Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate?????

[sherrybee]

okay.....it's greek to me......but-----i bought a bag of sugar free gummi bears and under carb content, this is what all of the carb grams are contributed to......what is this and how much should one worry about consuming it on a low carb diet

help from karen or anyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

[doreen T]

hi sherrybee,

HSH is a sugar alcohol, similar to maltitol ... in fact it is also called "maltitol syrup" by some manufacturers. And just like maltitol and sorbitol and all the other polyols ... it may or may not cause problems for lowcarbers ... its absorption is delayed in the bowel ... so supposedly causes little or no rise in blood sugar or insulin, but this is a YMMV thing ... Also, like other sugar alcohols, because it arrives in the large bowel relatively undigested, the bacteria that live normally in the colon go WILD ... Yayy, sugar!! and the result can be a bit unpleasant. Check out my article on Sugar Alcohols in the Tips column ... on the red menu bar at the top of the page.

Best bet would be to pay attention to the serving size ... if it says 5 or 6 pieces is 1 serving, it would be best to stick to that, since going higher invites the unpleasant gas and diarrhea effects, and may potentially trigger sugar cravings.

Doreen

[sherrybee]

thanks doreen......with those effects i think it's safe to say i WON'T be snacking on these at work.......lol

[JeanetteJ]

Are HSH and Maltitol basically the same thing? Would it be possible for HSH to have a different affect than Maltitol, in the same individaul? What about Sorbital? Does it act like these or does it act more like sugar? What about when the package just says 'sugar alcohol?' When you count carbs, can you subtract these? There's a sugar free candy I found that I like, but the total carbohydrate says 17g. but there's 14g maltitol, and 2g fiber, so is that really like only one gram carb? or is that too good to be true??? All of this is new to me.
Jeanette

[IslandGirl]

All of them have a variety of actions. There's a LOT of information about the bulk or nutritive artificual sweeteners (that's the technical name for these babies, means they *have calories* as compared to the 'regular' artificial sweeteners we're used to, which have essentially zero calories in the amounts used...) at http://www.caloriecontrol.org .

This thing about calories is **important** because it can help you get a grip on the estimated carb grams in these things if one is going to eat them anyway. Take the total calories from the label and subtract any protein grams times 4, and any fat grams times 9. The number left you can divide by 4 and you will have, roughly, an effective carb gram count. Never mind the "low carb, sugarfree" marketing business, the sugar alcohols (including glycerol/glycerine) ARE legally and technically carbohydrates and are treated that way by the body, too.

PS: Sorbitol causes more people to have more severe gastrointestinal effects than maltitol... mostly... :(

PPS: there's a lot of posts scattered around the Forum about sugarfree chocolate (Ross, Darrell Lea, etc.) but they're only SUCROSE-free they're not SUGARS or CARB free.

Calc 'em and Count 'em, folks!

[JeanetteJ]

Thanks for the info Island girl. I'm going to have to do more surfing.
Jeanette