alcohols are exactly 7 calories per gram and the different ones are metabolized differently so only portions of their calories are absorbed by the body, so you may be getting fewer calories per gram or more calories per gram depending on the specific alcohol. The same is true of carbs, proteins, and fats though. The 4, 4, and 9 calories per gram that we use is the average and based on what is actually absorbed by the body. When measured in a bomb calorimeter, I think protein is actually closer to 6 calories per gram, but we use some of that just to digest it so it is subtracted from our estimates. They are all estimates, BTW, and since most people have a tendency to underestimate calories in and over estimate calories out, it is better to overcompensate by overestimating calories in to even that out. Food manufacturers, on the other hand, have a tendency to use this vagueness in it being an estimate to make it look lower calorie on the label.

MakotoYuu

Unlike splenda and aspartame, they can also cause gastric distress (gas, bloating, and other stuff) if consumed in really large quantities. Different ones can be less or more severe. Maltitol seems to cause the worst for me, so I stick with small amounts of xylitol and erythritol instead when I use them.