It actually surprises me a little that it has more carbs, though if it had the same number, it wouldn’t surprise me. I’ll get the Murray sugar free brand at the store, and they’ll often have the same total carbs as regular cookies, though maybe half of them will be sugar alcohol. Which I suppose is its own issue–sugar alcohols usually get me near the same in the end, they’re just significantly slower–like a few hours.

They probably aren’t lower calorie either though! Or at least, certainly not lower fat! Sometimes those things are worse. Which is just funny. I’ve also noticed that in low fat products will be higher carbs sometimes.

Have to pass on the “Sugar Free” stuff. Such a scam. You have to love getting sugar free candy as a holiday gift. Hey – If you’re going to buy me candy, get me the good stuff! It’s about carbs NOT SUGAR!!

I thought I would provide a little different perspective here. I review a lot of these “no sugar” products, and it’s not really an all-or-nothing approach I try to take.

Most of the products that have no sugar and a high number of carbohydrate grams use sugar alcohols to achieve sweetness. Not all sugar alcohols are created equal. Some have pretty high glycemic index values, and some have almost no impact on blood glucose. The labels must report the sugar alcohol grams the same no matter what their impact is.

In my experience you can subtract half the sugar alcohol grams from the total carbohydrate gram count for a fairly reliable measure of carbohydrate gram impact. Everyone’s metabolism is different, and this discussion is a good opportunity to point out that consistent testing and experimenting is the best way to determine what snacks are good for you.

It’s nice to see that I’m not the only one passing on the sugar free foods. When comparing the nutritional information and the actual taste, I’m not sure it’s worth giving up on the “good” stuff for the sugar [taste] free ones.

@Glucoholic – I welcome and appreciate a different perspective. You are absolutely correct according to my research about the sugar alcohols when counting carbs. Again, I’m not sure giving up on the taste is worth the trouble. Thanks for the info and different perspective. According to the American Diabetes Association:

Tips for Carb Counting and Sugar Alcohols

Sugar alcohols don’t raise blood glucose as much as the same amount of other carbohydrates. To figure out the amount of other carbohydrate you should count for a food with sugar alcohols, follow these tips:

* Subtract half of the sugar alcohol grams from the total carbohydrate
* Count the remaining grams

For Example:
Serving Size: 1 bar
Total carbohydrate 15 grams — Sugar alcohol 6 grams
One bar counts as 12 grams carbohydrate (15 – 3 = 12)

Until they start using tagatosein in place of sugar, and go away from the sugar-alcohol based sweeteners, I won’t touch anything that’s labeled sugar-free.

tagatosein is a left-handed sugar (the molecule is spun opposite to the standard sugar molecule) made from processing whey.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/newsugar_pr.html

The human body cannot process the sugar, so it passes through the body without effecting it (at most, some human bodies can process as much as 15% of the tagatosein content – still a lot better than 100% of regular sugar).

It is real sugar as far as look, taste, molecular makeup goes – it can be used to directly replace standard sugar. (I’m thinking Pepsi throwback or Mt. Dew Throwback made with tagatosein here).

It hasn’t been processed with chlorine as splenda has, so doesn’t cause the allergic reactions that splenda is known to do.

It doesn’t break down into formaldehyde like nutrasweet does when stored above 70. Nor does it contain the phenolketonurics that nutrasweet does – which can cause all kinds of health problems.