… for geeks, like me! I got a little carried away with the diagram! But any visual learners, like me, may appreciate this…
Here I have tried to provide you with more information but not so much as to overload you, at least I hope not!
1 Monosaccharides = single unit sugars. Those commonly found in food are:
- Glucose (blood sugar)
- Galactose (milk sugar)
- Fructose (the main sugar in fruit)
Please note the only monosaccharide high in FODMAPs is Fructose.
2 Disaccharides consist of 2 Monosaccharides linked together. E.g.
- Sucrose (often called table sugar) = Glucose + Fructose
- Maltose (malt sugar) = Glucose + Glucose
- Lactose (milk sugar) = Glucose + Galactose
Conversely not all disaccharides are high FODMAPs. The only one of interest is Lactose. Therefore as vegans we don’t need to concern ourselves with disaccharides. Woohoo, one down!
3 Oligosaccharides are carbohydrate molecules containing small amounts of Monosaccharides (between 3 and 10). Most oligosaccharides are indigestible. The two types of oligosaccharides found in foods that are FODMAPs are Fructans and Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS).
- Fructans are chains of fructose molecules with glucose at the end. They are found in a variety of foods including wheat, onions, garlic and other various fruits and vegetables.
- GOS are chains of the sugar galactose of varying length; found primarily in beans. Like fructans they are poorly absorbed in all people because no one has the ability to break them down in the small intestine. Restriction has been proven to help with IBS like symptoms.
Fructans are the most common FODMAPs
4 Polyols otherwise known as sugar alcohols are neither sugar nor alcohol but they have a chemical structure that partially resembles both (a sugar and an alcohol) Polyols can be naturally or artificially produced. They are poorly absorbed in many people. They are carbohydrates but not (real) sugars. They occur naturally in some fruits and vegetables (e.g. apples, cauliflower) Artificial sweeteners aka ‘sugar replacers’ are Polyols.
Polyols are often given names ending in ‘ol’. Sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol are the Polyols most commonly found in the diet. Others include Maltitol, polydextrose & isomalt.
