Sugar alchohol

[runnerchick98]

When counting macros (iifym diet), should I count sugar alchohols into my carbohydrates? I heard that the body doesnt digest sugar alchohols the same way, but im not sure what to do with them when I see them in a nutrition label. 

[USAF-Larry]

@runnerchick98 - Check out the American Diabetes Association page on Sugar Alcohols. It may be able to answer your questions.

Sugar alcohols are one type of reduced-calorie sweetener. You can find them in ice creams, cookies, puddings, candies and chewing gum that is labeled as "sugar-free" or "no sugar added." Sugar alcohols provide fewer calories than sugar and have less of an effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) than other carbohydrates.

Examples of sugar alcohol are:

• Erythritol
• Glycerol (also known as glycerin or glycerine)
• hydrogenated starch hydrolysates
• isomalt
• lactitol
• maltitol
• mannitol
• sorbitol
• xylitol

Even though they are called sugar alcohols, they do not contain alcohol.

Check out the full article here: Sugar Alchols

[Stinkyfish97]

Keep in mind sugar alcohols can also upset your stomach if you are eating too much of them. 

[dragonpupps]

You could also just use a fitness/diet app such as MFP. It gets everything logged for you, so you don't have to even worry about it. I only recommend just verifying that the information is correct as there might have been a typo when it was being added to MFP.

[Annabel398]

If you're carb-conscious, it may be because you have metabolic syndrome/pre-diabetes/etc. If that's the case, use your glucose meter to test the effect of sugar alcohols on your BG levels. You may be unhappily surprised to find that many of them make BG spike just like sugar, in which case I would count them like carbs; otherwise, not. See Jenny Ruhl's book Blood Sugar 101 (at Amazon) for lots of good research-based (as opposed to anecdotal) information on sugar alcohols and many other issues.

Of the sugar alcohols, I personally find erithrytol (spelling?) is the one that I can safely eat. I try to avoid the others. Never had digestive issues with any of them, btw. It seems that sugar alcohols, more than most nutrients, affect different folks very differently.

I wish the FitBit app would let users choose between tracking calories and macronutrients... I'd pick the latter in a heartbeat! (And yes, I know, MFP... but I want it all in one place.)

[pricern]

I would count total carbs and don't even look at sugar alcohols like you would if you were on a low carb diet. Log everything into MyFitnessPal and let it keep count of your carbs. It does NOT count sugar alcohols or fiber.

[Brad8699]

Hi, just wondering if the Carbohydrates (of which sugars) gets added to the “Sugar” input when creating and logging custom foods, any info would be appreciated as I haven’t managed to find anything online.