Should Sugar Alcohols be Subtracted from ”Net Carbs?”
We say no! You will have faster, healthier, and longer-lasting weight loss success if you do not subtract sugar alcohols from net carbs. Why?
Because sugar alcohols are carbohydrates. Sure they may not be as sweet as sugar, and have fewer calories per gram compared to sugar, but unlike fiber, sugar alcohols are partially digested (fiber is not).
Also, sugar alcohols do not have consistent caloric or glycemic values which creates an irregular and unpredictable impact on insulin, which in turn can stimulate fat storage as opposed to fat burning. Impact on glucose levels-pancreas response is the reason we want to monitor net carbs to determine our threshold for fat burning.
Sugar alcohols, also known as polyols, are ingredients used as sweeteners and bulking agents and unfortunately, there are possible unwanted side effects: the most common is the possibility of bloating and diarrhea when sugar alcohols are eaten in excessive amounts.
Much like fructose (natural fruit sugar in fruit) and fruit juice, there is also evidence that sugar alcohols can cause a "laxative effect."
Further, weight gain has been seen when these products are overeaten.
Sugar Alcohols vs. Artificial Sweeteners
Sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners, such as saccharin (Sweet & Low®) and aspartame (Equal® or Nutrasweet®), are not the same. Artificial sweeteners contain zero calories whereas sugar alcohols contain about 2.6 calories per gram. Another issue is diabetes management. Artificial sweeteners do not contain carbohydrates so they do not cause blood sugar to elevate, whereas, sugar alcohols have some effect on blood sugar.
Marketing savvy
You’ll see that in many product labels, and diet programs, they subtract the sugar alcohols in their Net Carbs count. This can give significant inaccurate and misleading information regarding the true net carb effect. Currently, there is no legal rule for net carb claims by food manufacturers, resulting in net carb calculations that are often misleading and actually slow the metabolism of fat burning.
At BonVie Weight Loss & Nutritional Wellness
The Ideal Protein brand of protein foods and snacks we use at our BonVie clinics pays close and accurate attention to all ingredients and their effect on pancreas function and ketosis. To calculate net carbs, we only subtract the grams of Fiber from the total grams of carbohydrates. Fiber is a carbohydrate that cannot be broken down into sugar and it passes through the body undigested. Fiber is also known to help reduce blood sugar variability and increases the feeling of fullness.
Sugar alcohols in small quantities are not bad, just like artificial sweeteners, just don’t use them to calculate net carbs. In fact, at BonVie we urge our clients to skip the Net Carb calculation altogether, and just pay attention to the Total Carb Count of a food.
