Sugar alcohols and digestion
 

I totally whomped out on the new sugar free Reece's peanut butter cups last night. Ate a WHOLE bag of the mini ones (around 10 or 2 servings). They were good, but let me tell you, the side effects are bad, bad, bad! They are sweetened by lactitol instead of malitol and for me, the effects are way worse.

I don't really feel guilty (cause I am not ever doing THAT again) but I am trying to figure out how to enter the information into fitday. Here is the nutrition information from the website
http://www.hersheyssugarfree.com/about/reeses.html:

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size (39g – 5 pieces)
Calories: 170
Calories from Fat: 110
Total Fat: 12g
Saturated Fat: 5g
Cholesterol: less than 5mg
Sodium: 125mg
Total Carbohydrate: 23g
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 0g
Lactitol: 19g
Protein: 2g

And here is what Hersey's website says about lactitol:

"It... provides about one-half the amount of carbohydrates compared to sugar. This has been reflected in the dietary exchange values indicated on our packages."

From the lactitol FAQ:

"One of the reasons that lactitol is lower in calories and carbohydrates compared to sugar is that it is digested and absorbed in a different way. Sugar is digested in the stomach by an enzyme, while lactitol is digested in the large intestine by normally occurring bacteria. In the process of digesting lactitol, some digestive side effects can occur, including flatulence, colic, and diarrhea. Severity of the side effects will vary based on the individual, and the amount of product that is eaten. "

BTW, the information on the digestion of sugar is not completely true-sugars are primarily digested in the small intestine NOT the stomach by insulin (as we all know) that is produced by the pancreas and dumped into the first part of the small intestine. However, starches are partially digested in the mouth first by an enzyme called amalyse.

Anyway, my question for you physiologists is this: Do I count half the effect carbs in fitday from the nutrition information (that would be 11 per serving) or do I subtract the lactitol like I would the fiber since it is digested in the large intestine-far away from any insulin? I just want to be accurate in my fitday account.

Mmmm - interesting. I have a theory about sugar alcohols that if you eat them consistantly your gut will grow the correct bacteria to digest them. It used to be that sorbitol made me run to the loo - in even small amounts. Now I can eat it with little side effects.

I think Paleoanth, that if the lactitol gave you the runs then you are not digesting it - you have probably cultivated bacteria which like malitol better! Therefore I'd count it as 0 - but malitol maybe fifty percent.

I may be talking rubbish but like all of us here, I'm also interested in sugar alcohols as I make my own s/f jam (jelly to you).

Regards,
Robert

Robert-

Thanks! That makes sense and believe me you have no idea how bad it was. Still suffering today. Not counting the lactitol makes my carb count for yesterday fairly reasonable-even after eating the tops off of two pieces of pizza (I was over at my bosses house).

I actually eat any sugar free premade stuff so rarely-I doubt my intestines have adapted to any of it. I love the cream cheese/splenda/cream "cheesecake" that I rarely look outside that for a sweet fix.

My mouth still tastes horrible, so I am guessing I have not thrown myself out of ketosis.

Dear Paleoanth,

Believe me, I have every idea how bad it was. The first time I bought a bar of diabetic chocolate (100g) I ate the lot. I've never had such gas in my life :eek: and I was ill for about 2 days! Now I use polyols as a deliberate laxative when I can't go. Two or three spoons of my homemade jam will soon shift me!

What a topic :blush:
Robert

LOL!! Isn't it amazing how intimate we all are on these forums? I have talked about stuff I would never discuss in "polite society".

My experience probably wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't ate the whole stupid bag! What was I thinking?!

You're right the Hershey's are terrible. Can eat Russell Stover's Sugar Free without any problems (only eat one or two at a time, once a week). I will never buy them again, and I only ate 2 pieces.

The Hershey's with lactitol do it to me, too. Even one. In fact, I just ate one today because I need a laxative. It worked very fast.

Ironically, my digestive tract isn't bothered by the Russell Stovers, which are sweetened with maltitol. There was a thread on this a while back and most people were the opposite--it was maltitol that bothered them and not lactitol.

That is an idea. I will just use the Reece's for ummm "medical" reasons.

I would agree that your "adverse reaction" certainly means that you didn't absorb many of those carbs (you know all too well where they went :( ) And, yes, I've done this to myself also- that's gotta say something about the seriously addictive nature of certain little cholocate candies... (especially since I kept on eating after noticing how poorly they were agreeing with me)

My approach to sugar alcohols has been to count them as half the carbs they say- just to keep me in control- but, mentally I don't think of even those remaining carbs as being as bad insulin-wise as pure sugar carbs. If you search the web a bit you can find the glycemic index of these sugar alcohols and it generally is quite low. That means that even if you did eventually absorb 11.5 of those 23 grams, the absorption probably happened so slowly that it had a negligable impact on blood sugar / insulin. So, from an insulin standpoint, maybe don't cout them, but from a calorie standpoint, count the half that actually made it in....??

LOL - well, thankfully, I am not the only person who Lactitol effects negatively. I too tried the Hershey's s/f Peanut Butter Cups & got the runs so bad, I thought I was going to die. And the GAS! Jeeze - my poor hubby :roll:. I guess if I get in a "jam" tho, I know how to solve it...
I guess I have learned my lesson...I only had 5 of the little things & it was horrible. I am going to stick to diet root beer & cream from now on....

Glad I'm not the only one... :lol:

I can have 1 serving of the SF Reese's cups safely, but the one (and only) time I had the whole bad- it was trouble. Usually, though, they just give me lots of gas. :blush:

What's scarier yet is that Russell Stover's has this affect on me after only 1-2 pieces. I tried their pecan clusters (Turtles) one time and it about killed me.

I think I read somewhere on here that if you have a "gassy" or "runny" reaction from these candies (or any sugar alcohols), you body is not storing or processing them as sugar. Basically our bodies are just disposing of them at their earliest and quickest convenience. (Hopefully that made sense.)

We should keep this stuff in glass boxess w/the tag "Break glass in case of emergency." :lol:

Nikki :daizy:

Oh man, do I know what you mean. Yesterday I had some Guylian sugar-free chocolate with malt. and I was groaning for half the night. Never again.

Glad to know I am not alone in my suffering! My favorite part was the really loud noises in my belly.

I decided not to count them for the day-I don't think anything else I ate over there got digested either. ;)

Hey Paleoanth, you're right! That makes me feel better!

In fact, sugar alcohols are prescribed by doctors as laxatives. I know of at least one called 'lactulose' which is a combination of two sugar alcohols that is prescribed for constipation. It is especially effective and gentle for elderly patients.

:p