Could anyone tell me the pros and cons of sugar alcohols. Atkins, recommends staying away from certain kinds. What are the good kinds and bad kinds? There are so many GOOD products coming out with them in them. I dont want to mess up.

01-06-04 23lbs

Here's Andrea's informative article on Sugar Alcohols. A great place to start.....

Can I Have Sugar Alcohols

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

Is glycerine a sugar alcohol?

Okay, I looked it up and answered my own question. From the Dow Chemical website:

Glycerine is a 1,2,3 Trihydroxy propane, a trihydric alcohol. Glycerine is also commonly referred to as glycerol and glycerin.

Fat and oil-based glycerines are derived as by-products from a variety of industrial processes including soap making, fatty acids and alcohols, and methyl fatty acid esters. These industrial processes use triglycerides (vegetable oils and animal fats) as raw materials.

Does this sound like something you'd want to eat?

Terrasanct, you should not have gotten me started

Just looked it up in Stryer's Biochemistry to make sure I have it straight. Glycerine aka glycerol is actually the molecule that holds fatty acids together (so yes, there is a glycerol molecule in every fat molecule in our body):

HOCH2
**|
*HC-OH
**|
HOCH2
(edit: had to add those stars * to get the formatting right)

In a normal fat molecule, one of the hydrogens next to an oxygen is replaced with a fatty acid.

You might be wondering why is it a problem for us if it comes from a fat. The answer to that is that it can easily be converted to dihydroxyacetone phospahte (DHAP) one of the components of glycolysis.

Just as a review, glycolyisis is the pathway that is used to break down glucose. The products of glycolysis then go to the citric acid cycle and the Electron Transport Chain in mitochondria to produce energy in the form of ATP.

Basically, while glycerol is not a carbohydrate, it will have the same effect as a carb at the cellular level. This explains why people are likely to stall if they eat bars containing glycerol.

[This message was edited by paladin on 03-14-04 at 04:42 PM.]

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Started Atkins on 9/20/03
235-->190; 150 goal

I just wanted to note that I typed my last post before I saw your second post. It was not meant as a criticism or anything else.

Just like most natural compounds, glycerol can be made artificially and used for many purposes

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Started Atkins on 9/20/03
235-->190; 150 goal

Oh, no problem. I assumed you were just showing off your superior knowledge.

Well, chemistry does tend to make my eyes glaze over, but I was actually able to follow it.

I can tell you from a clinical perspective, products with glycerine/glycerol have an adverse impact on my blood glucose levels. Most of the snack bars, even the ones with no sugar alcohols, are full of glycerol and they jack up my blood sugar enough that I avoid them entirely.

Nice to have some clue why.

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yes, I agree about the glycerine! Both my personal experience ( my heart starts really thumping when I eat products with glycerine) and that of others (notably, the Dr. Michael Eades who told me personally that they tested it with a patient of theirs with DM1) leads me to the conclusion that despite the subtraction on labels, glycerine is a no-no for strict carb watchers.

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