Is “sugar-free” food really sugar-free?

With the increase of diabetic patients, Considering the special diet structure of diabetic patients, Merchants have also set their sights on the sugar-free diet market. Consumers can easily buy food marked "sugar-free" in shopping malls. In fact, Sugar-free food is a game of words. Some people think that eating sugar-free food does not raise blood sugar in diabetics because it does not contain any sugar, which is actually a misconception.
In daily life, We often say that sugar-free food means that there is no artificial addition of sugar in the production and processing of food. However, some foods contain sugar even if they do not add sugar, for example, milk contains about 4.5% lactose. At present, the definition of sugar-free food in China is not based on whether food contains sugar or not, but on whether sugar is added during processing.
The concept of sugar is very broad, including white sugar and brown sugar, as well as glucose, fructose, maltose and lactose. Sucrose is the main component of traditional sugar products, while glucose and fructose mainly exist in fruits and honey, while maltose and lactose exist in germinated grains and dairy products respectively.
Although sugar-free food is not added with white sugar during processing, But sweeteners are often added. Sweeteners mainly include xylitol, aspartame, cyclamate, acesulfame and so on. After eating these sweeteners, Doesn't raise blood sugar, It is safe and harmless to human body. But sweeteners taste worse than white sugar, In order to ensure that the food is complete in color, aroma and taste, Manufacturers also add thickeners, stabilizers and quality improvers to the processing of sugar-free foods. To increase the viscosity of food, Manufacturers often use dextrin, modified starch (produced by starch hydrolysis), etc. These substances contain sugar, which can easily lead to blood sugar rise after eating. Therefore, diabetic patients must pay attention to the ingredients when choosing sugar-free foods, and must not ignore their effects on blood sugar.
Sugar-free food is considered by some people to be a food that can control blood sugar and has low calories, which is a wrong understanding. The rise and fall of blood sugar is not only related to whether it contains sugar, but also closely related to the nutrients and dietary fiber in food. For example, although white bread does not contain sugar, it will still raise blood sugar; Although sugar-free chocolate does not contain sugar, it still contains a lot of fat, which can also cause complications of diabetes; Sugar-free snacks and biscuits contain starch and fat, which are also high-calorie foods. Eating these foods will increase weight, so don't rely solely on sugar-free foods to control blood sugar. Beans, dairy products, coarse grains and vegetables are also the first choice foods to control blood sugar, and they will not increase weight.
Sugar-free food mainly refers to food without sucrose and starch sugar in the world. However, sugar-free foods on the market also contain sweeteners, so there is no real sugar-free food. Therefore, diabetics should not eat sugar-free foods indefinitely, and still add the calories of sugar-free foods when calculating the total calories to ensure the balance of total calories consumed every day.