Is Sugar Alcohol Bad For You

If you’re among those who are very conscious about their health, or you have diabetes or a history of diabetes in your family, you will most likely pay close attention to the labels on any food you purchase.

Sugar alcohols impact the sugar levels of your blood, although they are not necessarily bad. They can be included in what is termed a “balanced diet.” What’s important is making sure that there isn’t a lot of sugar alcohol in your diet.

In this article, we’ll be looking at sugar alcohol, sugar alcohol names, sugar alcohol calories, as well as alcohol for diabetics.

What Are Sugar Alcohols?

Sugar alcohol does not mean sugar in alcohol. Instead, sugar alcohols are a certain kind of carbohydrates that have a chemical structure that looks like the chemical structure of actual sugar. Despite being called sugar alcohols, they are neither alcohol nor are they sugar. It is thus wrong to think of them as alcohol sugar content, and there is no need to ask the question, “Does sugar alcohol count as sugar?”

However, what they do contain are molecules of sugar and molecules of alcohol. Sugar alcohols are used by manufacturers of food to sweeten their products and simultaneously cut down the level of calories in those products.

They are somewhat digestion-resistant, and because of that, they function like dietary fiber. You can find sugar alcohols in vegetables and fruits; most of them are, however, found in processed sugars such as the glucose in cornstarch. Since they share the same chemical structures as actual sugar, sugar alcohols can trigger the receptors of ‘sweet taste’ in your tongue.

Types Of Sugar Alcohol

The following are the types of sugar alcohol.

Most times, sugar alcohols are used as sweeteners. The various types are different in the way they taste, how they impact your health, and the content of calories.

• Xylitol: Among the various types of sugar alcohol, the most common is xylitol. It serves as an ingredient in products meant for oral care such as toothpaste. You can also find them in chewing gums and mints that contain little or no sugar. It almost tastes as sweet as actual sugar and pertaining sugar alcohol calories; it contains 40 percent less calories than actual sugar. This sugar alcohol can be tolerated by the body; however, if you consume them in large amounts, it can result in certain digestive problems.
• Erythritol: Much like xylitol, erythritol has a sweet taste. The production process involves the fermentation of glucose contained in cornstarch. In terms of sugar alcohol calories, it has only 5 percent of the calories in sugar and 70 percent the sweetness. Unlike the others, erythritol does not have any sugar alcohol side effects because large amounts of it don’t get to your intestines. Your bloodstream absorbs all of it and then sends it to your kidney to be excreted in urine.
• Sorbitol: Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol that feels smooth against the tongue and tastes good. It has 60 percent of the sweetness that sugar has and contains 60 percent of the total calories in sugar. They are a usual component of foods and drinks with little or no sugar such as soft candy and jelly spreads. The sugar alcohol side effects of sorbitol may be digestive problems; however, they do not impact much on your blood sugar and insulin.
• Maltitol: When the sugar known as maltose is processed, the result is maltitol. It is very similar to regular sugar in the way it feels and tastes in your mouth. It has 90 percent of sweetness that sugar has and almost half the total calories contained in sugar.

Note: Products that contain maltitol are not sugar-free regardless of what manufacturer labels say. When you ingest any product containing maltitol, you run a risk of increasing your blood sugar levels.

Other Sugar Alcohols

Other sugar alcohol names that are available include lactitol, isomalt, mannitol, and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates.

Sugar alcohols and dental health

When you consume excess sugar, they feed some of the bacteria in your mouth, and once those bacteria are fed, they increase in number, releasing acids that cause the enamel on your teeth to wear away. Sugar alcohols such as erythritol, sorbitol, and xylitol, on the other hand, can prevent tooth decay.

Other benefits

Sugar alcohols may be prebiotic – by feeding the “good” bacteria in the stomach, they act as dietary fiber. Furthermore, studies show xylitol as being capable of increasing bone volume and bone mineral content.

Conclusion

It is preferable to recommend sugar alcohols for diabetics than actual sugar. Erythritol, for instance, is considered the healthiest among the various types of sugar alcohols because it has no effect on the sugar level of the blood, and reports on stomach upset after consuming erythritol are rare.

I hope this article was helpful to you. If you want to replenish your bar with interesting drinks, do not pass by our best alcohol reviews. Enjoy yourself now!

FAQs

What is sugar alcohol in food?

Sugar alcohols are used in food as either thickeners or sweeteners. In order to counterbalance the low sweetness of commercial foods, they are usually combined with artificial sweeteners.

Does sugar alcohol raise blood sugar?

The several types of sugar alcohol, except maltitol, do not raise the sugar levels of your blood, and they can serve as a good substitute for sugar if you are diabetic.

How much sugar in alcohol?

A shot of crème de menthe of about 1.5 oz. contains 21g of sugar. A piña colada of about 4 oz. contains 28g of added sugar. A daiquiri of 4 oz. has 6.7g of sugar.

Do sugar alcohols have calories?

Sugar alcohols contain calories. The sugar alcohol calories in xylitol are 40 percent less than the total amount of calories that are contained in actual sugar.

What alcohol does not have sugar?

The kinds of alcohol with no sugar content whatsoever are hard liquors because they are distilled to a great extent, and they include whiskey, tequila, vodka, gin, rum, and brandy.

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