What is the erythritol?

Though it sounds new, erythritol (ear-RITH-ri-tall) has been around as long as grapes, peaches, pears, watermelon, and mushrooms. It's a type of?carbohydrate?called a sugar alcohol that people use as a?sugar?substitute.

Erythritol is found naturally in some foods. It's also made when things like wine, beer, and?cheese?ferment.

Besides its natural form,a erythritol has also been a man-made sweetener since 1990. You can find it with other?sugar?substitutes in stores and online.

It's also sold in bulk to companies that use it to sweeten or thicken products like reduced-calorie and sugar-free foods and drinks. You'll often find it mixed with popular sugar substitutes like aspartame,?stevia, and Truvia to make them sweeter.

Calories.?Sugar has 4 calories per gram, but erythritol has zero. That's because your small intestine absorbs it quickly and gets it out of your body through?urine?within 24 hours. This means erythritol doesn't have a chance to "metabolize" -- turn into energy in your body.

Safety.?Though erythritol is one of the newer sugar alcohols on the market -- xylitol and mannitol have been around longer -- researchers have done a number of studies of it in animals and humans. The World Health Organization (WHO) approved erythritol in 1999, and the FDA did the same in 2001.

It's also OK for people with?diabetes. Erythritol has no effect on glucose or?insulin?levels. This makes it a safe sugar substitute if you have diabetes. Foods that contain erythritol may still contain carbohydrates, calories, and?fat, so it's important to check the label.

Taste.?Erythritol tastes sweet. It's similar to table sugar.

Appearance.?It's in the form of white crystal granules or powder.

How much can I eat??There aren't official guidelines on using erythritol, but most people can handle 1 gram for every kilogram of?body weight?daily. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you can tolerate 68 grams of erythritol a day, or more than 13 teaspoons.

How it's used.?You can use erythritol the same way as sugar. It's fine to stir it into your?coffee?or?tea, sprinkle it on grapefruit, or bake with it. Remember that it's a sugar substitute and not real sugar, so foods that you bake may have a different taste or consistency than you're used to.