Sugar vs Sugar Alcohol

Dave X · Post by **Dave X** » Thu May 18, 2006 2:04 pm

Is there any actual difference between the two, or is it just another marketing ploy by food companies?

Ironman · Post by **Ironman** » Thu May 18, 2006 4:03 pm

They are VERY different. Sugar is a simple carb. Sugar alcohol isn't really a carb. Carb is defined as not fat and not protein. So everything that is not a protein or a fat gets thrown in the carbohydrate catagory. Ethinal alcohol (the intoxicating ingredient) is lumped into carbs most of the time when really alcohol is it's own macronutrient catagory. Alcohols have little to no impact on blood sugar. They are burned before carbohydrates though. So if you eat candy sweetened with sugar alcohols, it will not spike your insulin, but it does have calories and your body will use them before it uses carbs or fats. So if you are on a low carb diet, you get more of a free hand to eat this stuff because the low insulin levels prevent fat storage. If you are not, you can store it as fat if you have more then you can use. However it is not as bad as eating the sugar because you don't have the insulin spike which better facilitates the fat storage.

northernbelle · Post by **northernbelle** » Thu May 18, 2006 4:18 pm

I did a google search on sugar alcohols. Basically, it is not a sugar and not an alcohol, but has properties that resemble both. It does not contain the intoxicating element, and is made from plant sources, or manufactured, depending on the type of sugar alcohol.

Here are some of the sites:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_alcohol
lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/sugaralcohols.htm
truestarhealth.com/Notes/1957006.html
ific.org/publications/factsheets/surgaralcoholfs.cfm

Ironman · Post by **Ironman** » Thu May 18, 2006 11:49 pm

It is an alcohol, it just isn't ethinol alcohol. We call ethinol alcohol "alcohol". The thing is, that is like calling sucrose "carbohydrate".

Post by **Jungledoc** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 7:30 am

angelabrookss wrote:If you are on a low diabetes diet

Yeah. I try to eat as little diabetes as possible.

Post by **stuward** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 7:48 am

Was that diet designed to give you diabetes? In PNG I thought you guys do the diabetic diet. Our cooking pots don't hold a whole diabetic at once so we eat lobster.

Post by **Jungledoc** » Sat Dec 25, 2010 7:53 am

stuward wrote:Was that diet designed to give you diabetes? In PNG I thought you guys do the diabetic diet. Our cooking pots don't hold a whole diabetic at once so we eat lobster.

Haven't tried it myself, but I'm sure that diabetics are sweeter than the other people!

Lately, we missionaries have been encouraging folks to stop eating diabetics.