
January 11, 2002
Meal Planning, Food and Diet
Question from Rochester Hills, Michigan, USA:
My husband has type�2 diabetes, and we watch his diet very carefully. He enjoys the sugar free cookies, but we are concerned about the sugar alcohol that is listed on the ingredients. What is this? How many grams a day should he ingest?
Answer:
Sugar alcohols are a form of sweetener that do not raise blood sugars as much as added table sugar. Small amounts of sugar alcohol in sugar free foods are fine, just be careful not to consume more (because these alcohols — whose names usually end in -ol — can have a laxative effect). Sugar free foods still have carbohydrates, just not as much as foods with regular table sugar added to them.
JMS