Differences Between Xylitol and Sucrose?

As for sweeteners, we first think these naturally occurring monosaccharides or disaccharides like sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, and artificial sweeteners such as saccharin, cyclamate, and aspartame. In fact, there is another type of natural sweetener that is used more and more now, which is sugar alcohol.

Ⅰ. What is sugar alcohol?

They are derivatives of monosaccharides. Monosaccharides have an oxygen atom replaced by a hydrogen atom and a hydroxyl group to become alcohols, so they are called sugar alcohols. Sugar alcohols include xylitol, mannitol, sorbitol, lactitol, maltitol and so on, among which xylitol is the most used.

Ⅱ. The differences between xylitol and sucrose

Xylitol is found in many fruits, grains, and vegetables, but not much. Xylitol used in industry is produced from hardwood or corncobs. The xylan in them is hydrolyzed to xylose, and xylose is then hydrogenated to xylitol. Xylose itself is also a sweetener, but the sweetness is not high, only 40% of sucrose.

The sweetness of xylitol sugar is the same as that of sucrose. Its crystals look the same as sucrose, and taste the same as sucrose. Most people can't taste the difference, unlike artificial sweeteners that often taste bad.

Ⅲ. The human body absorption rate of xylitol and sucrose

Sucrose is digested into glucose and fructose in the digestive tract. Small intestinal epithelial cells have specialized carrier proteins to transport glucose and fructose. That is to say, the body's absorption of sugar is mainly active transport in addition to passive diffusion, so the absorption rate is very fast.

However, the human body does not have a carrier protein to transport xylitol. The absorption of bio xylitol by the human body depends on passive diffusion, which is very slow. This causes a considerable part of xylitol to be absorbed in the small intestine before it reaches the large intestine, where it becomes bacterial food. Part of the xylitol absorbed by the human body is gradually converted into glucose and becomes energy.

In general, the energy contained in xylitol is only about 60% of that of sucrose, and it does not cause a rapid increase in blood sugar. The glycemic index of xylitol is only 7, while the glycemic index of glucose is 100. So, it is suitable for diabetics. But if xylitol is eaten too much, most of it cannot be absorbed. After being metabolized by intestinal bacteria, it will cause flatulence and diarrhea.