Nutrition & health

Are Sugar-Free Sweets Healthy? What “No Added Sugar” Mithai Really Contains

Are sugar-free sweets actually healthy, and are they safe for a diabetic relative?

A sugar-free sweet swaps the sugar for a polyol or a sweetener and keeps the ghee, khoya and flour. Maltitol still raises blood glucose, polyols carry a laxative warning by law, and WHO advises against sweeteners for weight control. How to read the box before Diwali.

By · Sourced nutrition, food safety and kitchen notes · Pure Bites, Surat

· 5 min read

A sugar-free sweet is not a free sweet. It replaces table sugar with something else — usually a sugar alcohol such as maltitol, or an intense sweetener — and keeps everything else mithai is made of. India’s dietary guidelines say as much: people assume sugar-free means fewer calories and safe for diabetics, and it often means neither. Here is what the label can tell you before the Diwali boxes are ordered.

Sugar-free sweets at a glance

  • What changes: the sweetener. Sugar is replaced by a polyol (maltitol, sorbitol, erythritol) or an intense sweetener (sucralose, stevia).
  • What stays: the fat and the flour, khoya or nut base, and most of the calories.
  • What the law requires: a pack with 10% or more polyols must carry the words “Polyols may have laxative effect”.

Are sugar-free sweets healthy?

The ICMR–NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians address the claim directly. Sugar-free foods, they say, may be loaded with fats, refined cereals such as white flour and starch, and even hidden sugars — they name maltitol, fructose, corn syrup and molasses — which would mean a high glycaemic index and high calories. The same guidelines define “high sugar” as more than 25 g of added sugar a day, and say limiting or eliminating it is better for health. A sugar-free sweet helps with that one number. It does nothing for the fat.

What are sugar-free sweets made with?

Two things follow. A maltitol sweet still raises blood glucose, only more slowly and less than sugar would. And polyols are poorly absorbed, which is why they are lower in calories and why they can cause bloating, gas and loose motions in larger amounts. Indian rules require the laxative statement on any pack with 10% or more polyols, and a longer one for sorbitol that mentions bloating and diarrhoea in children.

Are jaggery, honey and date sweets sugar-free?

No. The guidelines list jaggery and honey alongside table sugar, glucose and fructose as added sugars. A sweet made with jaggery has added sugar in it, whatever the front of the box says. Sweets bound with date paste carry the fruit’s own sugars, and they are still sweets. “No added sugar” and “sugar-free” are different claims, so read which one the box is making.

Are sugar-free sweets safe for diabetics?

They can be part of a plan, in a portion a doctor or dietitian has agreed; they are not a free food. The WHO guideline of 2023 advises against using non-sugar sweeteners to control weight or reduce disease risk, but it states that the recommendation applies to everyone except people with pre-existing diabetes, and it does not cover polyols. So WHO has not said sweeteners are unsafe for diabetics. It has said they are not a weight-loss tool for everyone else. India’s guidelines add that pregnant and breastfeeding women and children should avoid sugar substitutes.

How to read a sugar-free mithai box

  1. Find the sweetener in the ingredient list. Maltitol, sorbitol, isomalt and xylitol are polyols. Sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame and steviol glycosides are intense sweeteners.
  2. Read total sugars, not only added sugars. Milk solids and dried fruit bring their own.
  3. Read fat and energy per 100 g. This is where a ghee-and-khoya sweet shows itself.
  4. Look for the boxed warnings. The laxative statement for polyols; “Not recommended for children” on products sweetened with aspartame.
  5. Divide by the piece. If a box gives values per 100 g and a piece weighs 25 g, one piece is a quarter of every number.

Sugar-free sweets — common questions

Do sugar-free sweets have calories?

Yes. The fat, milk solids, flour and nuts are unchanged, and most polyols count as 2 kcal per gram on Indian labels. Only the sugar’s share is reduced.

Why do sugar-free sweets upset the stomach?

Polyols are only partly absorbed, and the rest draws water into the gut and ferments. That is why packs with 10% or more must say “Polyols may have laxative effect”.

Is jaggery better than sugar for diabetics?

India’s dietary guidelines count jaggery as an added sugar. It is not a sugar-free ingredient, and a diabetic should treat it as sugar unless their doctor says otherwise.

Is stevia safe?

Steviol glycoside is among the sweeteners Indian labelling rules provide for. WHO’s 2023 guideline includes stevia among the non-sugar sweeteners it advises against for weight control, for people without diabetes. That is advice about usefulness, not a finding that it is dangerous.

Can children eat sugar-free sweets?

India’s guidelines say children should avoid sugar substitutes, and the sorbitol warning mentions children specifically. A small piece of an ordinary sweet is the simpler choice.

A savoury box, fried after the order 500 g and 1 kg packs, couriered pan-India

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