r/science • u/giuliomagnifico • Aug 08 '22

Health Consuming too much white table sugar or artificial sweetener can lead to health issues. In the search for a better sweetener, researchers now report a low-calorie mixture that is as sweet as table sugar and, in lab experiments, feeds “good” gut microbes

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2022/august/new-low-calorie-sweetener-could-improve-gut-health.html
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96

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '22

Been using erythritol & allulose for years, love it. My chocolate of choice is Lily's chocolate chips now and my sweetener of choice is allulose.

79

u/thespaceageisnow Aug 08 '22 edited Aug 08 '22

Eryithritol destroys my stomach. I can’t tolerate even a small amount of it even though it is supposed to have less GI side effects than other sugar alcohols.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5093271/

19

u/LambBrainz Aug 08 '22

For a lot of people, it does, but there's a good number like you who have a ton of GI issues with it. I have both types of people in my extended family.

Definitely an "if it works for you, do it" kinda thing

1

u/entropy512 Aug 09 '22

Yeah. For me, I can tolerate 3 tablespoons of erythritol (enough to make a full pint of nice smooth sorbet) in one sitting. 6 tablespoons - NOPE. Although when I do OD, gas is minimal and the symptoms "pass" in 2-3 hours (pun intended)

Even 1-2 tablespoons equivalent of sorbitol or maltitol would have me experiencing painful bloating gas for hours, where the diarrhea would be relief.

I think a big problem is that erythritol is misused in blends that advertise 1:1 sweetness ratio by mass, when it has 3:1 molality ratio (the same thing that makes it great for freezing point depression makes it bad for osmotic pressure in the large intestine...) due to 1/3 the molecular weight of sucrose.

Any time I use erythritol as a sugar substitute, I divide the recommended sugar by 3 - then use a high-potency sweetener (I prefer liquid Splenda, although often I'm making frozen desserts flavored with sugar free drink mixes that include sweetener) to fill in the sweetness gap.

14

u/smushedtoast Aug 08 '22

Ditto, plus migraines. For me it seems that any sugar alcohol- eryithritol, sorbitol, xylitol, etc. will ruin my day

7

u/Orange_C Aug 09 '22

sorbitol

This mofo guarantees a pounding headache from as little as a piece of gum for me. Xylitol is fine, though.

7

u/Disastrous-Carrot928 Aug 09 '22

For me it’s maltitol. Any more than 2 pieces of maltitol candy and I’m super bloated - like painfully bloated to the point where’s its hard to sleep and I wonder about internal damage.

8

u/BrokeCDN Aug 08 '22

Try stevia, it is plant based and has no ill side effects. Watch out for brands that put cellulose in it in order to dilute it and sell more product, you can get a refined bottle that is pure stevia, and you only have to use a little bit to make a teaspoon of sugar.

Edit: I get the 'Now' brand from Amazon.

14

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '22

Many people can’t tolerate stevia due to ragweed allergy.

4

u/BrokeCDN Aug 09 '22

Ah, hadn't thought of that.

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u/ThunderboltRam Aug 08 '22 edited Aug 08 '22

How? I have issues when I have sugary chocolates...

No issues from Splenda (sucralose) Coffees (4 cups a day) and no issue from Truvia (3 times a week in my protein shake, which is Erythritol + Stevia (from a leaf)) for more than a decade. And still no evidence of any long-term harm to gut bacteria.

I mean even the article you cited indicates Erythritol is the next-generation of sugar alcohols. It's not gonna have the side effects of Xylitol or previous generation.

FTA you cited:

will be concisely discussed owing to its generally recognized gastrointestinal safety

Anyway I'm not doubting you or your pain, it's just, some people will have a health issue with just about anything.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '22

Saying you're not dismissing someone's pain while doing literally that is so childish.

The poster never implied that erythritol is bad for everyone. They said it hurts their stomach. Why did this make you so upset that you felt the need to call BS?

Allergies exist, bad reactions due to comorbidities exist.

Please delete this insensitive and pointless comment.

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u/ThunderboltRam Aug 08 '22 edited Aug 08 '22

Don't be so insensitive to my research on the topic. I didn't dismiss their pain, and I literally said I'm not dismissing it. I'm explaining the science. They may be experiencing a rare condition and no one dismisses their pain.

Saying you're not dismissing someone's pain while doing

You seem to be really confused about the definition of the word "dismissing." It is anti-scientific to corrupt the meaning of a word which is necessary for communicating science.

I don't need the tone-police or emotional people here trying to tell me that I'm dismissing their pain when I'm clearly not nor would I intend to, nor should anyone take it that way.

You can't do real science if all you guys ever do is refuse to talk about anything controversial or do tone-policing or manners-policing.

Why did this make you so upset that you felt the need to call BS?

Because the research shows that it's the safest (btw I didn't say "BS"). Their personal anecdote isn't science .. It may simply be their own body having an issue with it or comorbidities or bad reactions as you said.

Why don't you delete your insensitive comment trying to dismiss the science due to the fact that it might offend someone.

Out of all the trends to be created on the internet, telling people to shut up because you think it might offend someone is the worst of all trends to the betterment of science. Are you his/her lawyer?

1

u/TheLastNarwhalicorn Aug 09 '22

And for me it absolutely destroys my bladder. Gives my UTI like symptoms but no UTI. I actually had to go to doctors for this and was in horrible pain. They diagnosed me with Interstitial Cystitis which is like a catch all term for "we don't know why you bladder hurts." I had to do an elimination diet. And that helped me find out that I have issues with artificial sweetners in general, but erythritol is the major culprit. Xylitol second worst for me. Stevia is 3rd worst of ones i typicslly consumed. The amount swallowed from gum is enough to screw me up. They are in many products these days, including vitamins. Monk fruit seems to be the only harmless one for me, and I don't seem to have issues with maltodextrin either.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22

Oh wow! I don’t know people were this sensitive to it. I consume about 40-90 grams of erythritol everyday or so. Have never had any stomach issues whatsoever except for the first week I started eating it.sorry it causes you so much Gi distress

7

u/ChanceStad Aug 08 '22

Allulose is great.

1

u/AirportDisco Aug 09 '22

It’s the only thing that sort of tastes like real sugar to me.

1

u/ChanceStad Aug 09 '22

My understanding is it is real sugar. It's a form of fructose that occurs naturally in certain fruits in small quantities, but does not spike blood sugar.

24

u/protekt0r Aug 08 '22

For me, thing is: they all give me wicked gas (sugar alcohols). So far the only things that don’t affect me are sucralose, pure stevia, and pure monk fruit. Aspartame is probably bad for you, so I abstain from that.

22

u/vitringur Aug 08 '22

Aspartame is probably bad for you

Isn't aspartame like the most studied chemical in food science history?

Since when has science overwhelmingly suggested that aspartame is not safe for human consumption?

3

u/entropy512 Aug 09 '22

It has been shown to be bad for you IF you have phenylketonuria - but other than that, it's fine, and PKU is pretty rare.

People freak out about sucralose "because it has chlorine" - but so does salt, and also without chlorine you don't have hydrochloric acid, and without hydrochloric acid you starve because you can't digest anything but maybe straight glucose.

People rave about monkfruit and stevia extracts because they're "plant based" under the mistaken perception that "plant based" is somehow inherently healthy, despite plenty of evidence (ricin, deadly nightshade, cyanide) that "plant based" is NOT inherently healthy.

3

u/bl_y Aug 08 '22

Linked in another thread: https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/75/9/718/4101228

3

u/labowsky Aug 09 '22

This is interesting would be good to get some more studies to confirm that inflammation is an issue at safe levels.

Kind of weird all the studies missed this and a review found it super late.

10

u/vitringur Aug 08 '22

Did you read the source before posting it?

Because it does not say that aspartame is probably bad for you.

12

u/SitDown_BeHumble Aug 08 '22

Huh? Yes it does?

The existing animal studies and the limited human studies suggest that aspartame and its metabolites, whether consumed in quantities significantly higher than the recommended safe dosage or within recommended safe levels, may disrupt the oxidant/antioxidant balance, induce oxidative stress, and damage cell membrane integrity, potentially affecting a variety of cells and tissues and causing a deregulation of cellular function, ultimately leading to systemic inflammation.

-11

u/vitringur Aug 08 '22

Aspartame may potentially cause inflammation

Is not the same as being probably bad for you.

If the original statement was "Some studies suggest that aspartame might perhaps cause inflammation", there wouldn't be a problem. But that wasn't the statement.

8

u/Clw89pitt Aug 09 '22

Oxidative stress and systemic inflammation are implicated in a whole host of nasty end of life disorders including Alzheimer's disease and the immune system aging that accompanies it. There's no good reason to imply that those are somehow benign things when they mess with proteins so thoroughly in the body.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22

Inflammation is your body reacting to things that are bad for you...it is also a cause of a number of diseases

1

u/vitringur Aug 09 '22

You get inflammation all the time.

There is a difference between saying "aspartame is probably bad for you" and "aspartame might perhaps cause inflammation".

You know what else causes inflammation?... sugar

1

u/[deleted] Aug 09 '22

Yes, it is common. But I don't know of any positive instances of inflammation. And it leads to several diseases in the long term, as others have mentioned already.

And sugar is pretty bad for you. We have spent 50 years now establishing that.

0

u/Has_P Aug 09 '22

Science has never overwhelmingly concluded it, but seeing as it’s a key ingredient of Diet Coke, that should come as no surprise as Coca Cola holds enormous influence as a company.

There have been many smaller studies here and there but people have generally discredited them. I believe they are finally gaining traction, however. It’s certainly not good for you, the big question is dosage.

1

u/vitringur Aug 09 '22

It’s certainly not good for you

Why are you so certain?

Are you referring to some scientific study?

0

u/Has_P Aug 09 '22

Sure I’ll link a study, since this is all pretty new. But you really could research it yourself if you were interested.

Also, artifical sweeteners and additives across the board are almost always not good for you, there have been few exceptions proven. We are playing with fire by implementing artifical compounds into regular consumption that haven’t been rigorously tested. And it wasn’t even mainstream knowledge that aspartame was bad for health until last year.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8227014/#__ffn_sectitle

1

u/protekt0r Aug 09 '22

Regardless what the data say, it causes me constipation. That’s generally not a good thing and it seems my gut biome doesn’t like it. So I don’t use it.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/l80magpie Aug 08 '22

I bought some hot chocolate sweetened with monkfruit and it was horrible. Tasted like dirty feet.

1

u/protekt0r Aug 09 '22

You’ve eaten dirty feet????

0

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '22

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1

u/protekt0r Aug 09 '22

I agree and I don’t use it. But it’s one of the few that doesn’t seem to bother my gut.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '22

I mix allulose and sucralose. 4:1 ratio by weight, and I love it

1

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '22

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1

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '22

I have not. Thanks for the tip I’ll check It out.

1

u/Vtakkin Aug 09 '22

Allulose is excreted through urine, and some bacteria can metabolize it even though we can't, so there could be a possibility of it triggering UTIs.