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Are the sugars in powdered food 'free'?

G

Glu Koce

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
I use powdered food everyday, some of which however are quite high in sugar and am concerned whether this sugar is 'free' or 'intrinsic'.

Multiple definitions of free sugar state that sugars become free when the cell, whose structure holds the sugar, is broken down (e.g. from blending, juicing etc). This means that the body absorbs the sugar significantly quicker, causing a greater insulin response. However I've also read that consuming sugar along with fibre and fat help slow absorption, resulting in a less intense insulin spike. Powdered food retains the fat and fibre content.

The various inclusions and exclusions for free sugar don't however explicitly mention whether the process of powdering the food breaks the cells down (thereby releasing the sugars). I'm trying to find this out so I can understand if I'm unknowingly and falsely counting my daily free sugar intake.
 
I’m sorry but I’m unclear as to what you mean by powdered food? Are you talking about meal replacement drinks like Complan? If so what are the ingredients in it?
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Powdered food like Carob powder, which has ~40g of sugar per 100g [1]. If the powder is consumed in 5g portions, that's 2g of sugar. Using multiple different powdered foods over the day could add up!
Is there a specific reason you are looking into this for powdered foods?
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I'm trying to limit my (free) sugar intake as in the past it's been incredibly bad (I've had days where I've had 90g of free sugar from fruit juice in the space of an hour) along with trying to just become generally healthier so I can avoid things like diabetes
Here is a link to the NHS guidance on free sugars
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Thanks, the issue though is that I've scoured multiple official definitions of free sugar but can't explicitly find anything on powdered foods
 
Most people don’t rely on any sort of powdered food which is probably why you are struggling to find information.

In this report here https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6261171/pdf/FSN3-6-2151.pdf the sugars are given as glucose, sucrose and fructose. I would say these are all types of sugar which are free sugars and bad for blood sugar.

In terms of reducing blood sugar spikes I think you are better avoiding powders like this and focussing on eating unprocessed food, mostly meat, vegetables, dairy.
 
Thanks. I don't seem to be able to publish links but that's the report I was looking at for [1]. The type of sugar doesn't determine whether it's free or not (though they do have different GIs), rather under what 'conditions' the sugar is consumed.

On the Diabetes website itself it aligns with the the general understanding of free vs intrinsic sugars and states that sugar from fruit itself (i.e. not juiced) need not be a cause for concern.

My question therefore still stands, as these powders are from foods and fruits that are considered very beneficial.

I don't know whether it's the simple fact of the sugar having been released from its containing cells that means that it's free, or whether it's the lack of fat and fibre along with it. The question might also then evolve into whether the powdering process causes the sugar to be released from its original containing cells!
 
Glu Koce said:
On the Diabetes website itself it aligns with the the general understanding of free vs intrinsic sugars and states that sugar from fruit itself (i.e. not juiced) need not be a cause for concern.
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I have diabetes and use a contunuous glucose monitor.
I can assure you that sugars from fresh fruit make my blood glucose go up very sharply.
I use a small amount of fresh fruit to treat a low if I get the chance because I love fruit but the sugar acts so quickly that my injected insulin isn't able to keep up with the rise.
 
Glu Koce said:
I use powdered food everyday, some of which however are quite high in sugar and am concerned whether this sugar is 'free' or 'intrinsic'.

Multiple definitions of free sugar state that sugars become free when the cell, whose structure holds the sugar, is broken down (e.g. from blending, juicing etc). This means that the body absorbs the sugar significantly quicker, causing a greater insulin response. However I've also read that consuming sugar along with fibre and fat help slow absorption, resulting in a less intense insulin spike. Powdered food retains the fat and fibre content.

The various inclusions and exclusions for free sugar don't however explicitly mention whether the process of powdering the food breaks the cells down (thereby releasing the sugars). I'm trying to find this out so I can understand if I'm unknowingly and falsely counting my daily free sugar intake.
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@Glu Koce are you asking if powdered sugars raise insulin secretion faster, to counter the rise in blood sugar, if they are ‘free sugars’ . Might I suggest you test your blood sugar levels with a glucometer or use a CGM device. That way you can see just how quickly your blood sugars rise. However, it seems to me, that this is a difficult question to answer as you will be relying on blood sugar levels to determine insulin response so there will be two variables to contend with. Along with the fact not everyone’s response is the same. On top of that it will depend on first phase insulin response, which is often lost with T2 diabetes, and undetermined in pre diabetes.

Edited to add T2
 
Melgar said:
are you asking if powdered sugars raise insulin secretion faster, to counter the rise in blood sugar, if they are ‘free sugars’
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Not powdered sugar, just powdered foods (where there is still fibre, fats, etc)
test your blood sugar levels with a glucometer or use a CGM device
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That sounds like a very interesting test to do: take some normal fruit and monitor the levels.. then take some powder of the same fruit and see how the responses differ. The devices seem quite invasive though (breaking the skin barrier is required) so I'll pass on this test!
 
Any dried fruit will be concentrated in sugar, I’ve never used them & probably wouldn’t as the average nutritional value I can find for fruit powders is 100g powder is 60g carb all of which are pure sugars - that’s 3 days of carbs for me. Some are much higher still, for me sugar, is sugar, is sugar, no matter how or where it comes from. Reading around the internet it seems like the latest too good to be true trend

Like @Lakeslover suggests, just eat good fresh whole foods that aren’t processed.
 
Glu Koce said:
Not powdered sugar, just powdered foods (where there is still fibre, fats, etc)

That sounds like a very interesting test to do: take some normal fruit and monitor the levels.. then take some powder of the same fruit and see how the responses differ. The devices seem quite invasive though (breaking the skin barrier is required) so I'll pass on this test!
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Using the ‘quite invasive devices’ is something that those of us who have diabetes have to do on a regular basis, @Glu Koce. We get used to it. It is not so unpleasant, and provides valuable and accurate information to us on how various foods consumed affect our blood glucose levels. For some it is a matter of utmost importance to have this knowledge to enable us to know the correct levels of medication and/ or added insulin needed.
I don’t see that there is any other way we can help with your query if you are not prepared to test your blood glucose with a drop of blood and a meter, or a CGM device.
 
Pipp said:
Using the ‘quite invasive devices’ is something that those of us who have diabetes have to do on a regular basis, @Glu Koce. We get used to it. It is not so unpleasant, and provides valuable and accurate information to us on how various foods consumed affect our blood glucose levels. For some it is a matter of utmost importance to have this knowledge to enable us to know the correct levels of medication and/ or added insulin needed.
I don’t see that there is any other way we can help with your query if you are not prepared to test your blood glucose with a drop of blood and a meter, or a CGM device.
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Agree. It really doesn't matter what terminology anyone uses - what counts is the food's impact on blood glucose, and how well one's insulin response system can cope with that impact. And the only way to know that is to test blood glucose - eg before eating, and then at +2 hrs, or use a CGM. Without that, it's just a guess.
 
Glu Koce said:
The devices seem quite invasive though (breaking the skin barrier is required) so I'll pass on this test!
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is there a particular reason thats something your not particularly wanting to try?
i have needlephobia.. needs must can take me a while. if needle phobia or simular some cbt may assist let know can post a few links or can do your own resarch needlephobia. more or less look for triggers and possible solutions, focus on positives rather than negatives that can perhaps come with. cgm by the way is once and good for 10-15 days in most cases really good for trends and would allow a lot easier expirimentation with food products in the way it effects yourself a unique individual, not all foods effect everyone the same way :)
 
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