Sugar alcohols: What to know about how they fit in your diet plan

What are sugar alcohols?

Sugar alcohols, also called “polyols,” are carbohydrates that are technically not sugar and do not contain the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages.

Examples of sugar alcohols include sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, mannitol, and maltitol.

Where are sugar alcohols found?

Sugar alcohols are found naturally in small amounts in a variety of fruits and vegetables. Sugar alcohols are also commercially produced from sugars and starch.

Commercially produced sugar alcohols are added to foods as reduced-calorie sweeteners and are found in many sugar-free and reduced-sugar products, including:

• Baked goods (cakes, cookies, and pies)
• Chewing gum
• Desserts (ice cream, other frozen desserts, and puddings)
• Jams, jellies, and syrups
• Ready-to-use frostings
• Candy (chocolates, hard and soft candies)
• Granulated sweeteners (such as Swerve, made from erythritol).

How do sugar alcohols work?

Sugar alcohols provide a sweet taste with fewer calories per gram than sugar. Therefore, they are commonly used in place of sugar and often in combination with artificial sweeteners. They add bulk and texture to food, help retain moisture, and prevent browning that occurs during heating. You may notice that sugar alcohols produce a cooling sensation in the mouth when added to foods in high concentrations–in sugar-free hard candy or chewing gum, for example. Unlike sugar, sugar alcohols do not react with plaque bacteria in the mouth, so they don’t cause cavities.

How do sugar alcohols affect blood sugar?

Sugar alcohols are difficult to digest and are incompletely absorbed through the small intestine into the bloodstream. As a result, they provide fewer calories per gram than sugar and produce a smaller change in blood sugar than other carbohydrates.

What are the side effects of sugar alcohols?

Sugar alcohols can also produce abdominal gas, bloating, and diarrhea in some individuals since they do not get completely absorbed by the body and are fermented by bacteria in the large intestine. For this reason, foods containing the sugar alcohols sorbitol or mannitol must include a warning stating, “excess consumption may have a laxative effect.”

How can I monitor sugar alcohol intake?

MyNetDiary Premium allows you to monitor sugar alcohol as one of more than 50 trackable nutrients. For example, if you track “Net Carbs,” sugar alcohol content gets subtracted from Total Carbohydrates. If you track “Diabetes Carbs,” half of the sugar alcohol content gets subtracted from Total Carbohydrates.

Food manufacturers may voluntarily list the amount in grams per serving of sugar alcohols on the Nutrition Facts label (under Total Carbohydrate). They may also list the name of a specific sugar alcohol if only one is added to the food. However, food manufacturers are required to list sugar alcohols if a package includes a claim about sugar alcohols or sugars (when sugar alcohols are present in the food). Look for sugar alcohols on the ingredient list on a food package.

Tip: When choosing “sugar-free” foods containing sugar alcohols, use the Nutrition Facts label to compare the calories and nutrients in the sugar-free version to the regular version. The sugar-free products may still have a significant amount of calories, carbohydrate, and fat.

Source: FDA.gov