You've probably heard about artificial sweeteners that are extremely low in calories but still do the job of making things as sweet as you want them. Think about it, 100 ml of Coca Cola has 10.6g of sugar. The same amount of Coca Cola Zero has 0g of sugar. The decision which one is better almost seems like a no brainer, right? Well, yes, but also no. Not every type of artificial sweetener is natural and healthy. In fact, only several artificial sweeteners are FDA approved in Australias, such as saccharin, aspartame, neotame, sucralose, acesulfame, and erythritol.
However, studies show that people who replace sugar with artificial sweeteners like powdered erythritol oftentimes replace the lost sugar through other sources, which could possibly be offsetting the weight loss process or the health benefits they expect out of taking artificial sweeteners. Many people think that just because they replaced a regular Coke with a Zero, it's okay to have a slice of cake. There's a possibility that taking artificial sweeteners can change the way we taste our food. This is a result because even small dosages of sweeteners can overstimulate the sugar receptors, and that can limit our tolerance for more complex tastes. This can result in people finding sweet foods, such as fruit, less appealing.
Personally, I've only used powdered erythritol and neotame. I use powdered erythritol simply because I've found it doesn't negatively impact me in any way. It's natural, tastes almost exactly like sugar, and doesn't cause any side effects for me. Basically, it's just like using regular sugar, but without the negatives. Powdered erythritol belongs to a class of sugar alcohol compounds, which are used by many food producers. Some of these sugar alcohols are maltitol, xylitol, and sorbitol. Most of these sugar alcohols function as low-calory sweeteners and are found in small amounts in nature, such as in vegetables and fruits.
But erythritol is quite different from other sugar alcohols. It contains fewer calories, only 6% of the calories of sugar, while still keeping about 70% of its sweetness. In large-scale production, powdered erythritol is made when a type of yeast ferments glucose from wheat starch or corn. Overall, erythritol is safe, and studies haven't shown any serious side-effects of using it. One of the biggest drawbacks to sugar alcohols is that they can cause some digestive issues due to their unique chemical structure. Your body can't digest them, so they go through your digestive system unchanged until they reach the colon, where they're fermented by the resident bacteria that produces gas.
As a result, sugar alcohols can cause digestive upset and bloat. But erythritol is slightly different than other sugar alcohols. Most of erythritol gets absorbed into the bloodstream way before it reaches the colon. It will circulate in the blood until it's eventually excreted in the urine. About 90% of all erythritol you consume is excreted this way. And even though powdered erythritol doesn't have serious serious side-effects, eating too much of it can cause a digestive upset. Over 50g of erythritol in a single dose can cause stomach rumbling and nausea, but to be fair, that dosage is so high that you're probably not consuming that much in a day or two.
Further, since we don't have the enzymes to break down erythritol, it doesn't cause spikes in insulin or blood sugar. Instead, it's absorbed into the bloodstream as a whole the excreted in the urine as a whole. Healthy people don't react when given erythritol, and there are no changes in cholesterol, triglycerides and other biomarkers. This makes erythritol a good alternative for overweight people, people with diabetes and issues related to metabolic syndrome. Additionally, it acts as an antioxidant in a way, due to the fact that it reduces blood vessel damage that's caused by high blood sugar levels.
That being said, powdered erythritol is one of the best sweeteners available to people who want to reduce their sugar intake significantly. It contains almost no calories, has about 70% of the sweetness of sugar, and it doesn't raise the insulin and blood sugar levels. There have been numerous studies done with it, and all of them show very few side effects, most of which are minor digestive issues in some people. This makes it the ideal sugar alternative for health-conscious people who want to sweeten their food. While honey and stevia are great alternatives to sugar as well, honey still contains fructose and calories, and a lot of people dislike the aftertaste of stevia.
But at the end of the day, it's best you get sugar in its natural form, like whole fruits, which are highly nutritious, high in fiber, nutrient-dense and low in glycemic load. Stay away from refined and concentrated sugar, as that can lead to many health issues like inflammatory mediators, oxygen radicals, increased triglycerides and an increase in blood glucose and insulin.
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