You may think you’ve never come across sugar alcohols before but truth be told, if you’ve ever munched on sugar-free chewing gum, you’ll have had your fair share!
While they’re a popular alternative to sugar itself, they can come with some health concerns as well. So, it’s time we dug a little deeper…
Admittedly, we’re not the biggest fan of these – opting to sweeten our recipes with sweet veggies, stevia or rice malt syrup first. But, as sugar alcohols fall into our “okay” sweetener category, it pays to know a little more about them.
What even is a sugar alcohol?
First up, they’re not really an alcohol. Their molecular structure however, is part sugar and part alcohol, hence where the name comes from. While some sugar alcohols are naturally occurring in many fruits and vegetables, they are often chemically produced and manufactured in bulk, before being added to a variety of sugar-free products. A big selling point for sugar alcohols is that they claim to have less of an effect on your blood sugar levels, but that’s not always the case. Let’s take a look at some of the popular ones…
Source: Healthline
Erythritol.
Erythritol is praised for hardly raising blood sugar at all, as it’s absorbed through the small intestine and passed out as urine before it gets the chance. While it’s naturally found in fermenting fruits, it can be produced by fermenting glucose with a yeast called Moniliella pollinis. Because it passes straight through your system and hardly affects blood sugar, it falls into our “okay” category. But, we’d still be cautious of erythritol if you have a sensitive tum!
Xylitol.
Xylitol was originally derived from birch trees, however it’s now more commonly mass-produced by fermenting xylose. Due to its antibacterial properties and slightly minty flavour, xylitol is often found in chewing gum, mouthwash and medicinal products. As you can see in the graph above, xylitol has less of an effect on blood sugar than sugar. This is because your body converts around two thirds of xylitol to glucose, then processes it as such. The rest however, can’t be broken down in the stomach properly, so travels straight into the intestine where it can cause digestive issues like bloating and diarrhea.
The others…
In The Sweet Poison Quit Plan, our mate David Gillespie explains that other sugar alcohols like sorbitol, maltitol and mannitol are converted to fructose in your body. In fact he says, “If fructose is what you’re trying to avoid, you might as well be eating sugar for all you are achieving by eating these… these products are metabolised to fructose anyway, so you are not doing anything towards breaking your addiction by eating them.” It’s safe to say we’d stay away from the other sugar alcohols!
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