These sweeteners don't contain calories or sugar, but they also don't have beneficial nutrients such as vitamins, fiber, minerals or antioxidants. They are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as food additives. By offering the sweet taste without calories, artificial sweeteners appear to be an answer for effective weight loss.
An average 12-ounce can of sugar-sweetened soda provides about 150 calories, mostly from sugar. Same amount of diet soda, zero calories. The choice seems obvious. Healthy people may experience mild gas or bloating after eating foods sweetened with sugar alcohols, but if you have a gastrointestinal condition, such as irritable bowel syndrome, or eat a large amount of something sweetened with sugar alcohols, you could experience more extreme symptoms.
If you're trying to reduce sugar and calories from your diet, you may be turning to artificial sweeteners or other sugar substitutes. A more immediate unpleasant effect of consuming sugar alcohols, a type of low-calorie sugar substitute, are gas, bloating, and diarrhea. Zero-sugar or low-calorie alternatives are usually hundreds or thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar, but they don't raise blood sugar levels.
