On the dangers of Sugar Alcohols
So given the fact that I am watching my diet so as not to develop diabetes, there are some things I have tried as replacements for snack foods, such as sugar-free candies. The dangers were only hinted at to me other than some mildly annoying side effects up until this weekend.
Up until Thursday I had some sugar-free candies from the Mountain Man company (provider of many sugary and starchy snacks), sugar-free hard candies and sugar-free gummi bears. The hard candies were OK, they had a couple flavors I didn't like but overall OK. The sugar-free gummi bears were very good. The drawback to both? The sugar alcohol. I believe the one used was Maltitol. The hard candies were mostly harmless, the gummi-bears on the other hand gave me painful gas and major abdominal cramps. So I decided to move on to store bought sugar-free candies.
Thursday I bought various sugar-free candies, mostly from Hershey's. Dark Chocolate, York Peppermint Patties and Jolly Ranchers. And from Wrigley LifeSavers. The hard candies were made with Isomalt, the chocolates with Maltitol. The chocolates were meh. They tasted bad. The Jolly Ranchers were actually pretty good. The drawback, sugar alcohol again. It turns out that isomalt is also a laxative and can have a severe reaction with a small percentage of the population, 4% of males and 10% of females. Looks like I'm one of the 4% (maybe). Thursday afternoon I had started to have the same effect as Maltitol, really bad gas. Then things got bad. About 8 I started getting hot flashes and feeling ill, so I went to bed early. A little while later the diarrhea started, about every 30 minutes, then at midnight I had to throw up. That was the one and only time I had to throw up, but the diarrhea continued all day friday up until late saturday when there was nothing left in my system to purge. I missed work and the chance to head to Starcon with elsibet34 which I really wanted to do. Overall, not a fun weekend.
dr_tectonic had similar symptoms this weekend, so this may have been a coincidence and I may have actually gotten some nasty stomach bug and passed it to him. Whichever the case, I have decided to give up on sugar-free anything. If I can't have the real thing, then I won't bother.
Up until Thursday I had some sugar-free candies from the Mountain Man company (provider of many sugary and starchy snacks), sugar-free hard candies and sugar-free gummi bears. The hard candies were OK, they had a couple flavors I didn't like but overall OK. The sugar-free gummi bears were very good. The drawback to both? The sugar alcohol. I believe the one used was Maltitol. The hard candies were mostly harmless, the gummi-bears on the other hand gave me painful gas and major abdominal cramps. So I decided to move on to store bought sugar-free candies.
Thursday I bought various sugar-free candies, mostly from Hershey's. Dark Chocolate, York Peppermint Patties and Jolly Ranchers. And from Wrigley LifeSavers. The hard candies were made with Isomalt, the chocolates with Maltitol. The chocolates were meh. They tasted bad. The Jolly Ranchers were actually pretty good. The drawback, sugar alcohol again. It turns out that isomalt is also a laxative and can have a severe reaction with a small percentage of the population, 4% of males and 10% of females. Looks like I'm one of the 4% (maybe). Thursday afternoon I had started to have the same effect as Maltitol, really bad gas. Then things got bad. About 8 I started getting hot flashes and feeling ill, so I went to bed early. A little while later the diarrhea started, about every 30 minutes, then at midnight I had to throw up. That was the one and only time I had to throw up, but the diarrhea continued all day friday up until late saturday when there was nothing left in my system to purge. I missed work and the chance to head to Starcon with elsibet34 which I really wanted to do. Overall, not a fun weekend.
dr_tectonic had similar symptoms this weekend, so this may have been a coincidence and I may have actually gotten some nasty stomach bug and passed it to him. Whichever the case, I have decided to give up on sugar-free anything. If I can't have the real thing, then I won't bother.