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Isomalt: Why Sugar-free Candies are Often Not Calorie-free

What is Isomalt? Where is the sugar substitute found and why is it considered “sugar-free” even though it has calories?

When it comes to sweets, many people turn to a sugar-free alternative – it’s better for the teeth and supposedly calorie-free. Unfortunately, this is often not true: Isomalt, for example, is a common sugar substitute in sugar-free foods – and it is actually sugar-free, but by no means low in calories.

What is Isomalt?

Isomalt is a sugar substitute (more precisely: a sugar substitute) and has the E number E953. In nature, the sugar alternative occurs, for example, in sugar beets. Isomalt is odorless, white and crystalline. The sugar substitute is also available in liquid form.

Isomalt for the food industry is produced from normal beet sugar in two processing steps:

In the first step, isomaltulose is extracted from the beet sugar with the help of enzymes.
In the next step, isomalt is obtained by hydrolysis – the splitting of chemical compounds by water.

What foods contain isomalt?

Isomalt is used in the production of many sugar-free and low-sugar foods: candies, baked goods, mustard, sauces, jams and desserts. Since isomalt only slightly affects blood sugar and insulin levels, it is particularly suitable for diabetics and is contained in many diabetic foods. It is used in corn flakes for its technical properties to improve the crunch.

In addition, isomalt is used in pharmacy and in animal feed production. And in technical applications, Isomalt is used as a stabilizer (e.g. in the production of PVC), plasticizer, adhesive or binder.

Identification: How do I recognize isomalt?

The Food Information Regulation of 2014 regulates the labeling of isomalt: sweeteners and sugar alcohols – to which isomalt belongs – are summarized under the term “sweeteners”.

Foodstuffs containing sweeteners must be labeled “with sweetener(s)”. In addition, the sweetener must also be included in the list of ingredients. For isomalt, for example, this could look like this: “sweetener isomalt” or “sweetener E 953”.

Why is isomalt “sugar-free” and still has calories?

Isomalt has almost the same sweetening power as normal sugar and can be processed in a similar way. However, anyone who assumes that “sugar-free” foods – which contain isomalt – are also calorie-free is wrong. Although isomalt has only half as many calories as sugar, it is still two calories per gram. So if you’re watching your calorie intake, don’t be misled by the “sugar-free” description.

However, isomalt has a lower glycemic index (GI) than regular sugar. The GI indicates how a carbohydrate-containing food affects blood sugar levels. A score below 50 is considered low. An index of two to a maximum of nine was found for isomalt in various studies. This means that, in contrast to normal household sugar (GI = 68), isomalt is more suitable for diabetics and people who want to lose weight.

Isomalt: tooth-friendly sugar substitute

Compared to normal sugar, isomalt is also significantly better for the teeth: It forms very little acid because it is not metabolized by the microorganisms in the mouth due to its stability. Isomalt has only a very low potential to trigger caries and is considered to be tooth-friendly.

Alternatives to isomalt

Isomalt has clear advantages: it is tooth-friendly, has a low glycemic index and only half the calories of regular beet sugar. However, don’t let the term “sugar-free” fool you: Many sugar-free foods are not also calorie-free. And the sugar substitute has another disadvantage: in large quantities, isomalt can have a laxative effect.

A calorie-free sugar alternative is erythritol. It is made by fermenting grape sugar. Like isomalt, it has only a minor effect on blood sugar and insulin levels. However, this sugar alternative is truly zero-calorie.

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Food

Make Xylitol Candy Yourself: Sugar-free and Tooth-friendly

Xylitol candies are a great alternative to sugary lozenges: sugar-free, tooth-friendly, and pleasantly minty-sweet. We’ll show you how to make and vary your own xylitol candy.

Xylitol is a sugar substitute that has long been used as a sweetener in chewing gum and toothpaste. According to the AOK, it is particularly suitable for this because it does not cause tooth decay and even protects the teeth from acid-related decalcification. It also contains about half the calories of regular sugar.

So just the right thing for you if you want to snack on your teeth in a way that is gentle on your teeth and low in calories. We’ll show you how to make your own xylitol candies from just two ingredients and how you can vary them.

Tips on ingredients and tools

Xylitol is also often called xylitol or birch sugar. It’s always the same substance, but it’s not exclusively made from birch. For industrial use, xylitol now comes mainly from corn, other types of wood or even straw.
Buy high-quality xylitol: Best fair-grown organic xylitol, like the one from Avocadostore**. This is obtained from corn.
Birch sugar candies are perfect for sucking on after a meal for dessert as they can prevent plaque build-up.
You can vary the taste with essential oils. You can get a good selection of organic essential oils at Avocadostore**. Make sure the oils are edible.
Instead of pouring the candies into a “board” as in the recipe and then breaking them into crystal-like pieces, you can also pour the heated mass into a suitable silicone mold in step four. You can get sweets in all sorts of shapes, such as on Amazon**.
Reusable silicone mats, such as those from Waschbär**, are not only a good alternative to baking paper for xylitol candies. You can use them without fat or oil for baking. Tip: Before you buy such a mat, think about whether the purchase is worthwhile for you. If you’re only going to use them once or a few times, then better borrow one from a friend. You can also use recycled baking paper, for example at Avocadostore**.
Xylitol itself has a virtually unlimited shelf life, but loses its flavor over time. Depending on what you added, your candy should last for several months if you haven’t eaten it by then.

Tooth-friendly xylitol candies: A simple recipe

Ingredients:

100 g xylitol
20 drops of essential oil

Directions:

Melt the xylitol in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
Add the essential oil you want your candies to taste like. Candies without added oils taste just as sweet and fresh as xylitol. Of course, you can also mix the oils according to your taste.

Spread the mixture on sustainable baking paper or an alternative. Make sure you don’t spread it too thinly, otherwise the candies will easily splinter later.

Allow the xylitol mixture to cool for several hours or overnight. Then you can pop them out of the mold or break the board into small bite-sized pieces.

Tips to vary color and taste

Color: When you mix the candy mass, you can add non-toxic and tasteless colorants. We recommend turmeric powder for yellow, currant or rosehip powder for red, or matcha for green. You can get them all at the Avocadostore**. Depending on the powder, they also influence the taste. So make sure these flavors match the oils you use.
Taste: In step three, start mixing with the essential oils and find out what you like. Classic combinations often consist of a citrus component, such as tangerine, and a spicier component, such as cinnamon.

What are the benefits of xylitol?

Xylitol is a so-called sugar alcohol – the body metabolizes it without releasing insulin, so that the birch sugar does not significantly increase blood sugar. This is why xylitol is also a good substitute for sugar for diabetics.

By the way: sugar alcohols have nothing to do with conventional drinking alcohol.

Two other popular benefits of birch sugar: It doesn’t promote tooth decay. Instead, it is even said that it promotes dental health. If you consume xylitol instead of sugar, less plaque should form, it probably slows down the growth of caries bacteria and, according to the AOK, protects the teeth from acid-induced decalcification. Additionally, xylitol has about half the calories of table sugar. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment rates xylitol as an acceptable additive and only points out that excessive consumption can have a laxative effect.

Caution: Xylitol is highly toxic to dogs and other pets. By the way, cats are not included. Be careful not to drop anything that the animals could swallow.

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health

Zero Sugar Diet: This is How The Sugar-Free Diet Works

Intermittent fasting, low-carb & Co. – alternative forms of nutrition are all the rage. This also includes a new, old form of nutrition: the sugar-free diet. With this, it is not enough to do without for a short time, but you should change your diet in the long term. Read here how exactly the zero-sugar diet works.

Living sugar-free – that’s how it works

To understand how a sugar-free diet can succeed, it is necessary to define the type of sugar involved. In the case of the sugar-free diet, it is not about the strict omission of carbohydrates, nor about the complete renunciation of table sugar. Rather, it targets the so-called “free sugar”. The World Health Organization understands the type of sugar to be all types of sugar that are added to food and drinks. This also includes the sugar found in fruit juices, honey and syrup.

The question that most people ask themselves when it comes to a sugar-free diet is what is still allowed to be eaten. If you start with the sugar-free diet, it is enough to do without the usual household sugar. So on the so-called sucrose, which is present in large quantities in sugar beets, sugar palms and sugar cane. This includes omitting the sugar in coffee and adding additional sugar to various dishes.

They rely on mostly unprocessed foods. As a result, you eat fewer calories over the long term and thereby lose weight. The hardest part is identifying where that sugar is. You often don’t suspect it at first glance. The following foods are taboo in this diet:
Sweetened drinks (soft drinks,..) and food (fruit yoghurt, jam…)
fruit juices, smoothies and fruit juice concentrates
Industrially heavily processed foods (fast food, white bread, sauces…)
Sweets (chocolate, gummy bears, cake, ice cream,..)
Dried fruit (mango, figs, dates,..)
Dishes from restaurants or snack bars

Even if that sounds like a lot of renunciation at first glance, there is not too little that you can still enjoy. Especially if you cook a lot yourself, the problem almost solves itself. Some foods that one is allowed to eat and drink are as follows:
Mineral water, unsweetened coffee or tea, calorie-free light drinks
vegetables and fresh fruit
fish, meat and eggs
Natural dairy products (cheese, natural yoghurt…)
Whole grain products (bread, pasta, rice…)
Legumes (peas, beans and lentils…)
Nuts, seeds and kernels (walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds…)
Oils and fats (oil, butter…)
Sugar free sweets

Most people don’t even know how much sugar they’re consuming without realizing it. This also leads to withdrawal symptoms when giving up, because sugar is addictive. These can last one to two weeks. After that you should have overcome the following symptoms:
mood swings
headache
cravings
fatigue
exhaustion

Once the body has gotten used to the abstinence, people actually only benefit from the effects of the zero-sugar diet. On the one hand, you lose weight and become fitter in general. The otherwise tempting craving for sweets does not occur and the blood sugar level levels off constantly. On the other hand, this has the consequence that the risk of diabetes also decreases. The risk of other diseases also decreases. These include cardiovascular diseases, cancer and osteoarthritis.

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