We’ll keep it simple, dextrose is not keto-friendly. It is a sweetener that is high in carbs which will not help you on your keto journey. However, there are plenty of different, keto-friendly sweeteners out there that you can use. Read on and we will take you through our favorite keto-friendly alternatives to dextrose.
In Brief – What is Dextrose?
We know that you did not come here for a lesson on dextrose, so we’ll make this brief, but it is essential to understand why you cannot eat dextrose on keto. Dextrose is the name for a simple sugar made from corn.
It is chemically identical to glucose or blood sugar. Dextrose is It is often used as a sweetener in baking products and items such as processed foods or corn syrup.
Dextrose is something that you need to look out for in the ingredients lists of foods, even some purporting to be keto-friendly.
Is Dextrose Bad for Keto Dieters?
So we already know that dextrose is not keto-friendly so why? As dextrose is chemically identical to glucose and is high on the glycaemic index, just like regular sugar, it will spike your blood sugar levels.
To put things into perspective, dextrose has 85 grams of carbs per 100 grams and has a recording of 100/100 on the glycemic index. This is high!
So what does this mean?
This means that you will be eating over your macro allowance for carbs and your body will struggle to get into ketosis.
If you want to learn more about the basics of keto, check out our keto beginners’ guide.
Dextrose has also been linked to a number of health conditions including chronic diseases, such as;
- Obesity
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Diabetes
However, this does not mean that you cannot have your favorite keto sweet treats.
Check out some of these sweet and savory keto recipes that contain only keto-friendly sweeteners.
So, we know that dextrose and keto do not mix, but let’s take you through the full list of sweeteners to avoid on keto.
More helpfully, which sweeteners you can use on a keto diet, without knocking your body out of ketosis.
Sweeteners to Avoid on Keto
There are a number of sweeteners to avoid on keto.
Here we have created a lite of the most common sweeteners to avoid on keto.
Below is a list of sweeteners that should be avoided on a keto diet;
- Acesulfame K
- Agave Syrup
- Alitame
- Aspartame
- Barley Malt Syrup
- Blackstrap Molasses
- Brazzein
- Brown Rice Syrup
- Cane Juice
- Caramel
- Coconut Palm Sugar
- Cyclamate
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Galactose
- Glycerol
- Glycyrrhizin
- Golden Syrup
- HFCS-42
- HFCS-55
- HFCS-90
- Honey
- Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates [HSH]
- Inulin
- Inverted Sugar
- Lactose
- Maltitol
- Maltodextrin
- Maltose
- Maple Syrup
- Neotame
- Oligofructose
- Pentadin
- Refiners Syrup
- Saccharin
- Sorghum Syrup
- Sucrose
- Trehalose
- Yacon Syrup
Sweeteners Allowed on Keto
There are a whole host of sweeteners allowed on the keto diet. Here is a list of keto-friendly sweeteners for you.
There are many types of sweeteners that can be used in keto recipes.
Some of the most popular keto-approved sweeteners are;
We would recommend printing off our list of sweeteners allowed on the keto diet and sweeteners to avoid on keto or bookmark this page for reference in the future.
Final Thoughts
Dextrose is definitely not keto-friendly, but that doesn’t matter, you can soon replace it with a keto-friendly substitute such as erythritol, stevia, or monk fruit.
