Sugar Alcohol & Low Carb Diets

Sugar alcohols are reduced-calorie sweeteners that are believed to have minimal impact on blood sugar. Many sweets that are marketed to diabetics contain sugar alcohols in place of regular sugars. Erythritol, isomalt, lactiol, mannitol, malitol, sorbitol and xylitol are all sugar alcohols. While sugar alcohols are believed to minimally impact blood sugar, the effect is largely individual and will vary from person to person. Various low-carbohydrate diets treat sugar alcohols differently.

Atkins Diet

Atkins markets a number of products that contain sugar alcohols. The plan recommends that you avoid sugar alcohols during the initial two-week phase of the diet, known as "induction." During induction, the foods you eat are strictly limited; however, as you progress through the diet and begin to add in carbohydrates, sugar alcohols may be included. Atkins advises you to monitor your weight loss with sugar alcohols, because in some people they may cause stalls. If you stall, eliminate foods containing sugar alcohols and see if weight loss starts back up again.

PaNu Diet

The PaNu Paleolithic Nutrition diet is based on eating in a manner similar to early hunter-gatherer societies. To that end, the diet's creator, Dr. Kurt Harris, recommends that you eat only foods that would have been hunted or foraged by early hunter-gatherer societies. Sugar alcohols and products made with sugar alcohol were not part of early man's diet, and are therefore not recommended on the PaNu plan.

Protein Power Lifeplan

The Protein Power Lifeplan is based on a philosophy similar to PaNu. The diet's creator, Michael R. Eades, M.D. recommends trying stevia, which is a naturally sweet plant, if you need something sweet instead of sugar alcohols . If stevia is too bitter for you, then he recommends trying erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol that isn't absorbed by the body as much as some of the other sugar alcohols. Before resorting to any type of sweetener, however, Dr. Eades recommends you try to lose your taste for sweetened foods, and instead learn to enjoy the natural flavor of healthy foods. He also suggests avoiding sugar alcohols if they cause gastrointestinal upset or stall your weight loss.