more fun with fake sugar

So many of these products - like anything else -

Are great and wonderful... or horrible and awful.

Depends on who you ax. Er, uh, I mean "ask!"

So at the risk of whipping a dead horse...

Or a Rare, Vermillion, Ukrainian Unicorn (link)

Here we go - again!

Erythritol is a Sugar Alcohol.

Note the suffix "-ol"

It was discovered in 1848.

So it's been around awhile. (link)

Erythritol has .2 calories per gram.

In the US, they say the sugar alcohols are zero carbs.

In every other country, the sugar alcohols have 2.4 calories per gram.

So it can add up. Just sayin'!

Erythritol can be made from corn... 

Or sugar beets, or wheat/ starch. (link)

Probably depends on the company that makes it.

And what commodity is in season, or cheaper at the time.

When you think about it, it could be made from

anything sweet, because it is a sweetener.

Would it then be GMO? 

Genetically Modified Corn?

Companies are not required to tell us - yet!

We are really in the dark  - the Dark Ages - 

when it comes to GMO and labeling!

But Jack Daniels is made from GMO corn.

By now, almost all the corn is genetically modified.

So the "real" stuff is harder to find. (link)

So most of the GMO Stuff [built-in pesticides, etc]

comes out when it is distilled.....

...or does it!? Same with the sweeteners!

Erythritol is often a delivery agent, or mixing/ bulking 

substance for some of the sweeteners, like Truvia. 

When  a sweetener is 600 times sweeter than sugar, 

it needs a carrier - or we could not use it!

Sugars like Erythritol and Xylitol 

have a cooling effect. They also have a drying effect.

So when they are used for cooking,

they need something to counteract the taste and 

texture of that. So often Erythritol is used with Inulin.

 

Inulin (link) [NOT Insulin, by the way]

Is a plant fiber [I said fiber] that can have a warming effect....

So it is often used to mask the cooling effects of 

some of the sugar alcohols!

Inulin is a fiber - because it is made from a plant that has plant fibers.

That's all "fiber" really is. A fiber. Of something.

Dietary fibers are either soluble or insoluble. (link)

They are edible - but not digestible!

Fiber is not digested.... that is why it works so well 

[For you-know-what] But, I digress.

Inulin is a oligo-saccharide... a sweetener (link)

of the FOS family... FRUCTO-oligo-saccharide.

And as such, a probiotic! (link)

But again - there are debates on both sides

about if it is healthy, needed -- or even safe! (link)

So what the H-E-double hockey-sticks does all this mean?

It means (imho) that we should eat as much

Whole, Real, Organic, Wholesome, Good FOOD

as we can.

Eating REAL FOOD might be the only real way to handle 

the  great food debates. And for the rest - 

Choose wisely -  or choose a-GAIN! 

Hope this helps - still learning together!