what are sugar alcohols

[MarkG]

i am a diabetic and bought these artificially sweetened Dove brand chocolates. the nutrition panel on the label says zero grams sugar and 17G sugar alcohols. are the latter an issue for diabetics or are they harmless??

[Wahooty]

I don't know the intricacies of how much sugar alcohol is safe for diabetics, but the general idea is that they are molecules that are related to sugars, so they taste sweet, and while you don't metabolize them the way you do sugars, the bacteria in your gut can happily ferment them. So don't eat a whole bag, because they WILL cause digestive distress, even if they don't hurt your blood sugar. ;)

[Kontxesi]

^ Done that. Seriously bad idea. :(

[kmcarr]

Mark,

You should check out this page from the ADA http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitn...