What exactly is sugar alcohol. Can it serve as a healthy substitute for natural sugar or low-calorie sweeteners?
Are low-calorie or no-calorie sweeteners any healthier than natural sugar?
Also known as artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes, the list of low-calorie and no-calorie sweeteners you may see on product nutrition labels includes acesulfame-K, saccharin, sucralose, neotame, and advantame. These have a higher sweetness intensity per gram than natural sugar.
What exactly are sugar alcohols and how can you spot them?
Sugar alcohols may have the most misleading name, as they are neither sugar nor alcohol, according to Dr. Hu. “They are a type of carbohydrate derived from fruits and vegetables, although most commercial sugar alcohols are synthetically produced.”
You can usually spot many sugar alcohols on ingredient lists by “-ol” at the ends of their names. Examples include sorbitol, xylitol, lactitol, mannitol, erythritol, and maltitol.
Are sugar alcohols any healthier than other sugar substitutes or natural sugar?
Here is a look at the pros and cons.
The upside of sugar alcohols
Sugar alcohols reside in the sweet spot between natural sugar and low-calorie sweeteners. They are not as overly sweet as sweeteners and don’t add too many extra calories like sugar.
“Sugar alcohols are about 40% to 80% as sweet as natural sugar, whereas artificial sweeteners like aspartame are about 200 times sweeter,” And they have about 25% to 75% fewer calories per gram than sugar.
Another upside of sugar alcohols is that they break down slowly in the gut. Hence, your body only absorbs part of their overall carbohydrates. “This keeps your blood sugar and insulin levels from spiking as they do with sugar,” says Dr. Hu. “That makes them a useful sugar substitute for people with diabetes.”
The downside of sugar alcohols
The main downside to sugar alcohols เว็บพนันออนไลน์ UFABET สมัครง่าย โปรโมชั่นมากมาย is this. When taken in high amounts they can cause gastrointestinal (GI) problems, such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, or loose stools.