What is a “low-calorie” sweetener?
A low-calorie sweetener provides consumers with a sweet taste without the calories or carbohydrates that come with sugar and other caloric sweeteners. Some low-calorie sweeteners, such as aspartame, are “nutritive,” but are low in calories because of their intense sweetness. For example, because aspartame is 200 times sweeter than sucrose, the amounts needed to achieve the desired sweetness are so small that aspartame is considered virtually non-caloric. Many non-nutritive sweeteners, such as saccharin, are non-caloric because they are not metabolized and pass through the body unchanged. Currently, aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame potassium and sucralose are the only available low-calorie sweeteners in the United States.
