What is the Difference between Erythritol and a Substance like stevia with intense sweet properties?
Stevia belongs to a group of substances known as intense sweeteners with 200 to 300 times the sweetness of sugar. Because stevia is so sweet, only a minute amount is needed to provide a sweetness equivalent to sugar. None of the intense sweeteners can alone substitute for the sugar in a food. Like all intense sweetners, stevia must be accompanied by a bulk sweetener (or other bulking agent) in order to replace the texture and body provided by sugar. Erythritol is a bulk sweetener. Erythritol is 60-70% as sweet as sugar. It can be substituted for sugar on a pound for pound basis. Erythritol provides body and texture as well s sweeteness. Does Erythritol Add calories? Because of its unique metabolic profile Erythritol adds only negligible amount, actually less than 0.2 calories per gram maximum. How does the body Handle Erythritol? Compared to other polyol sweeteners, erythritol has a high digestive tolerance. In fact, it has the highest digestive tolerance of all polyols. As an example,
