"Natural" sweeteners: Xylitol or Erythritol, which is best?

uart

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Hi. So far I've been mostly avoiding sweeteners. Basically by just not having much sweet stuff, and if I do then just use very small amounts of sugar to sweeten it.

Anyway I've been thinking about trying one of the so called natural sugar polyol alternatives. I recently heard about Xylitol here and was keen to try it, however my local supermarket didn't have it. It has instead what appears to be a similar product called Erythritol.

From what I can gather Xylitol and Erthritol are chemically very similar, both polyls with just 5 versus 4 carbon atoms respectively. So does anyone know which is the best one for a diabetic?
 
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Safi

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After various reports lately about the effect that artificial sweeteners can have on the gut microbiome, I'm kind of leery about any of them.

Here are a couple of blogposts you might find useful:

http://authoritynutrition.com/sugar-alcohols-good-or-bad/
http://authoritynutrition.com/erythritol/


Fascinating stuff isn't Indy51? I read a book on the gut bacteria stuff right after I was diagnosed - searching for a reason I guess - & have recently bought another.

Didn't mean to derail your thread there @uart but I thought I'd second Indy51's sentiment that they are worth looking into, particularly if you've been getting by without them. For my own part I try to limit my consumption of artificial sweeteners to post-meal dental gum (currently on the hunt for an alternative) & I've all but (so close!) weaned myself off diet tonic water.
 
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Lesleywo

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Fascinating stuff isn't Indy51? I read a book on the gut bacteria stuff right after I was diagnosed - searching for a reason I guess - & have recently bought another.

Didn't mean to derail your thread there @uart but I thought I'd second Indy51's sentiment that they are worth looking into, particularly if you've been getting by without them. For my own part I try to limit my consumption of artificial sweeteners to post-meal dental gum (currently on the hunt for an alternative) & I've all but (so close!) weaned myself off diet tonic water.
Guess a girls' gotta have something in her gin!
 

Larissima

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Dr Bernstein claims that sugar alcohols will raise diabetic blood sugars significantly, if consumed in quantity larger than 1 tablespoon - in his experience. I suppose the best thing would be to test on yourself.

I have used xylitol in the past, before diagnosis, and found it OK. It's supposedly good for the teeth! (But poisonous to dogs, very dangerous, apparently)
 
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Robbity

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Of the two erythritol has (virtually) no calories - xylitol does. I believe erythritol is the one best recommended for diabetics, and is also recommended by Trudi Deakin (of EXPERT fame), in her book "Eat Fat!".

Xylitol is also extremely toxic to dogs, so it's a definite no-no in this house.

I use erythritol in small small quantities in some of my baking when required, but it can make me a bit "burpy".:wideyed: (ETA) But I've never noticed any difference at all in my glucose levels due to using it!

Robbity
 
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uart

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Thanks for the replies everyone. :)

I ended up getting Xylitol to test for now as it turned out that "pure" Erythritol wasn't available locally. All of the products that I could find here in shops had the Erythritol combined with Stevia and/or Steviols. Seeing as I'm still a bit leery of sweeteners at the moment, I decided to go with Xylitol as I could get that as a "pure" product (in the sense of not being combined with anything else).

Having now researched this a bit, I do believe that the Erythritol is probably the better one for the diabetic. However Xylitol has one advantage in that it's been used for longer and it's effects have been somewhat more extensively researched. So I'm fairly happy either way, though I might try sourcing pure Erthritol online next time I need more.

I don't plan on using all that much. Like I said above, I'm already accustomed to not needing things too sweet anyway. To be honest I very much doubt that I'll be consuming more than one tablespoon per day, and definitely not in one sitting. :)
 
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uart

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Xylitol is also extremely toxic to dogs, so it's a definite no-no in this house.

Hi Robbity. As you can probably tell from my avatar, that's extremely important to me as well. :)

Rest assured that the Xylitol (and anything containing it) will be kept well out of the reach of "Muttley".

BTW. It's interesting to note that the cause of this toxicity is in fact simple hypoglycaemia. Basically the dog's system is unable to distinguish it from sugar and so its ingestion causes a large (but unneeded) insulin response.
 
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ewelina

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I use xylitol quite a lot for baking.its quite difficult to get information on how it actually affects sugar levels. Some sources say no effect and other that it contains 75%less available carbohydrates. I even emailed one of the profucers but never got any response :(I decided then to test it on myself and put 30g in my tea ( that was way too sweet but wanted to see any difference). My sugar level rose a bit but not much so I would say that 25% net carb is true
 
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vintageutopia

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I use Stevia and it does not affect my BS. Not all Stevia is created equally, so be sure to buy a good quality Stevia.
 

msmi1970

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My gut tolerates Erythritol/Stevia combo in dark chocolate quite well which isn't necessarily a good thing as I tend to eat more of it. and that inevitably leads to elevated blood sugars for many days. So in some ways, Xylitol which causes (*cough*! gas issues, shall we say) tends to restrict my consumption. either way, i find both addictive so i try to stay away as much and as long as i possibly can..
 

Indy51

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My gut tolerates Erythritol/Stevia combo in dark chocolate quite well which isn't necessarily a good thing as I tend to eat more of it. and that inevitably leads to elevated blood sugars for many days. So in some ways, Xylitol which causes (*cough*! gas issues, shall we say) tends to restrict my consumption. either way, i find both addictive so i try to stay away as much and as long as i possibly can..
I would have thought *cough*ing could be problematic if you have this problem ;)
 
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lizdeluz

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Please, can anyone tell me whether Hartley's 'sugar-free' jelly (crystals) are ok to eat, or does this product not qualify as 'sugar-free'? Also, would you consider it safe?
I made Trudi Deakin's (Eat Fat) ice-cream the other day. It is made of cream and egg yolks, but whereas the recipe called for stevia as a sweetener, I used a Hartley's sugar-free jelly crystals sachet to sweeten it. I froze the result in small plastic pots to obviate the usual problem of home-made ice-cream, namely, it freezes rock-hard and is more or less unusable. The tiny pot will thaw sufficiently during the time needed to eat your first course.

Interestingly, the other day, I ate my dessert in the garden on a sunny, ice-creamy day, and afterwards put my empty dish down on the decking while I dosed in the sun. Tabs, my cat, turned up to join me, but, as is her wont, she checked out my ice-cream dish....

She recoiled as though stung and ran off into the undergrowth.
She is very old for a cat (18) and she doesn't run anywhere.
 

Robbity

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Please, can anyone tell me whether Hartley's 'sugar-free' jelly (crystals) are ok to eat, or does this product not qualify as 'sugar-free'? Also, would you consider it safe?

You'll need to check both the nutritional information and the ingredients on the packaging (or check via Google) to determine whether they're acceptable to you - different flavours may have different ingredients or values. And you should do a meter test to see how your body reacts to them. I know people on the forum enjoy similar jellies, but perhaps your kitty was telling you something? :wideyed:

I'd rather flavour my ice cream with a few fresh berries, and personally I would only accept stevia or erythritol as sweeteners if any are used in a "sugar-free" product. But those are the choices I've made...

Robbity
 
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Brunneria

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I've never had digestive problems with either xylitol or erythritol.
Of the two I prefer xylitol for flavour, but had to switch to erythritol because of the dogs.
The two drawbacks of erythritol are the cost (which is traumatic) and the cooling in the mouth. I have only noticed the latter when baking, which I do very rarely.

I'm happy to use either of these sweeteners, in small quantities. Usually I just use a teasp a day in coffee, then bake some biscuits about once a month...
 

lizdeluz

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You'll need to check both the nutritional information and the ingredients on the packaging (or check via Google) to determine whether they're acceptable to you - different flavours may have different ingredients or values. And you should do a meter test to see how your body reacts to them. I know people on the forum enjoy similar jellies, but perhaps your kitty was telling you something? :wideyed:

I'd rather flavour my ice cream with a few fresh berries, and personally I would only accept stevia or erythritol as sweeteners if any are used in a "sugar-free" product. But those are the choices I've made...

Robbity

Yes, I think you're right and I'm going to deselect that jelly and see if I can substitute a limited amount of fresh berries as you suggest. I've always had problems with any sweeteners. Many thanks for your reply.
 

uart

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Type of diabetes
Type 1.5
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Please, can anyone tell me whether Hartley's 'sugar-free' jelly (crystals) are ok to eat, or does this product not qualify as 'sugar-free'? Also, would you consider it safe?

Tabs, my cat, turned up to join me, but, as is her wont, she checked out my ice-cream dish....

She recoiled as though stung and ran off into the undergrowth.
She is very old for a cat (18) and she doesn't run anywhere.

Smart cat! That jelly uses Aspartame and Acesulfame sweeteners. I'd run away from it too. :p
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=252469938
 
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