Sugar Alcohols, What i found

This is waht i have found so far..

Sugar alcohol is neither a "sugar" nor an "alcohol". Sugar alcohols affect the blood glucose levels less than regular table sugar, which is why some diet plans allow a certain amount of them. In most people, they quickly add up to too many carbs (they contain a little more than 1/2 the carbs than an equal amount of table sugar.) Sugar alcohols available in the U.S. include Mannitol, Sorbitol, Xylitol, Maltitol, and Maltitol Syrup, as well as hydrogenated starch hydrolysates, are found naturally in berries, apples, plums and other foods.

They also are produced commercially from carbohydrates such as sucrose, glucose and starch. Then there are the unpleasant "side effects" of sugar alcohols. They can cause abdominal discomfort and bloating and they also have a laxative effect. Consumption of 30 to 50 grams of sorbitol or xylitol, or 20 grams of mannitol, causes diarrhea in most people.

less well-known sugar alcohols include: Galactitol, Erythritol, Inositol, Ribitol, Dithioerythritol, Dithiothreitol, and Glycerol.

i dida little searching in my books and based on the structures of the compounds I found that sugar alcohols are hydrolised sugars. A sugar is a ring type (either five or six membered) structure with various hydroxyl groups on it (this does make them alcohols...all sugars are) and an ether linkage in the ring. Hydrolysis of this ether opens the ring leaving two more hydroxyls (alcohol groups) in its place. Thus the name.