FYI - Sugar alcohol (e.g. xylitol, sorbitol, erythritol) taste just like sugar and the bacteria try to eat it like sugar but can't digest and it halts their growth.
The sugar alcohols are either near zero on the glycemic index or actually zero (erythritol). Many sugar alcohols like xylitol are natural and are found in small amounts in the food that we eat.
I don't understand why people still use these artificial chemical sugars, when the natural alternatives seem to have lots of health benefits.
Yeah but they're often used in products like chewing gum because of the underlying assumption that you won't normally consume it in quantities where that becomes a problem. I think there's also a label warning that "excessive consumption" can make it act as a laxative.
> the bacteria try to eat it like sugar but can't digest and it halts their growth.
Some sugar alcohols have antibacterial effects against tooth decay bacteria (e.g. there's some evidence for xylitol and erythritol against streptococci). Some sugar alcohols neither promote nor inhibit their growth (e.g. sorbitol, as far as I'm aware).
> I don't understand why people still use these artificial chemical sugars, when the natural alternatives seem to have lots of health benefits.
I'm guessing cost has something to do with it. Artificial non-nutritive sweeteners, being hundreds or thousands of times more potent than sugar, can be hundreds of times more expensive per gram than sugar alcohols and still be cheaper to use. Sugar alcohols aren't even as cheap per gram as sugar, nor as potent. I wish that weren't the case :/
(There is also, of course, the side effects of consuming too much. Most people could eat an abnormally large dose of artificial sweeteners without any major immediate gastrointestinal problems. When people eat too much sugar alcohols, they have the kind of problems that made Amazon reviews of sugar-free gummy bears famous...)
The sugar alcohols are either near zero on the glycemic index or actually zero (erythritol). Many sugar alcohols like xylitol are natural and are found in small amounts in the food that we eat.
I don't understand why people still use these artificial chemical sugars, when the natural alternatives seem to have lots of health benefits.
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