Avoid low glycemic-index hype
Last Updated Aug 2007
In the food industry hype is always more important than reality. The current buzz
phrase is low glycemic index. The easiest way to make a processed food product is
to take out sugar and add back sugar alcohols. This was the trick used with such
wild abandon during the low-carb food mania. Although sugar alcohols are
classified as carbohydrates, the marketers of these products spawned a new idea
that sugar alcohols aren't really carbohydrates after all so you can just subtract
them. Now comes a new report that indicates besides being built on downright
lying, such substitutions can be dangerous. It appears, according to an article in
the Journal of the Veterinary Medical Association, that many dogs have overdosed on
xylitol (commonly used in many "sugar-free" products) and died of liver failure.
Other common sugar alcohols have their own problems. Erythritol is the newest
favorite, but it can crystallize in the kidney (especially if the person is
dehydrated) causing painful kidney stones. Maltitol is actually a high-glycemic
sugar alcohol (so much for sugar alcohols having no effect on blood glucose levels)
with nasty gastric side effects, such as diarrhea and flatulence. Sorbitol has a
lower glycemic index than maltitol, but even greater gastric side effects. So
here's a good rule: if you see a "sugar-free" or "low glycemic index" on a food
product and it contains sugar alcohols, you are probably much healthier eating a
mound of lard.