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Weight Loss Forum / Low Carb / March 2004Question about sugar alcohols
Hello all, newbie here and former lurker. I have been lurking for quite awhile and I've received a lot of great information here about low carb, and always seem to find the answers I'm looking for so I hope someone can help me on this one. I have been low carbing for about a year and feel that I have a pretty good handle on this woe but here is my problem. On Valentine's day my DH and I went to a small mountain village nearby and had a nice dinner and then afterwards went to the local fudge shop and bought some of their sugar free chocolates made with sugar alcohols. In the past I have been able to get away with eating most sugar free chocolates because they usually have a laxative affect and I've read that if this is the case, you most likely are not absorbing all the carbs from the sugar alcohols and I never gained any weight after eating them. I ate most of the cadies in a matter of about three days and then went to strict induction just in case. I didn't experience the usual laxative affect from these candies and have gained about five pounds! Mind you this weight gain has just occurred over the last few days (almost two weeks after the candy)and I have been racking my brain trying to figure out what happenned and then I remmembered the candy and I recalled at the time I ate it, it seemed kind of old and since it was just a very small town where we bought them, I wouldn't be surprised if they had been sitting in the case for a year or maybe more? So I was thinking that maybe the alcohol had evaporated and only the sugar was left? Does this theory make sense or does anyone know what happens to the sugar alcohols in candy if they are old? > Hello all, newbie here and former lurker. I have been lurking for > quite awhile and I've received a lot of great information here about [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > was left? Does this theory make sense or does anyone know what happens > to the sugar alcohols in candy if they are old? The sugar and alcohol are bonded together -- the sugar cannot evaporate. I would think that there was a specific type of sugar alcohol that you could digest (for instance, I have less problems with lactitol than with maltitol). Also, there were probably more carbs than you think in the candies. Sometimes they replace "sugar" with dextrose and maltodextrin or, worse, fructose.  SignatureBob M in CT remove 'x.' to reply > > Hello all, newbie here and former lurker. I have been lurking for > > quite awhile and I've received a lot of great information here about [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > this weight gain has just occurred over the last few days (almost two > > weeks after the candy)and I have been racking my brain trying to Leaving aside the issue of whether you can digest sugar alcohols or not, the fact that the weight gain occured 2 weeks after you ate the candies, exonerates them in my view. First, it's hard to imagine that you ate so much candy over the space of 3 days that it caused a gain in fat of 5lbs. That would be 3600 calories * 5, or an excess of 18,000 calories. I think you'd have noticed that. In any case, my experience is that while weight loss can take a while to show up, pounds regained show up quite quickly. Second, if your body did treat the SAs as carbs and replenished your glycogen supplies, it wouldn't have taken 2 weeks to happen, and if you've gone back to induction you would have flushed it out by now, anyway. I'd think it is more likely that it's either normal water fluctuations or you ate something salty. Martha SignatureBegin where you are - but don't end there. > > Hello all, newbie here and former lurker. I have been lurking for > > quite awhile and I've received a lot of great information here about [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > The sugar and alcohol are bonded together -- the sugar cannot evaporate. As Jenny pointed out, these are not composed of sugar and alcohol bonded together. They are neither sugars, nor alcohols and differ chemically from both of them. > I would think that there was a specific type of sugar alcohol that you > could digest (for instance, I have less problems with lactitol than with > maltitol). Also, there were probably more carbs than you think in the > candies. Sometimes they replace "sugar" with dextrose and maltodextrin > or, worse, fructose. >> > Hello all, newbie here and former lurker. I have been lurking for >> > quite awhile and I've received a lot of great information here about [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > bonded together. They are neither sugars, nor alcohols and differ > chemically from both of them. I was merely pointing out that the "alcohol" can't evaporate. Please see the following (from http://www.1st-sugar-free-products.com/polyols.htm): Maltitol is in a class of alternative sweeteners known as polyols which includes sorbitol, xylitol, and mannitol. Also refered to as sugar alcohols, part of polyols' chemical structure resembles sugar and part is similar to alcohols. Scientists use the terms polyhydric alcohols and polyalcohols. Maltitol is produced by the catalytic hydrogenation of a special high maltose corn syrup that transforms the maltose to the sugar alcohol maltitol. Maltitol powders or syrups range from 50 to 89% in maltitol purity. Maltitol has no aftertaste like some of the other polyols. Like other polyols, maltitol is slowly absorbed by the system. Maltitol is not a mono- or di-saccharide like common sugar and has different physical properties than those of sugars. The sweetness level of maltitol is about 90% that of sugar. Maltitol provides 3.0 calories per gram compared to approximately 4.0 calories per gram for sugar. Replacing all of the sugar in a product with maltitol powder results in a calorie reduction between 12 to 15%. SignatureBob M in CT remove 'x.' to reply > >> > Hello all, newbie here and former lurker. I have been lurking for > >> > quite awhile and I've received a lot of great information here about [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > > I was merely pointing out that the "alcohol" can't evaporate. Of course it can't evaporate, because there is no alcohol there to begin with. > Please see the following (from > http://www.1st-sugar-free-products.com/polyols.htm): [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > in a product with maltitol powder results in a calorie reduction between > 12 to 15%. > I didn't experience the usual laxative > affect from these candies and have gained about five pounds! Mind you [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > was thinking that maybe the alcohol had evaporated and only the sugar > was left? Sugar alcohols are alcohols. They are called sugar alcohols because they are sweet. They cannot turn into sugars. --Bryan Bobo meant to write sugar alcohols are NOT true alcohols. Technically they are hydrogenated starch molecules and depending on which sugar alcohol you get, they can metabolize into significant amounts of sugar. http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/products.htm discusses this. Check out the link there to the Canadian diabetes organization's PDF file to find out exactly how much real carb there is in each of the sugar alcohols. Maltitol is the worst. -- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes, hba1c 5.2. Cut the carbs to respond to my email address! Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes, strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/ Looking for help controlling your blood sugar? Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm > > I didn't experience the usual laxative > > affect from these candies and have gained about five pounds! Mind you [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > --Bryan > > I didn't experience the usual laxative > > affect from these candies and have gained about five pounds! Mind you [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > --Bryan Sugar alcohols most definitely are NOT alcohols. So, if the OP is worried about them evaporating like an alcohol would, that's not going to happen. |
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