How to Add Sugar Alcohol to Your Carb Count

Sugar alcohols, also known as polyols, are often found in the processed low-carbohydrate and sugar-free foods that low-carb dieters may consume. While these substances are used to replace high carbohydrate sugars, there are often still carbs present in sugar alcohols, and it is important to count them properly when tracking your daily carb intake.

Instructions

• 1

  Learn which substances are counted as sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols include sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, lactitol, maltitol, isomalt, and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates.

• 2

  Check food labels for sugar alcohol ingredients. If any food product is labeled as "sugar free" or "no sugar added," the sugar alcohol grams must be listed. When one sugar alcohol is used, it will be listed by name on the food label. If more than one type of sugar alcohol is included in a food, the food label must list sugar alcohols underneath the "total carbohydrates" information.

• 3

  Take the number of carbs derived from sugar alcohols listed on the nutritional information on the food and divide that number in half. That number must be counted towards overall carb count. Only half of the carbs from sugar alcohols must be counted since sugar alcohols are incompletely absorbed into the bloodstream and will only partially impact blood sugar levels, according to the Diabetes Teaching Center at the University of California in San Francisco.

• 4

  Count all other carbohydrates consumed, with the exception of the sugar alcohol carbs. Add the number of carbs consumed to the adjusted sugar alcohol carb numbers to get a total carbohydrate count.