While choosing sugar-free items can save you calories in foods like pudding, yogurt and hard candies, the sugar-free version of the malted milk balls won't save you many calories, and in some flavors may contain more calories than the regular malted milk balls. In fact, most sugar-free chocolate candies offer no benefits over their full sugar counterpart, according to the dietitian website RD411. Knowing the nutritional values in sugar-free malted balls can help you determine if it fits into your meal plan.
Calories
Three sugar-free milk chocolate malt balls, about 20 g, contains 105 calories. The same serving of sugar-free dark chocolate malt balls contains 85 calories. By comparison, a 20-g serving of regular milk chocolate malt balls contains 95 calories.
Fat
Malt balls may be light and airy, but they are a high-fat food item. One serving of sugar-free milk chocolate malt balls contains 5.5 g of total fat and 3.5 g of saturated fat, while the sugar-free dark chocolate malt balls contains 5 g of total fat and 3 g of saturated fat. About 47 to 52 percent of the calories in the sugar-free malt balls comes from fat. In addition to being high in fat, the sugar-free malt balls are also high in saturated fat, meeting almost 20 percent of your daily value in one small serving.
Carbohydrates
One serving of either the sugar-free milk or dark chocolate malt balls contains 12.5 to 13 g of total carbohydrates, 2.5 to 3.5 g of sugar and 8 g of sugar alcohol. Sugar alcohols are a type of low-calorie sweetener used in a number of sugar-free food products. Sugar alcohols have less of an effect on your blood sugar than either sugar or starch. If you have diabetes, you may be able to include sugar-free malted milk balls in your diet plan. The American Diabetes Association says if a food item has more than 5 g of sugar alcohol per serving, you can subtract half the amount of sugar alcohol from the total carbohydrate to determine the amount of carbohydrate to count in your meal plan. For example, you would count 9 g of carbohydrates toward your carbohydrate intake for the sugar-free malted milk balls -- 13 g of total carbohydrates minus 4 g of sugar alcohol.
Protein and Sodium
Sugar-free malt balls are not a significant source of either protein or sodium. One serving of the sugar-free milk chocolate malt balls contains 1 g of protein and 30 mg of sodium, and the same serving of the sugar-free dark chocolate malt balls contains 1.5 g of protein and no sodium.
References
- Pefectly Sweet: Sugar-free Dark Chocolate Malt Balls: Nutrition Information
- Perfectly Sweet: Sugar-free Milk Chocolate Balls: Nutrition Information
- The Hershey Company: Whopper's Milk Chocolate Malted Balls
- Mayo Clinic; Percent Daily Value: What Does it Mean?; Katherine Zeratsky; May 2010
- American Diabetes Association: Sugar Alcohols
- RD411; Sugar-Free and No-Sugar-Added Foods; April 2009
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