Erythritol is an almost 0 calorie / low-glycemic sugar substitute
Erythritol is an almost 0
calorie / low-glycemic sugar substitute
Overview
Erythritol is a fermented sugar alcohol (aka polyol).
Occurs naturally in, for example, pears,melons, grapes,
mushrooms and fermentation-derived foods such as wine, soy sauce and cheese.
Commercial erythritol is derived from corn. Other sugar alcohols include
xylitol, maltitol, sorbitol and lactitol.
Used as a bulk sweetener in low calorie foods.
Typical retail cost of erythritol is ~ $6-9 per pound - considerably more
expensive than table sugar.
Looks and tastes like table sugar (sucrose).
This white crystalline powder can be used measure for measure as a direct
substitute for sugar in recipes. Available in both granulated and powdered
forms. Erythritol
is about 70% as sweet as sugar
Almost zero calories - 0.24 calories
per gram. i.e. <1 calorie / teaspoon
(compared to sugar's 16 calories / tsp. or honey's 22 calories / tsp.) E.g. 1 tsp. (4.18 g)
crystalline powder erythritol has ~ 1 calorie.
Does not cause tooth decay - erythritol resists metabolization by oral bacteria, which can break down sugars
and starches to produce acids which may lead to tooth enamel loss and cavities.
Kawanabe, J.; Hirasawa, M.; Takeuchi, T.; Oda, T.; Ikeda, T. (1992).
"Noncariogenicity of erythritol as a substrate".Caries Research 26(5):
358-62.PMID 1468100
Safe
dosage - study shows spread out daily
consumption of 1 gram / kilogram body weight of erythritol in various foods and
beveragesis well tolerated by adults as compared to sucrose containing foods.
And yet - Erythritol is associated with weight gain
A 2015 study of 172 healthy freshman, led by Cornell
University researchers in the Division of Nutritional Sciences and researchers
at Braunschweig University of Technology, Germany, and the University of
Luxembourg, has identified the sugar alcohol erythritol as a biomarker for
increasing fat mass and can be metabolized by (and even produced in) the human
body. Erythritol (which this study found could be synthesized by the body
from glucose) was elevated at the beginning of the year in freshmen who went on
to gain weight, fat, and abdominal fat compared with freshmen with stable
weight.
"Erythritol is not consumed and released from the body
unchanged; it has an impact on the metabolism of our body. This finding is in contrast to all previous
assumptions ."
-- Senior co-author Karsten Hiller, professor of
bioinformatics and biochemistry at TU Braunschweig and a leading scientist in
cellular metabolism
Researchers found that students who gained weight and
abdominal fat over the course of the year had 15 times higher blood erythritol
at the start of the year compared with their counterparts who were stable or
lost weight and fat mass over the academic year.
Side Effects of using erythritol
In
moderation, erythritol doesn't cause digestive upset /diarrhea like some of the
other sugar alcohols - being a smaller molecule than xylitol, maltitol and
sorbitol,for example, allows it to
be 90% absorbed in the small intestine and then excreted mostly unchanged in the
urine. It is not fermented by intestinal bacteria.
Arrigoni, E.; Brouns, F.; Amadò, R. (November 2005). "Human gut microbiota does not ferment
erythritol" (pdf).British
Journal of Nutrition 94(5): 643-6..PMID 16277764
Erythritol should not cause digestive upset in
most people unless consumed in large quantities over 50 grams (~2 ounces)
- although some people can have digestive issues even with
small amounts.
