Sugar Alcohol - How do our bodies process it?

[*Wendy*]

Does anyone know if sugar alcohols are processed in a similar manner as to how we process drinks (like Rum, etc.)? I know from reading the book that we burn off spirits, etc. before reverting back to fat burning, and I was wondering if that is how sugar alcohols are processed.

I had some sweets over the weekend that contained sugar alcohol and at least for my body I know I won't be doing that very often (if ever!) because of the laxative effect, but I also noticed that my Ketostix dropped a shade or two and I've gained a few pounds. (Not sure if the weight gain is due to the way I've reacted to the sugar alcohol, or if it may be due to my lack of exercise due to an injury though.)

[not2late]

Re: Sugar Alcohol - How do our bodies process it?

Technically, sugar alcohols travel through your gut without being absorbed. They aren't "alcohol" in the rum and wine sense, but they have structures that look like alcohols (big, long chemistry explanation to that one....but I don't think it will add any insight to your question, so I'll skip it.)


Here's a link with more stuff about the sugar alcohols.
http://www.ific.org/publications/fac...ralcoholfs.cfm

[Duinai]

Re: Sugar Alcohol - How do our bodies process it?

This is correct. Sugar alcohols are NOT alcohols ( brandy-type speaking, LOL ).


And the way how MY BODY is using this valuable compound, is directly passing them all through and into the toilet.... not a pretty picture


Dui

[TyCowboy]

Re: Sugar Alcohol - How do our bodies process it?

My goodness this is stretching back to my days of organic chemistry...but an alcohol is anything with an hydroxyl ending (OH) to the end of a carbon molecule. Sugar alcohols (speaking strictly from a scientific perspective) are absolutely just like alcohol...the difference is how the body reacts to them. Sugar alcohols are very lightly digested.

The chief difference between aliphatic alcohols (like ethanol aka grain alcohol) and polyols (aka aliphatic polyols) has to do with what the multiple hydroxyl groups are attached to. With grain alcohol, they are attacehd to an alkyl radical. In a polyol, they are attached to carbon.

So you will see it abbreviated ROH (with R standing in for some long complex C-H-O compound...for example, C6H12O6 is glucose).

Make no mistake, polyols are absolutely treated similarly in terms of their digestion as are grain alcohols, and are very similar chemically. That said, remember that H20 (water) and H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) are only one oxygen molecule away...and you'll get a markedly different reaction if you drink one versus the other.

Interestingly, though, polyols also have another place they crop up...in the polymer chemistry world, where they are used to generate the synthetic material polyester.

Ty.