Thoughts on Palatinose (Isomaltulose)

Hi everyone,

I would like to know your thoughts on Palatinose/Isomatulose. It is touted as a great “simple” sugar replacement. Although it consists of Fructose and Glucose as Sucrose does, the sugars are bound together somewhat different, which makes it harder to digest, which in turn does not lead to high spikes in blood sugar. Also mouth bacteria cannot digest it, so the negative impact of sugar on teeth is abolished, while still being reasonably sweet.

There are also some studies on the beneficial effects on body composition/blood glucose and whatnot, as you can see on Wikipedia:

E.g. it leads to higher fat oxidation rates and lower blood glucose spikes, compared to other simple sugars. Which is not really surprising, but:

Longer-term studies suggest, indeed, that isomaltulose has a role in
reducing body fatness, at least central obesity. In these studies,
abdominal fat decreased with sugar replacement by isomaltulose or when
replacing breakfast calories

So it seems, that even replacing breakfast calories with Palatinose would lead to fat loss. Well maybe typical breakfast calories involved a lot of sugary crap, but who knows.

What are your thoughts on this supposedly “miracle” sugar?

I bought some of the stuff and put it in my meal replacement protein shakes (although I don’t really crave sugar). But I somehow worry about the high fructose content, it is practically the same as in table sugar. Could that cause problems for the metabolism, as would intake of high fructose corn syrup? Maybe replacing simple sugars with Palatinose makes sense, but can you say the same for other kinds of carbohydrates?

Though isomaltulose doesn’t seem to raise insulin as quickly as normal sugar, as Bill Roberts indicated to me in another similar thread, it still consists of glucose and fructose. Depending on how scared you are of fructose, avoiding isomaltulose in large quantities is probably a good thing.