So I’m looking for no added sugar cereal but a lot of them contain barley malt extract/syrup. This is described as an unrefined sweetener but it still seems to be about 55% sugar and there is only a negligible fibre, protein and fat content.
So, can someone tell me how barley malt is really any different or how it will behave differently from sugar? Additionally, would something containing sweet whey powder be a better option since this just seems to be a byproduct of cheese with some protein and fat (similar to milk which is categorised as an intrinsic sugar)?
Thanks.
Malt has a sugar known as maltose, which is simply a combination of two glucose molecules, and is therefore not really any different effect than glucose or starch.
Unlike sucrose, maltose doesn’t have any fructose in it, so it is metabolically different than the same amount of sucrose.
Generally I think that glucose is less of an issue the fructose because it doesn’t contribute to NAFLD and insulin resistance the way that fructose does.
Fructose, galactose, glucose are monosaccharides.
Lactose, sucrose, maltose are the more commonly mentioned disaccharides. They are specific combinations of monosaccharides above.
The carbohydrates of plants are much more complex than these first two levels of basic sugars. When they decompose or are digested by enzymatic activity, the carbohydrates, in various stages, will typically simplify towards the more basic sugars. Maltose is yielded from the activity of maltase on the barley starch as it germinates.
Malted barley is barley that has had some of its starch broken down during germination, giving maltose. Maltose is made of two glucose. It is a sugar. What is colloquially deemed ‘sugar’ usually refers to the highly processed table sugar, sucrose.
One bit of sucrose will break down into a part of fructose and a part of glucose. Maltose will break down into two glucose molecules. Lactose is broken down into glucose and galactose.
Typically any sweetener is going to be sugar of some kind. The differences are which sort of sugar it is, it’s processing, and how useful it is to the body processes.
On the question of how it is different from table sugar or sweet whey powder, once the body is metabolising the intake for whatever it needs, they will all be broken down into the same basic parts. So, fundamentally, sugar is sugar. ‘Dose’ is probably more important than origin.
From what I have gleaned from experience, ‘no sugar added’ is just a marketing gimmick to indicate they have not further flooded the ingredients with a simple syrup solution or similar.
Would you like sweetness as a quality to your cereal at all? If not, you could probably find or make things without much for sugars. If you want the sweetness, you’ll probably always encounter more sugars than otherwise. It depends on your objectives and your palate. A lot of the things available in stores are actually unpleasant to me for their level of sweetness. If I have a cereal, it is usually hot and cooked at home, oats or barley. I try to get most of my sugars from fruits and vegetables, or breads that do not have pages of additional ingredients.
It’s basically disguised sugar. Glucose, Maltose, maltotriose and some higher chain malt sugar. It’s not very sweet. So you get less sweetness per kcal.
Sweet whey is mainly lactose. Also this is just sugar, although there’s no fructose but galactose in lactose. Again it is less sweet than sugar, but it does contain about 13% (dry matter) of protein. It’s about 75% lactose.
Both aren’t essentially better choices if you put it on cereal to make it taste sweet. You will need more kcals and grammes to get to the same seeetness, so you might end up making something with more quick carbs than plain sugar.
I am not against sugars by the way. As long as your diet as a whole is balanced, some sugars are not an issue imho.
Better for what? Fat loss? IBS? Weight gain? Celiac?
Arrowhead Mills makes great single-ingredient puffed cereals and is cheaper than Magic Spoon (if that’s the whey cereal you speak of). I like their Kamut, Corn, and Wheat puffs.
In the end, picking a cereal that you like and satisfies your hunger is best. There are more and less nutrient-dense options, but if it takes up mental space in your head trying to pick the “best” cereal, that stress could be doing more harm to you than barley malt ever could.