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The skinny on common sugar substitutes

By Jenilee Matz, MPH

Walk up and down any supermarket aisle and you’ll find a host of foods made with artificial sweeteners, ranging from soda and candy or gum to yogurt and even “light” desserts. That’s not to mention the extensive selection of sweeteners sold on their own, too, for use in place of sugar in your home kitchen. 

Here we take a closer look at five popular sweeteners and what they mean for you:

Aspartame

200 times sweeter than sugar  

Brand aliases: Equal (which contains some other sweeteners), NutraSweet

Can it be used for baking? No.

What people with diabetes should know:

Aspartame contains virtually no calories (1 gram has about 4 calories) and, therefore, no carbs. That means you’d have to ingest it in extremely large quantities to have a glycemic response, explains Stephanie Nardi-Cyrus, RD, a nutritionist who specializes in diabetes education at the HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley’s Diabetes Education Center in Kingston, NY. The Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston confirms that aspartame shouldn’t impact blood sugar levels — a good thing, since aspartame is found in a host of sugar-free products, most popularly diet soda. 

Erythritol (and other sugar alcohols) 

Sweetness varies; not much sweeter than or not as sweet as sugar

Brand aliases: Truvia (which also contains stevia)

Can it be used for baking? Yes, if you use the Truvia baking blend, which contains some sugar.

What people with diabetes should know:

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol made from carbohydrates found in fruits and vegetables. Sugar alcohols contain no actual sugar, but they do have about half the carbs of table sugar. They’re also only partially absorbed by the body, which leads to some debate regarding their total carb count. According to Hope Warshaw, RD, CDE, a dietitian and diabetes educator in Virginia, who is president-elect of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, you should count carbs for foods containing sugar alcohols in the same way you would for any other food. “There is no reason to subtract sugar alcohols from the total carbohydrates when carbohydrate counting,” says Warshaw.

However, others have a different perspective: Experts at the Joslin Diabetes Center and the University of California San Francisco both suggest that subtracting half the sugar alcohol amount from total carbohydrates is a reasonable approach. Talk to your diabetes care team to find out what makes sense for you. 

Saccharin

300 to 500 times sweeter than sugar 

Brand alias: Sweet’N Low, SugarTwin

Can it be used for baking? No.

What people with diabetes should know:

Popularized in 1945 as Sweet’N Low and considered the first artificial sweetener, saccharin contains no calories or carbs, so it won’t cause a glycemic response, says Nardi-Cyrus. Saccharin is best for sweetening hot and cold beverages, she adds. It’s no wonder, then, that Sweet’N Low’s signature pink packets still dominate restaurant tabletops worldwide. 

Stevia

200 to 300 times sweeter than sugar

Brand aliases: PureVia and Stevia in the Raw (which also contain dextrose), SweetLeaf, Truvia (which also contains erythritol)

Can it be used for baking? Yes, but your muffins and cookies may come out a bit flat.

What people with diabetes should know:

Because this sweetener is a plant extract, it’s marketed as an “all-natural” alternative. But even though it’s derived from a plant, some types of stevia are more refined than others. Nardi-Cyrus recommends the naturally minded crowd look for “unprocessed, raw stevia.” It’s common to find stevia mixed with other sweeteners in sugar substitutes sold for home use, so pay close attention to carb and calorie counts. 

Sucralose 

600 times sweeter than sugar

Brand aliases: Splenda

Can it be used for baking? Yes, because it holds its sweetness at high temperatures,

What people with diabetes should know:

Sucralose starts out as cane sugar. Then the sugar molecule is altered so that it’s no longer absorbed by the body. The end result is a no-calorie sweetener (there’s less than 1 gram of carb in a packet of Splenda) that won’t have an effect on blood sugar levels. “Plus, sucralose is so sweet that you don’t have to use large amounts,” Nardi-Cyrus explains. 

Published on March 31, 2015. 

Jenilee Matz is a freelance medical writer living in the suburbs of Charlotte, NC. She earned her master's of public health degree from the University of South Carolina, and previously worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Additional reporting by Katie Lewin.