Beware of sugar-free bunnies and chicks

Candy bun­nies and chicks are in every store. Easter time is a great time to remem­ber these spring­time ani­mals molded from our favorite con­fec­tionary, chocolate.

Remem­ber that only the brown or dark brown choco­lates con­tain the health­ful car­diac ben­e­fits. The darker the choco­late, the more antiox­i­dants it con­tains. White, pink and even green vari­eties of choco­late show up at this time of the year. They con­tain all the fat and calo­ries of brown choco­late with­out the ben­e­fits of the cacao bean.

Beware of choco­lates and other can­dies that con­tain sugar alco­hols. Some of the most pop­u­lar are described on the label as: sor­bitol, xyl­i­tol, lac­ti­tol, man­ni­tol, glyc­erol, ribitol, iso­malt, and maltitol.

Do not con­fuse sugar alco­hols with arti­fi­cial sweet­en­ers, aka, the pink pack, the blue pack, the yel­low pack or the green pack. The arti­fi­cial sweet­en­ers con­tain no calo­ries and the side effects or sen­si­tiv­i­ties of con­sum­ing them vary. Sugar alco­hols are reduced calo­rie sweeteners.

Sugar alco­hols are slightly lower in calo­ries than sugar and do not pro­mote tooth decay or cause a sud­den increase in blood glu­cose as sugar does. Sugar pro­vides 4 kcal/gram and sugar alco­hols pro­vide an aver­age of 2 kcal/gram, half the calo­ries as sugar.

Con­trary to their name, sugar alco­hols are nei­ther sug­ars nor alco­hols. They are car­bo­hy­drates with chem­i­cal struc­tures that only resem­ble sugar and alco­hol. They have noth­ing to do with alco­holic beverages.

Because sugar alco­hols are not really sug­ars but behave sim­i­lar to sugar, foods that con­tain sugar alco­hols can be labeled sugar-free because they replace sugar. Peo­ple with dia­betes often pre­fer con­sum­ing prod­ucts with sugar alco­hols because they have a slower glu­cose response than sugar con­tain­ing products.

They are used mainly to sweeten sugar-free can­dies, cook­ies, cakes, pies, condi­ments, and chew­ing gums. The FDA clas­si­fies some of these sweet­en­ers as gen­er­ally rec­og­nized as safe and oth­ers as approved food additives.

The main side effect of con­sum­ing treats sweet­ened with sugar alco­hols involves the gas­troin­testi­nal tract. Even a small amount can cause stom­ach bloat­ing, foul smelling gas, and diar­rhea; the more that is eaten, the more severe the symptoms.

Sugar alco­hols pro­vide fewer calo­ries than sugar because they are not com­pletely absorbed in the body. For this rea­son, the sugar alco­hol is the cul­prit to the stom­ach dis­tress after chomp­ing down on a sugar-free choco­late bunny.

The sugar alco­hol can­dies and cakes and pies and chew­ing gum con­tain other car­bo­hy­drates that can affect blood glu­cose. Just because a sugar free piece of pie sounds like a safe treat, the flour and fruit can still increase blood sugar.

Con­sider the trade off of eat­ing a 4 ounces choco­late bunny made with sugar alco­hols, com­plete with stom­ach bloat­ing, smelly gas and diar­rhea com­pared to the con­sump­tion of 2 ounces of a sugar laden choco­late treat with­out the gas­troin­testi­nal prob­lems. The calo­ries are very sim­i­lar. The ques­tion involves qual­ity verses quantity.

The answer lies in the rabbit’s anatomy. I have a good author­ity that claims that the choco­late bunny ears are health­ier than the nose or the tail. Taste test­ing is required before plac­ing any choco­late into a child’s basket.

Bob­bie Ran­dall is a cer­ti­fied dia­betes edu­ca­tor and a reg­is­tered, licensed dietit­ian. She super­vises a dia­betes self-management train­ing pro­gram at Aultman-Orrville Hos­pi­tal, Orrville. Con­tact her at bobbie.randall@aultmanorrville.org or 330–684-4776.

Posted by Bobbie Randall on Mar 21 2013. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.