Your claim about artificial sweeteners not touched by digestion and metabolism is generally not true. Aspartame is broken down in the digestive tract, for examp

Your claim about artificial sweeteners not touched by digestion and metabolism is generally not true. Aspartame is broken down in the digestive tract, for example, as is neotame. Glycyrrhizin is broken down in the gut and then metabolized in the liver. I would expect it's the same for sugar alcohols, they are metabolized by gut bacteria and can cause bloating because of that.