If you use acarbose, you can expect your blood glucose rises to be gradual after eating foods with starch or sucrose. All this means that if you take acarbose, you'll see a lower blood glucose surge with a cookie sweetened with sugar than one sweetened with fruit juice or corn syrup. Likewise, you'll have a lower blood glucose surge after eating a piece of chocolate cake with icing than after eating fruit. The cake, made of flour, and the icing, made of powdered table sugar, are affected by acarbose. This, of course, doesn't mean that the cake is a healthier choice.
Fruit is, because it's low in fat and calories and high in fiber and vitamins.
But understanding differences between foods is essential for the best blood glucose control. It can get confusing when foods contain some ingredients that are slowed by acarbose and some that aren't. For example, a pie may have sugar, starch, fruit, and corn syrup. Different varieties of a food may have very different effects on blood glucose levels. Oranges have a lot of sucrose, which is affected by acarbose.