The Truth about Sugar Alcohol - A Brief Explanation on Sugar Alcohols and Nutrition Labels

While reading a nutrition label on a protein bar I recently purchased, I noticed they were boasting about the fact that their bar had ZERO GRAMS OF SUGAR. "Wow" I thought to myself. "That's Great. Most protein bars are loaded with sugar". Then on the next line down, I saw it had 23g of sugar alcohol. My first thought was WTF is sugar alcohol? I had no idea and hadn't really ever seen it listed on a nutrition label this way. After doing some research, I will attempt to inform everyone on "What is Sugar Alchohol" and how does it relate to nutrition.

What Is Sugar Alcohol?

According to EveryDayHealth.com: "Sugar alcohols are a type of sweetener used in foods labeled "sugar-free." You'll find them in chewing gum, sugar-free candies, cookies, soft drinks, and other foods. Sugar alcohols have about one-half to one-third fewer calories than sugar. For example, if a food label doesn't list sugar as an ingredient, but it has 20 grams of sugar alcohol, that is equal to the calories in about 10 grams of sugar."

So, in a nutshell, sugar alcohols are carbs that naturally occur in many fruits and vegetables. Although sweet, they have a few properties that are attractive to people watching their sugar and carbohydrate intake:

• They Sugar Alcohol Polyols are slowly and not completely absorbed during digestion which reduces the quantity of carbohydrates the body absorbs
• Most Sugar Alcohol Polyols have fewer calories than regular table sugar.

The most common Sugar Alcohol polyols are:

• Sorbitol (2.6 calories per gram)
• Maltitol (2.1 calories per gram)
• Lactilol(2 calories per gram)
• Erythritol (0.2 calories per gram)
• Isomalt (2 calories per gram)
• Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (3 calories per gram)
• Mannitol (1.6 calories per gram)
• Xylitol (2.4 calories per gram) - used in some Trident Chewing Gums
• Maltitol syrup (4.32 calories per gram)

For a more in-depth explanation on sugar alcohols, click here.

For a discussion around where sugar alcohols are good sugar replacements, click here.