Can someone please explain.....

Why a sugar alcohol is considered "not a real carb" and therefore subtracted from total carbs if counting net carbs?

I'm looking for the science behind it. Do we not digest it? Is it quick burning? 

I keep being told to subtract it from the total carb count if I'm counting "Net carbs" (which I don't usually do, but my NUT suggested something to me this week very high in sugar alcohols and told me to subtract it from total carb count). What I want to know is WHY do we get to subtract it? 

I'm not confused about carbs vs net carbs, I'm confused WHY there is such a thing as net carbs when it comes to Sugar Alcohols specifically. 

Does any of that make sense?!? 

I am curious about the same thing. Thanks for asking.

Its because like fiber sugar alcohols molecules are either not digestible or only partially digestible. Here is an article I posted the other day about it:

 

http://www.mendosa.com/netcarbs.htm

So Keith, when my NUT says 50 carbs a day, do I use the net carb number or total carbs? For instance, my protein shake has 17 carbs but 7 grams of fiber. Does that mean it's really only 10 carbs effective?

I always used the net carbs so I personally would say 10 is your answer.  Other people on here are more strict and go by total carbs and not net carbs.  What you should do is talk with your nutritionist or surgeon and ask whether they would like to see you use total carbs or net carbs.  My best guess since most people on here will say to stay below 40 carbs per day that your nutritionist want you to use total carbs.  That is only a best guess.  She/he perhaps said 50 so that you use total carbs.  

By the way you might want to double check with your nutritionist on your protein shakes.  Obviously every one has there own opinion but my nutritionist said that my protein shakes should have the following 4 criteria.

1) Whey Protein Isolate (best bioavailability)

2) 5g or less fat

3) 5g or less carbs

4) 24g (about) of protein per serving.

 

It depends. For fiber I do but for sugar alcohols I give myself a buffer.

That would be more of a question for your NUT to answer......

frisco

Your post made me curious, so I consulted my friend, Google. Here's some things I found:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2379777  This is an abstract from a study, but the conclusion is "...little calorie saving can be expected from the chronic consumption of these sugar alcohols in so-called sugar-free products."

I went on to read several different sites, and they generally agreed that sugar alcohols are only partially absorbed---but still, that means they're not 'free' foods. Different sugar alcohols have different calorie values, ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 calories per gram, versus sucrose's 4 calories per gram.

I don't count carbs, but if I did, I would count everything but insoluble fiber.

After a bit of my own research, I have come to the same conclusion.  It doesn't hurt that it also follows what my doctor wants us to do.  The problem is that nutrition labels rarely designate the different types of fiber, so it is just easier to count everything and be on the safer side. 

Right... so some sugar alcohols have 3.5 calories per gram AND so do some carbs! (4 calorie per gram is just an approximation). Now, some sugar alcohols have .5 calories per gram. I would say not counting those might be okay.

But how the heck can you tell? I've been trying to find out how many calories are in "zero calorie" Vitamin Water for about three years now. It has both crystalline fructose and erythinol both of which have *some* calories but it doesn't say how much of each. All I know is that 8 oz. has less than 5 calories because they say a serving is zero calories and you can't do that if it has 5 calories or more.

This is another way of saying that a 20 oz. bottle of Vitamin Water Zero probably has about 10 calories in it. Not zero.