Sugar alcohols provide fewer calories than sugar because they are not fully absorbed into the body. Because of this, consuming large amounts of foods containing sugar alcohol can lead to abdominal gas and diarrhea.

The warning labels on foods containing the sugar alcohols sorbitol and mannitol stating “excess consumption may have a laxative effect” is proof of this.

But unlike most sugar alcohols, around 60 to 90 percent of erythritol is absorbed into the bloodstream and is then excreted in the urine. This means that erythritol tends to cause lesser intestinal distress than other sugar alcohols.

Sugar alcohols are useful in baking and are frequently used in combination with other low-calorie or artificial sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame-K, neotame and saccharin. In erythritol’s case, it is used with crystalline fructose, Coca-Cola’s sweetener of choice for its controversial beverage – Vitaminwater.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and other concerned parties have filed a class-action suit against Coca-Cola for “illegally marketing” Vitaminwater as a healthy product.

CSPI nutritionists claim that the 33 grams of sugar – including crystalline fructose – contained in each bottle of Vitaminwater “do more to promote obesity, diabetes and other health problems than the vitamins in the drinks do to perform the advertised benefits listed on the bottles.”

Since crystalline fructose is 99 percent fructose, it may be potentially more harmful to your health than high fructose corn syrup, natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola warns. High fructose corn syrup is a major, if not the main, contributor to the obesity epidemic in the U.S., and has also been associated with increasing the risk of tissue damage, diabetes, heart disease and other serious conditions.

On the other hand, the erythritol is likely to blame for the reported side effects of drinking Vitaminwater, such as diarrhea, headache and stomachache. Also, while erythritol contains lower calories than sugar, it’s still not calorie-free, and if you regularly drink Vitaminwater, the calories you consume can be close to what you’re consuming if you drink a beverage sweetened by sugar.

But for all its faults, erythritol does offer some health benefits. Eythritol does not contribute to tooth decay and has limited antimicrobial properties.

The only safe sweetener in Vitaminwater is stevia, an all-natural sweetener that’s 100 percent safe, contains NO calories, does not increase blood sugar levels and is almost 300 times sweeter than sugar.

But what’s the use of putting stevia when Vitaminwater’s main sweetener is potentially worse than high fructose corn syrup?

Drinking a bottle of Vitaminwater is equivalent to consuming 125 calories and 33 grams of sugar – that’s 15 more calories and 3 more grams of sugar than a 12 ounce Coke!

Vitaminwater does contain some vitamins (which, by the way, are chemically synthesized) but it might be more appropriate to call it “Sugarwater” instead.

CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner summed it up in a previous statement:

“Coke fears, probably correctly, that they’ll sell less soda as Americans become increasingly concerned with obesity, diabetes, and other conditions linked to diets too high in sugar. Vitaminwater is Coke’s attempt to dress up soda in a physician’s white coat. Underneath, it’s still sugar water, albeit sugar water that costs about ten bucks a gallon.”

The bottom line: stick to real, pure water and get your vitamins from a healthy diet.

It doesn’t sound as impossible as you might think. Keep your fingers crossed (I am) because the FDA may soon decide the future of stevia – dubbed by many as the world’s best natural sweetener.

Stevia is an herb that has been used as a sweetener in Paraguay and other South American countries for over 1,500 years. Stevia is touted as the “holy grail of sweeteners” for four simple reasons:

•             It’s 100% Natural
•             Almost 300% SWEETER than sugar
•             Has ZERO calories, and most importantly,
•             DOES NOT cause an increase in blood sugar levels

If you haven’t heard about stevia it’s probably because it has only been approved for use as a nutritional supplement but not as a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) additive for foods.

Through research online, I learned that prior to the 1980’s, stevia was in the FDA’s GRAS list and was stricken off the list at about the same time that aspartame, one of the first artificial sweeteners, entered the scene.

It’s intriguing to say the least as to why this happened. It also makes me feel mad at the possibility that the FDA may be keeping something good away from consumers, including diabetics like my dad, because something like stevia could cause a lot of changes in the sweetener industry.

Merisant and Cargill, makers of stevia-based sweeteners PureVia and Truvia, both said that their products are safe for public consumption and are waiting for FDA approval. International scientists connected with the World Health Organization have confirmed that these forms of stevia sweeteners are safe. Beverage giants Pepsi and Coca-Cola have thrown their hats in the stevia market and are backing Merisant and Cargill, respectively.

In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives concluded that stevia extracts containing 95 percent steviol glycosides (the compounds that give the stevia plant its sweet taste) are safe for human use in the range of four milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day.

The Japanese have been researching the properties of stevia since the 1970’s and have found it to be completely safe. In fact, 40% of Japan’s sweetener market is estimated to be stevia-based.

Australia and New Zealand have also recently approved steviol glycosides for use in foods.

If the FDA approves the use of stevia as a safe food additive, it will open the doors to all sorts of stevia-based products and will put a smile on the faces of diabetics and sweet lovers. More importantly, it will help us avoid the potentially harmful effects of artificial sweeteners like Aspartame, Saccharin, Sucralose, Acesulfame-K and Neotame.

The ball is now in the FDA’s court.