Sugar Alcohol???

I was eating a South Beach meal replacement bar since it has 19 grams of protein and and packed with vitamins and minerals. While reading the nutritional info on the back, I noticed that while it had less than 1 gram of sugar it, had 18 grams of something called "sugar alcohol" listed under carbohydrates. What is that?...and more importantly should I be eating it?

I have been wondering the exact same thing about sugar alcohol. Can't wait to see the responses you get!

Hi there, Neshia. Sugar alcohol is a molecularly altered sugar that is metabolized differently than regular sugar, sucrose, fructose, or any of the other carbohydrate sugar. It supposedly causes a slower rise in blood sugar, thereby keeping you from having the spike in insulin that regular sugar would give you. When you're doing Adkins or South Beach, you'll find some of their products sweetened with the "sugar alcohol" and you're suppose to count those carbohydrates as you would any other. Insulin spikes are what Adkins and South Beach are trying to get us to avoid; and the actual carbohydrate number in sugar alcohol is much less "harmful" than regular sugar/sugar substitutes. It all sounds a bit fishy to me, but that's the logic... Jessica, Resident nurse!