If you are trying to cut back on your sugar intake, navigating the world of sweeteners can seem like an impossible task unless you have a degree in chemistry! Let’s break it down together…

To start there are the naturally occurring sugars which provide calories in the form of carbohydrates. These include lactose which is found in milk and dairy products, fructose and glucose which are found in fruits and vegetables, and sucrose which is extracted from beets or sugar cane to make table sugar. 

Next we have the sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols are often found in processed foods in order to add sweetness without adding too many calories as they have less calories per gram then regular table sugar. Sugar alcohols include: 

• Maltitol
• Mannitol
• Sorbitol
• Xylitol
• Erythritol 
• Isomalt
• Lactitol

Sugar alcohols are not fully absorbed in the intestines which is why they can cause some unpleasant side effects such as gas, bloating and loose stools. 

Finally we come to the non-nutritive sweeteners, which add sweetness without adding calories. This includes six high intensity artificial sweeteners:

• Saccharin
• Aspartame
• Acesulfame potassium (Ace-K)
• Sucralose
• Neotame
• Newtame
• Advantame

and three plant-based non-nutritive sweeteners:

• Luo han guo (monk) fruit extract
• Stevia 
• Thaumatin

Non-nutritive sweeteners pack quite a punch when it comes to sweetness. These sweeteners can be anywhere from 30–13,000 times sweeter than a naturally occurring sugar such as sucrose! 

Eliminating added sweeteners from your diet can have a positive impact on your gut health and waistline.  The best choice by far to satisfy a sweet tooth is sticking to fresh fruit.  If you choose to include some of the other sweeteners listed above, remember that sugar by any name is best in small doses.