the truth about polyols

[greener]

hello

I got some cookies that have 50% carbs but only 0.5% sugar

are these suitable for a low carb (basically almost no carb, ie. daily carb < 5-10g) diet?

I suppose all these carbs in the cookies are polyols? are they carbs that can be consumed freely in a low carb diet?

do they spike insulin? do they raise blood sugar? are they metabolized?

thanks!

 

[Winnie53]

greener, can you state more information:

What is listed as a serving for the cookies? 1 cookie? 2? 5?

Total carb per serving? Or per cookie? (Please state which)

Total sugar per serving or cookie? (Again, please state which)

Percentages are meaningless without additional information from the label.

Here's an example:

Corn Chips

Serving Size: "about 10 chips"

Total Carbohydrate: 19g

Total Sugar 0g

To calculate "per chip", I divided 19g by 10 chips and get 1.9g per chip (or almost 2g per corn chip).

In addition, I've started keeping a nutrition journal. In it, I list the food, it's serving (which I typically list as it's weight, often 100g, though in this case, I might do instead as 1 corn chip; and its carb; fiber; fat; protein; and calorie content.

Here's that example again:

1 corn chip: 1.9g carb; 0.1g fiber; 0.6g fat; 0.2g protein; 14 calories

The label gave information by serving, which was 10 corn chips - ("about 10 chips" 19g carb; 1g fiber; 6g fat; 2g protein; 140 calories) - so I just divided what was listed on the label by 10 (because there are 10 chips per serving).

In the US, we have to go through the additional process of subtracting the fiber amount from the carbohydrate amount to determine the actual digestible amount of carb. Luckily, you don't have to do that with labels outside the US.

 

[greener]

it's per 100g

 

[Winnie53]

I'm not familiar with labeling in the U.K. Perhaps someone else will come along to help you.

 

[tim2000s]

Greener, 45% polyols is not a great mix. If you eat only 50g, it is very likely they will have a laxative effect. The polyols do raise blood glucose levels in some people.

 

[Brunneria]

Greener, 45% polyols is not a great mix. If you eat only 50g, it is very likely they will have a laxative effect. The polyols do raise blood glucose levels in some people.

Yes.

I've heard some horror stories about the laxative effect.

Luckily, I seem to be immune, but always worth starting gently!

And worth testing your BG over a prolonged period, too...

 

[JTL]

Test and see what happens is tattooed across my feeble mind now i have no idea what a polyol is but will go and google it but .... if it says fifty percent carbs to me that would be high carbs.

 

[JTL]

Health potential of polyols as sugar replacers, with emphasis on low glycaemic properties.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19087388

 

[tim2000s]

Which is all well and good, however the other thing to be aware of is that in diabetics, the polyol pathway is one of the routes to tissue damage when suffering hyperglycemia.

This converts glucose to sorbitol then to fructose. As a type 2 diabetic, at a cellular level, if you are ingesting polyols to any great extent, the cellular activity is to convert polyols to fructose, which isn't really what you want. Note that they are not fully digested, but it's still not ideal.

 

[greener]

I can't find the exact metabolism of polyols in the body

are they absorbed? are they utilized? are they treated like glucose?
how can they rise insulin if they are not glucose?
do they have calories?

 

[greener]

can I consume 100g polyols per day and still do low carb diet of less than 10g per day?

 

[DeejayR]

In every discussion we have of polyols there is something definitive missing, which is "this IS what they are and this IS what they do and therefore they ARE (or ARE NOT) safe for most but not all diabetics." I feel I should have understood by now having read so much, but schloop! there it slips from my grasp again like a bar of wet soap. Sorry.

NB There are no polyols in soap afaik.

 

[greener]

all I know is that after consuming around 100g of diabetic chocolates, I went to the wc
I don't know if I destroyed my keto

 

[Winnie53]

all I know is that after consuming around 100g of diabetic chocolates, I went to the wc
I don't know if I destroyed my keto

greener, what does "wc" mean? I'm glad you started this topic. I have a lot of fear about artificial sweeteners. If it wasn't for my oven not working, I'd probably have baked something, using Stevia perhaps, by now. They're "illegal" on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome... http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/knowledge_base/detail/sugar-alcohols/

 

[jack412]

 

[Winnie53]

Thanks Jack. I did ask, I know...

 

[greener]

greener, what does "wc" mean? I'm glad you started this topic. I have a lot of fear about artificial sweeteners. If it wasn't for my oven not working, I'd probably have baked something, using Stevia perhaps, by now. They're "illegal" on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome... http://www.breakingtheviciouscycle.info/knowledge_base/detail/sugar-alcohols/

WC commonly refers to a water closet (flush toilet).