Sugar alcohol

Hello to all,

I wanted to make this thread cause I feel a bit confused whether sugar alcohols are able to make you fall off ketosis. I made several researches and arrived to the point that stevia and erythritol were the best since stevia is not so good for baking.

I started asking myself if erythritol still can make blood sugar spikes cause there were some studies showing the GI is 1 but were made on health people and guess diabetics are not in this category. Take a look: http://www.sugar-and-sweetener-guide.com/glycemic-index-for-sweeteners.html

I know how erythritol is processed by the body but some of the carbs are still absorbed and 4 grams of pure erythritol contains 4 carbs.

I started to be obsessed with that after Sunday - a day during which I made some almond muffins using erythritol but the same day I also took a glass of wine that was declared sugar free and I was shocked when I was then told by the company that it is full of sugar! I tasted the sugar but when I found it out was too late! I am so angry, still! Well, the fasting blood sugar was much higher than usual but still in the normal range. Now I am afraid my ketosis is ruined and that I need to do everything from the start

I read about some studies where even if there is a sweetener that doesn't cause blood sugar spikes, till sends messages to the brain to produce insulin which on long term is not good. I must admit that the little quantity of erythritol that I used was too much for me but my husband who eats sweets regularly said he felt no sweet taste at all. I guess I was able to not use a sweetener at all but I did since the recipe said to use it and it is allowed in my diet.

What to do you think? Do you perhaps have some different experience? I am not sure whether was just the wine's fault or also because of this sweetener.

Thanks for all stepping by

My best guess, based on observation of many people over many years, is that it depends.

Some people metabolise sugar alcohols exactly as if they were sugar. Other people turn them into diarrhoea. Some people can tolerate some sugar alcohols but not others. I believe theoretically xylitol is the best tolerated but I know someone who tried it and spent the next half a day on the toilet.

Do you feel lucky? Probably best to test your BG after an hour, and wear brown trousers.

Chris,

based on my research erythritol is the best tolerated that doesn't cause any diarrhea and since I have IBS it should have done something to me but it didn't. My concern is basically just the impact on the BG. I think I will make some experiments.

Anecdotally,the small quantities of artificial sweeteners I have used do not appear to have a negative affect on my BG levels and I'm quite carb sensitive.

thinestever82 wrote:Chris,

based on my research erythritol is the best tolerated that doesn't cause any diarrhea and since I have IBS it should have done something to me but it didn't. My concern is basically just the impact on the BG. I think I will make some experiments.

I've used xylitol which had negligible effects on BG but never tried erythritol, from what I've read though it looks like it should be OK check out Kris Gunnars take on it 

http://authoritynutrition.com/erythritol/

Yes, I have read all that already and I am starting to believe that this can't raise the BG but the studies that claim anything that tastes sugar may have an effect at least on the overproduce of insulin (as a reaction of the signal that the body is sending to the pancreas) is fascinating and could have some base. For my needs this appears to be the best sweetener. I would prefer Stevia but I bought the natural one (green powder) but the taste is grows and can't be used of baking.