Erythritol is an
organic compound
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. Th ...
, a four-carbon
sugar alcohol (or
polyol) with no
optical activity
Optical rotation, also known as polarization rotation or circular birefringence, is the rotation of the orientation of the plane of polarization about the optical axis of linearly polarized light as it travels through certain materials. Circul ...
, used as a
food additive
Food additives are substances added to food to preserve Taste, flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), sal ...
and
sugar substitute
A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may b ...
. It is naturally occurring. It can be made from corn using enzymes and fermentation. Its formula is , or HO(CH
2)(CHOH)
2(CH
2)OH; specifically, one particular
stereoisomer with that formula.
Erythritol is 60–70% as sweet as
sucrose
Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula .
For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and refine ...
(table sugar). However, erythritol is almost completely
noncaloric and does not affect blood sugar or cause tooth decay.
Japanese companies pioneered the commercial development of erythritol as a sweetener in the 1990s.
History
Erythritol was discovered in 1848 by Scottish chemist
John Stenhouse and first isolated in 1852. In 1950 it was found in
blackstrap molasses
Molasses () is a viscous substance resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, method of extraction and age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used to sweeten and flavour foods. ...
that was fermented by yeast, and it became commercialized as a sugar alcohol in the 1990s in Japan.
Natural occurrence and production
Erythritol occurs naturally in some fruit and fermented foods. It also occurs in human body fluids such as eye lens tissue, serum, plasma, fetal fluid, and urine.
At the industrial level, it is produced from glucose by fermentation with a
yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...
,
''Moniliella pollinis''.
Uses, absorption, and safety
Since 1990, erythritol has had a history of safe use as a sweetener and flavor-enhancer in food and beverage products, and is approved for use by government regulatory agencies of more than 60 countries.
[, Quote: "In 2003, the European Union (EU) Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) concluded that erythritol is safe for use in foods. ..the SCF opinion stated that the laxative threshold may be exceeded, especially by young consumers, ..the ANS Panel concluded that the acute bolus consumption of erythritol via non-alcoholic beverages at a maximum level of 1.6 % would not raise concerns for laxation."] Beverage categories for its use are coffee and tea, liquid
dietary supplement
A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...
s, juice blends,
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink
A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common t ...
s, and flavored water product variations, with foods including
confections
Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categorie ...
, biscuits and cookies, tabletop sweeteners, and sugar-free chewing gum.
[ The mild sweetness of erythritol allows for a volume-for-volume replacement of sugar, whereas sweeter sugar substitutes need fillers that result in a noticeably different texture in baked products.
Erythritol is absorbed rapidly into the blood, with peak amounts occurring in under two hours; the majority of an oral dose (80 to 90%) is excreted unchanged in the ]urine
Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra.
Cellul ...
within 24 hours.[
As a test of safety, scientists assessed doses for erythritol where symptoms of mild gastrointestinal upset occurred, such as nausea, excess flatus, abdominal bloating or pain, and stool frequency. At a content of 1.6% in beverages it is not considered to have a laxative effect.][ The upper limit of tolerance was 0.78 and 0.71 grams per kg body weight in adults and children, respectively.][ For safe use in children, a scientific panel for the European Food Safety Authority recommended the upper limit content per food or beverage serving was 0.6 grams per kg body weight.][
]
Dietary and metabolic aspects
Caloric value and labeling
Nutritional labeling of erythritol in food products varies from country to country. Some countries, such as Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
and the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
(EU), label it as zero-calorie
The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of o ...
.
Under U.S. Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...
(FDA) labeling requirements, it has a caloric value of 0.2 calorie
The calorie is a unit of energy. For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of o ...
s per gram (95% less than sugar and other carbohydrates). The FDA has not made its own determination regarding the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status of erythritol, but has accepted the conclusion that erythritol is GRAS as submitted to it by several food manufacturers.
Human digestion
In the body, most erythritol is absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine
The small intestine or small bowel is an organ (anatomy), organ in the human gastrointestinal tract, gastrointestinal tract where most of the #Absorption, absorption of nutrients from food takes place. It lies between the stomach and large intes ...
, and then for the most part excreted unchanged in the urine
Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra.
Cellul ...
. About 10% enters the colon.
In small doses, erythritol does not normally cause laxative effects and gas or bloating, as are often experienced after consumption of other sugar alcohols (such as maltitol, sorbitol
Sorbitol (), less commonly known as glucitol (), is a sugar alcohol with a sweet taste which the human body metabolizes slowly. It can be obtained by reduction of glucose, which changes the converted aldehyde group (−CHO) to a primary alcoho ...
, xylitol, and lactitol). About 90% is absorbed before it enters the large intestine
The large intestine, also known as the large bowel, is the last part of the gastrointestinal tract and of the digestive system in tetrapods. Water is absorbed here and the remaining waste material is stored in the rectum as feces before bein ...
, and since erythritol is not digested by intestinal bacteria, the remaining 10% is excreted in the feces
Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a rela ...
.
Large doses can cause nausea
Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. While not painful, it can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of th ...
, stomach rumbling and watery feces. In males, doses greater than 0.66 g/kg body weight, and in females, doses greater than 0.8 g/kg body weight, will cause laxation, and diarrhea in higher doses (over ). Rarely, erythritol can cause allergic hives ( urticaria).
Blood sugar and insulin levels
Erythritol has no effect on blood sugar
Glycaemia, also known as blood sugar level, blood sugar concentration, or blood glucose level is the measure of glucose concentrated in the blood of humans or other animals. Approximately 4 grams of glucose, a simple sugar, is present in the b ...
or blood insulin
Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism ...
levels and therefore may become an effective substitute for sugar for diabetics. The glycemic index
The glycemic (glycaemic) index (GI; ) is a number from 0 to 100 assigned to a food, with pure glucose arbitrarily given the value of 100, which represents the relative rise in the blood glucose level two hours after consuming that food. The GI of ...
(GI) of erythritol is 0% of the GI for glucose and the insulin index The insulin index of food represents how much it elevates the concentration of insulin in the blood during the two-hour period after the food is ingested. The index is similar to the glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL), but rather than relyi ...
(II) is 2% of the II for glucose.
Oral bacteria
Erythritol is tooth-friendly; it cannot be metabolized
Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...
by oral bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...
, so it does not contribute to tooth decay. In addition, erythritol, similarly to xylitol, has antibacterial effects against streptococci
''Streptococcus'' is a genus of gram-positive ' (plural ) or spherical bacteria that belongs to the family Streptococcaceae, within the order Lactobacillales (lactic acid bacteria), in the phylum Bacillota. Cell division in streptococci occu ...
bacteria, reduces dental plaque
Dental plaque is a biofilm of microorganisms (mostly bacteria, but also fungi) that grows on surfaces within the mouth. It is a sticky colorless deposit at first, but when it forms tartar, it is often brown or pale yellow. It is commonly found be ...
, and may be protective against tooth decay.
Production
Erythritol is produced industrially beginning with enzymatic hydrolysis
Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile.
Biological hydrolysi ...
of the starch from corn to generate glucose
Glucose is a simple sugar with the molecular formula . Glucose is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. Glucose is mainly made by plants and most algae during photosynthesis from water and carbon dioxide, u ...
. Glucose is then fermented with yeast or another fungus to produce erythritol. Other methods such as electrochemical synthesis are in development. A genetically engineered mutant form of ''Yarrowia lipolytica
''Yarrowia'' is a fungal genus in the family Dipodascaceae. For a while the genus was monotypic, containing the single species ''Yarrowia lipolytica'', a yeast that can use unusual carbon sources, such as hydrocarbons. This has made it of interes ...
'', a yeast, has been optimized for erythritol production by fermentation, using glycerol
Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known ...
as a carbon source and high osmotic pressure
Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to prevent the inward flow of its pure solvent across a semipermeable membrane.
It is also defined as the measure of the tendency of a solution to take in a pure ...
to increase yields up to 62%.
Chemical properties
Heat of solution
Erythritol has a strong cooling effect (endothermic
In thermochemistry, an endothermic process () is any thermodynamic process with an increase in the enthalpy (or internal energy ) of the system.Oxtoby, D. W; Gillis, H.P., Butler, L. J. (2015).''Principle of Modern Chemistry'', Brooks Cole. ...
, or positive heat of solution
In thermochemistry, the enthalpy of solution ( heat of solution or enthalpy of solvation) is the enthalpy change associated with the dissolution of a substance in a solvent at constant pressure resulting in infinite dilution.
The enthalpy of so ...
) when it dissolves in water, which is often compared with the cooling effect of mint
MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAE ...
flavors. The cooling effect is present only when erythritol is not already dissolved in water, a situation that might be experienced in an erythritol-sweetened frosting, chocolate bar, chewing gum, or hard candy. The cooling effect of erythritol is very similar to that of xylitol and among the strongest cooling effects of all sugar alcohols. Erythritol has a p''K''a of 13.903 at 18 °C.
Biological properties
According to a 2014 study, erythritol functions as an insecticide toxic to the fruit fly ''Drosophila melanogaster
''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (the taxonomic order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the " vinegar fly" or "pomace fly". Starting with ...
'', impairing motor ability and reducing longevity even when nutritive sugars were available.
Erythritol is preferentially used by the ''Brucella'' spp. The presence of erythritol in the placentas of goats, cattle, and pigs has been proposed as an explanation for the accumulation of ''Brucella'' bacteria found at these sites.
Synonyms
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, several synonyms were in use for erythritol: erythrol, erythrite, erythoglucin, eryglucin, erythromannite and phycite. Zerose is a tradename for erythritol.
See also
* Erythritol tetranitrate
Erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) is an explosive compound chemically similar to PETN, though it is thought to be slightly more sensitive to friction and impact.
Like many nitrate esters, ETN acts as a vasodilator, and was the active ingredient in th ...
* Pentaerythritol
* Threitol, the diastereomer of erythritol
References
External links
*
{{Alcohols, state=collapsed
E-number additives
Food additives
Sugar alcohols
Sugar substitutes
Tetrols