UKH

Following the thread from Girlymonkey, I thought that I would see what the sweetener was in the low sugar jam that I use at times. It is Sorbitol, which appears to be an alcohol which can be made in the metabolism of diabetics, and can also be changed to fructose. I thought that this jam would be good for diabetics and pre-diabetics(which is what I'm categorised as). Yet now I'm not sure. It sounds like a bad idea.

Does anyone know, is sorbitol just as bad as glucose in the diabetic scenario?

Rob

In reply to veteye:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/carbohydrates-and-...

Polyols and diabetes

It’s not exactly clear how the polyols should be ‘counted’ by people who are adjusting their insulin dose according to the carbohydrate they consume, as not all of the carbohydrate from polyols is absorbed. The amount of calories provided by polyols varies, as the amount of carbohydrate digested or absorbed by the body varies, depending on the type of polyol. People with diabetes should speak to their healthcare team for individual advice about this.  

Polyols and ‘diabetic’ foods

Polyols are usually used in products marketed as‘diabetic’ or ‘suitable for diabetics’and, as these products can be as high in fat and calories as standard products, Diabetes UK and the European Commission Regulations don’t recommend them. Consuming large amounts of polyols can have a laxative effect, causing bloating, flatulence and diarrhoea. 

In reply to veteye:

Polyols are linked to IBS, see list of FODMAP agonists (sorry for all the ackronyms there).

[EDIT: not answering your question in any way, but hopefully useful to be aware of potential side effects]

https://www.ibsdiets.org/fodmap-diet/what-are-fodmaps/

Polyols are sugar alcohols which can be found in various diet and sugar free foods to lower their calorific content. Examples of polyols are sorbitol and xylotol. They can also be found naturally in stone fruits and some vegetables. Sources of polyols include:

Peaches

Plums

Mushrooms

Cauliflower

Sugar free sweets

In reply to veteye:as a long term diabetic things are a lot better now than in the old days when sugar was considered as poisonous to diabetics my problem with sorbitol  was a mother in law who kept buying me suger free "diabetic" sweets and chocolate the big problem being was that sorbitol was a powerful laxative which gave me many a happy hour sitting on the loo reading until I found out!

In reply to veteye:

To come at it from another angle, there is usually an insulin response whenever you eat something sweet (whether it's digestable or not). When your blood insulin is high, your body will practically refuse to burn adipocytes (fat cells) for energy, and will try and store whatever carbohydrates it can find.
In other words, these sweeteners train your body to think that sugar is extremely rare and any stored supplies must be defended at all costs - making weight loss even more intransigent.
In terms of diabetes type 2 - this is clearly a bad scenario, as weight loss can practically reverse all symptoms of diabetes type 2 (I'm seeing the word 'cure' used more frequently as well - which frankly I believe is true).

In reply to SenzuBean:

My understanding is that this is not proven and probably varies between sweeteners. Have you got any substantive evidence for this - recent papers etc?

In reply to veteye:

I don't know, but from my unfortunate experience I suggest avoid sorbitol unless you want to spend your time running to the loo.