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There is no consensus on taste—you give the same non-sugar sweetener to different people and they’ll have different reactions to how they taste. The health eff
by klodolph 4y ago
There is no consensus on taste—you give the same non-sugar sweetener to different people and they’ll have different reactions to how they taste.
The health effects are largely the same—your body doesn’t do much with these sweeteners, and they’re used in small quantities to begin with. Saccharine was thought to be unsafe after experiments in the 1970s, but the modern consensus post 2000 is that it is, in fact, safe.
Xylitol is the odd one out because it has calories, just 40% less than ordinary sugar. It’s being sold as something with all sorts of amazing health effects—fewer calories, lower glycemic index, etc. Some of these are overstated. I think most of these are overstated. IMO it is more convenient to just eat less sugar. Unlike most sweeteners, you can bake with xylitol, more or less. Some people find it irritates their stomach.
Stuff like sucralose and stevia are convenient and easy to source. YMMV, the only reason I’m having an artificial sweetener to begin with is because it’s in a factory product like soda or chewing gum, so I’m stuck with whatever the choice is off the shelf. If I’m cooking or baking, I look for recipes that use less sugar to begin with or I just eat less of the final product.
- m463 4y agoit's important to note that xylitol is a laxative. (and it is harmful or fatal to dogs)
- tonetheman 4y agoXylitol is also found in nasal sprays. It was even tested to see if it helped with covid in that form. I could not find the study but I think it helped a bit.
- njt 4y agoMy relatives found this out the hard way last week, they made a low-calorie cake which was sweetened with xylitol, which their dog got into -- they left it on the kitchen table for a few minutes to cool and he managed to jump on and gavone half of it before they saw him. They had to take him to the vet where they fed him charcoal and pumped his stomach. =-/
- jml7c5 4y agoThe risk there wasn't diarrhea, but life-threatening toxicity. See: https://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/food-hazards/xylitol-toxicosis-in-dogs https://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/food-hazards/xylit...
- skunkworker 4y agoAllulose I feel is the most interesting one as it can be used to get closer to the texture of regular sugar.
- smilbandit 4y agoon taste. I find all sugar substitutes to taste like poison. Wondering if there's reason for that?